The first KKK was an unorganized movement of white Southerners who opposed [[Reconstruction]] in the late 1860s by inflicting violence against black leaders and white Republicans. Local Klans were entirely separate; there was no organization or coordination above the county level, and no county or state officers. The Klan was broken up by President [[Ulysses S. Grant]] and the U.S. Army using the Civil Rights Act of 1871 (also known as the Ku Klux Klan Act). It had disappeared by 1872, although similar violent groups were found sparsely around the South.
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The first KKK was an unorganized movement of white Southerners who opposed [[Reconstruction]] in the late 1860s by inflicting violence against black leaders and white Republicans. Local Klans were entirely separate; there was no organization or coordination above the county level, and no county or state officers. The Klan was broken up by President [[Ulysses S. Grant]] and the U.S. Army using the Civil Rights Act of 1871 (also known as the Ku Klux Klan Act). It had disappeared by 1872, although similar violent groups persisted in some localities around the South.