Ku Klux Klan

==Symbols==
The Ku Klux Klan has utilized a variety of symbols over its history.

===Blood Drop Cross===
The Primary symbol used by the clan for the past century has been the ''Mystic Insignia of a Klansman'', commonly known as the ''Blood Drop Cross'', a white cross on a red disk with what appears to be a blood drop in the middle. It was first used in the early 1900s, with the symbol in the center originally appearing as a red and white [[Yin and yang|yin-yang]] which in the subsequent years, lost the white part and was reinterpreted as a "blood drop".<ref>{{cite web |title=Blood Drop Cross |url=https://www.adl.org/education/references/hate-symbols/blood-drop-cross |website=Anti-Defamation League |access-date=May 30, 2021 |archive-date=May 8, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210508233138/https://www.adl.org/education/references/hate-symbols/blood-drop-cross |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Triangular Klan symbol===
The Triangular Ku Klux Klan symbol is made of what looks like a triangle inside a triangle, similar to a [[Sierpiński triangle]], but in fact represents three letter [[K]]s interlocked and facing inward, referencing the name of the group. A variation on this symbol has the K's facing outwards instead of inwards. It is an old Klan symbol that has also been resurrected as a modern-day hate symbol.<ref>{{cite web |title=Triangular Klan Symbol |url=https://www.adl.org/education/references/hate-symbols/triangular-klan-symbol |website=Anti-Defamation League |access-date=May 30, 2021 |archive-date=June 2, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210602213637/https://www.adl.org/education/references/hate-symbols/triangular-klan-symbol |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Burning cross===
{{main|Cross burning}}
Although predating the Klan, in modern times the symbol of the burning cross has become almost solely associated with the Ku Klux Klan and has become one of the most potent hate symbols in the United States.<ref name="ADL-burning cross">{{cite web |title=Burning Cross |url=https://www.adl.org/education/references/hate-symbols/burning-cross |website=Anti-Defamation League |access-date=May 30, 2021 |archive-date=May 25, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210525105416/https://www.adl.org/education/references/hate-symbols/burning-cross |url-status=live }}</ref> Burning crosses did not become associated with the clan until [[Thomas Dixon Jr.|Thomas Dixon]]'s ''[[The Clansman]]'', and its film adaptation, [[D.W. Griffith|D.W. Griffith's]] ''[[The Birth of a Nation]]'' inspired members of the second Klan to take up the practice.<ref>{{cite news |last=Koerner |first=Brendan |title=Why Does the Ku Klux Klan Burn Crosses? |url=https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2002/12/why-does-the-ku-klux-klan-burn-crosses.html |access-date=November 10, 2021 |work=Slate |date=December 17, 2002 |archive-date=November 10, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211110155909/https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2002/12/why-does-the-ku-klux-klan-burn-crosses.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In the modern day the symbol of the burning cross is so associated with racial intimidation that it is used by many non-Klan racist elements and has spread to locations outside the United States.<ref name="ADL-burning cross"/>
<gallery>
File:KKK.svg|Blood Drop Cross
File:3 Triangles KKK.svg|Triangular Klan symbol
File:Klansmen in robes with burning cross (State's Exhibit No.4). The photographer for this shot is not listed or known, and it is likely that this photo was taken at a Klan cross burning in earlyJanuary (8223346951).jpg|Cross burning in [[Lumberton, North Carolina|Lumberton]], North Carolina (1958)
</gallery>