The History of the Ku Klux Klan The original Klan was organized in Tennessee in 1865 by former Confederate army officer Jonathan B Frost, he gave their society a name adapted from the Greek word kuklos. The Klan attempted to destroy the reconstructed governments that came into power in the southern states in 1867. The Klan was vary committed to white supremacy, and they didn’t like the idea of a black person being as equal as them. Klansmen terrorized public officials and blacks, and burned crosses near the homes of those they wanted to scare. When such tactics failed, their victims were sometimes beat, mutilated, or murdered. A supreme Klan offi