THEN
The Ku Klux Klan began as a social club for Civil War veterans, but quickly grew into a racist organization. They tried to restore white supremacy through lynchings and threats towards blacks.
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NOW
The KKK is now trying to shed its image as a anti-black hate group. It claims that it's aims have changed since it started, and that it is simply trying to "save America" from immigrants, and religions the Klansmen don't agree with. (This includes Catholics despite Catholics being Christian.)
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There were 3 distinct eras of the KKK: The original one, the one that began in the 1920s and ended about 6 years later, and the 3rd one which began in the 1960s and continued until today. So there's a page of this site for each of them.