Why did people join the Ku Klux Klan?

[Elana]

Somebody writing a paper, eh?

There are a lot of unexpected reasons, at least in the deep South. The KKK was a social organization, a place to meet business contacts, much the way the rotary club might be. Indeed, its secrecy and it's midnight rides added to the thick-as-thieves comradery business community bonds in many small towns.

Why does Joe the grocer always buy his lettuce from the most expensive farmer in town? I just don't get it? Welll .....

There was also an element of "you're either one of us or you're one of them." Whites who were appalled by what the KKK did were occasionally themselves targets of the KKK. What better way to say you support the organization than to join it?

But the most obvious reason is the same reason why Hitler rose to power in the 30s; by extolling the virtues of hating Jews. if you can convince one segment of the population to blame all of its woes on another segment of the population, you get them to rally around a cause and you bond them together.

Frequently, a bogus cause is better than no cause. In Hitler's cause, not only was the cause bogus, it was profitable because by collecting the Jews they were able to directly acquire all of their belongings. Similarly, the KKK could terrorize competitive business owners by virtue of those business owners being the wrong color.

Eliminate the competition and you basically increase the potential market size for the remaining white business owners.