Ku Klux Klan Founded in 1865 in Pulaski, Tenn., by former Confederate Army officers, the Ku Klux Klan was one of the most powerful groups to emerge in the Reconstruction era in an effort to prevent newly enfranchised black Southerners from putting Republicans in power in the Southern states. Led by former Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest from 1867 to 1889, the Klan terrorized local white and black Republican leaders and blacks whose behavior violated old ideas of black subordination. Its members, who were sworn to secrecy, wore white robes and masks and adopted the burning cross as their symbol. They were most active during elections, when their nighttime rides t