Based on the documents above, identify factors that made the KKK appealing to some Americans in the
1920s.

The Ku Klux Klan was a racist white supremacist organization that rose after the civil war because members opposed the dismantling of slavery and wanted to keep the blacks as subjects to the white people. They used a violent way to overthrow the government in the south but could not, and they started to decline in the 1870s due to the passage of a bill that would prosecute their crimes. It later reemerged after World War I, with membership skyrocketing, and they resorted to using intimidation violence to attain power, wealth, and status.

Step-by-step explanation

The Ku Klux Klan was a racist white supremacist organization that rose after the civil war because members opposed the dismantling of slavery and wanted to keep the blacks as subjects to the white people. They used a violent way to overthrow the government in the south but could not, and they started to decline in the 1870s due to the passage of a bill that would prosecute their crimes. It later reemerged after World War I, with membership skyrocketing, and they resorted to using intimidation violence to attain power, wealth, and status.

At the start of 1920, the Klan's membership had grown to five million-strong people. It was able to take in so many people and be appealing due to the passage of the prohibition, which was tied up to anti-immigrants and anti-Catholics. Advocates of prohibition were whites, and they thought that they were the only real Americans and believed the country was under siege by Catholics, blacks, and immigrants. Prohibition gave the Klan a mandate against immigrants, Catholics, and Protestants. The group gained more following in local communities by saying that it would clean up communities and eliminate bootleggers and moonshiners.

The revival of the KKK also shows the struggles that industrialization and urbanization brought. The expansion of urban centers brought immigrants searching for work, which made the white Americans bitter and complained that the immigrants were taking the jobs away from the native whites. It necessitated many to join the KKK to intimidate immigrants and blacks from dominating the white population.

Little, B. (2019, January 15). How prohibition fueled the rise of the Ku Klux Klan. HISTORY. https://www.history.com/news/kkk-terror-during-prohibition