Ku Klux Klan 1923. KKK, secret society dedicated to white supremecy, founded 1866 in the southern states of the USA to oppose Reconstruction after the Civil War and to deny political rights to the black population. Members wore hooded white robes to hide their identity, and burned crosses as a rite of intimidation. It was active in the 1960s in terrorising civil rights activists and organising racist demonstrations. Its violence led the government to pass the restrictive Ku Klux Klan Acts of 1871. The society re-emerged 1915 in Atlanta, Georgia, and increased in strength during the 1920s as a racist, anti-Semitic, anti-Catholic and anti-Communist organisation.