The Origin of the Ku Klux Klan

The Ku Klux Klan is one of the most violent and racist organizations operating in the United States today. Dedicated to white supremacy and the intimidation of African Americans, few groups are as reviled by modern society as the KKK. However, most people are unaware that the origin of the group was actually a marketing gimmick to “relieve rubes of money they shouldn’t rightly have.”

Richard R. Reed and John B. Kennedy (the originator of the quote above), ex-Confederate soldiers and business owners, returned to their hometown of Pulaski, Tennessee after the Civil War determined to reopen the textile import business they ran before the war. Business was not good, however, as they were unable to compete with the cheap goods flowing south from the northern textile factories. In desperation, they hit on the idea of convincing their neighbors to buy from good Southern boys by appealing to their pride and racism. Reed and Kennedy formed the Ku Klux Klan and, pressing their wives and daughters into service as seamstresses, manufactured cheap robes from the white linen they couldn’t sell and required all new KKK members to purchase their robes only from RK Textile Importers.

So what began as a way to “relieve rubes of (their) money” over time evolved into the virulent, racist organization we know today.