CDL Lead #2: What Did the Ku Klux Klan Really Want?

The Ku Klux Klan was started as a "social brotherhood", taking its rituals from the college fraternity background of its founders. It quickly turned into far more than just that and spread through the south like a wildfire with new chapters, or "dens" sprouting up. They claimed to have been joined together by a natural "instinct" that they (being white) were a superior race and had a duty to fight to preserve their social and political dominance over the black population. This meant that their attacks were aimed at Republican officials and others who sought to create civil rights for black, though they primarily targeted innocent black citizens, particularly community leaders and politicians. They felt this fight was necessary because they saw an uprising of the black population, politically and socially. The KKK's goal was to use terror tactics against those with opposing views and actions as a way of preserving the status quo. They wanted to prevent the education of black people in the United States because it was a way of trying to make them "like white men" and because it meant less laborers in the fields. Their tactics of burning, whipping and torturing to death apparently had some effect, as planters would utilize the services of the KKK as a way of making their workers more submissive. They essentially became the "military wing of the Democratic party" because of their effective terrorizing of Republican leaders and voters. Unfortunately, because of the twisted court system, Klansmen were almost never punished for their crimes. If a white man committed a crime against a black man, it was nearly impossible to convict. Eventually the federal government stepped in with the Ku Klux Klan Acts of 1870 and 1871 which slowed the KKK, but did not prevent other terror groups from continuing their work.

1.) Why did the Ku Klux Klan feel it was necessary to burn down schools for blacks? Why was education of blacks particularly threatening to them?

2.) How did Ku Klux Klan members in the South get away with their crimes?