Video: 'Ku Klux Klan - An American History | Part 1 | Free Documentary History' (Dec. 24, 1865, at 3:30)

(Christmas Eve, Sunday, December 24, 1865; during the Reconstruction era) — Just six days after the 13th Amendment, formally abolishing slavery and involuntary servitude in the United States (except as punishment for a crime), was officially proclaimed in effect, six veterans of the Confederate Army formed a private social club today in Pulaski, Tennessee — a group that would become the first incarnation of the Ku Klux Klan.

Founded during Reconstruction in the war-torn South, the Klan emerged as a white supremacist, Protestant-led, far-right organization. Historians often describe it as the first terrorist group in American history.

Over time, the Klan developed into a secretive network of related organizations that used violence, intimidation, and terror to enforce their ideology and oppress their targets — most notably African Americans, as well as Jews and Catholics.

Its leaders, known as “grand wizards,” presided over three major iterations of the Klan, each shaped by the political climate and prejudices of its era.