A story of the original Ku Klux Klan

By W. B. Romine, Mrs. W. B. Romine

Subjects: Ku-Klux Klan (1866-1869), Ku Klux Klan (19th century)

Description: Pulaski, the county seat of Giles County, Tenn., birthplace of the original Ku Klux Klan, is a town of about four thousand population, situated on the L. and N. Railroad, eighty miles south of Nashville, Tenn., and at the crossing of the highways extending from Nashville to Birmingham and from Chattanooga to Memphis. The relationship between slave and slave holder here in Middle Tennessee was nearly always one of mutual trust, kindness and friendly interest. It may not be generally known, but it is a fact, that Tennessee freed her own slaves and was not included in the emanicipation proclamation. The Ku Klux Klan which was organized following the war between the states was not organized for the purpose, as some have believed, of oppressing and punishing the negroes who had recently been freed and who were as yet unaccustomed to their new circumstances and conditions of life and were as "children crying in the night, children crying for the light and with no language but a cry." The Klan proclaimed that it stood for peace, law and order. That it was not a political or military party, but a protective organization and would "never use violence except in resisting violence." - Pages 3-4.