White Supremacy Movement

History and Membership

The Ku Klux Klan, historically the most influential White supremacist organization in the United States, was founded in 1865 as a secret fraternal order for Civil War veterans of the Confederate states. The Klan led a reign of terror between 1867 and 1871, torturing and killing thousands of Blacks. With the institutionalization of Jim Crow segregation and the accompanying security of White domination, the Klan temporarily disbanded, but was glorified and romanticized in accounts such as Thomas Dixon's novel The Clansman (1905) and the subsequent film Birth of a Nation (1915). The Klan reemerged in 1915, and, in 1925, membership reached an all-time high of 4 to 5 million. In contrast with the Ku Klux Klan's long history, grounded in mainstream politics in the United States, the American Nazi Party (ANP) never gained many members. Founded in 1958 by George Lincoln Rockwell, the party honored the legacy of Hitler and the German Nazis. Rockwell was subsequently assassinated, but the ANP was the predecessor to a variety of neo-Nazi splinter groups.

The contemporary White supremacy movement in the United States has grown out of the ideology and traditions of the Ku Klux Klan and the Nazis/neo-Nazis. In 2005, the Southern Poverty Law Center counted 803 active hate groups in the United States (this includes a small number of hate groups that are not White supremacist groups, such as Black separatists), a 33% increase since 2000. There are a wide variety of White supremacist organizations, ranging from neo-Nazis and Klan groups to Christian identity adherents and skinheads. While some organizations are attempting to move into the political mainstream, others are becoming increasingly violent. The movement is in a constant state of flux, with groups merging and disintegrating and new ones emerging each year.

Researchers disagree regarding terminology. References to this movement may use the language of White supremacy, organized hate groups, White nationalism, White separatism, or White power. Most of the organizations themselves prefer the terms White separatist or White nationalist, highlighting the movement's ultimate goal of geographic separation of the White race from all non-Whites, including Jews. Contemporary debates revolve around how to most accurately label the movement and identify its key branches today. Traditionally, most scholars have utilized a typology similar to that of the Southern Poverty Law Center, which now divides the movement into neo-Nazis, Ku Klux Klan, racist skinheads, and neo-Confederates. Key neo-Nazi organizations include the National Alliance, National Vanguard, White Revolution, and the National Socialist Movement. The largest Klan groups today are the Imperial Klans of America and [Page 1409]the Brotherhood of the Klans. In recent years, the strength of the Klan has increased as membership in neo-Nazi groups has declined. However, there is always a great deal of movement of members from one organization to another. The racist skinheads tend to be the least organized branch and attract younger, more migratory members. In 2005, racist skinhead groups increased almost 20%. The broad term neo-Confederates includes hate groups, as well as groups that would not be considered hate groups. The more extremist advocate breaking the country into racial states. Chip Berlet and Stanislav Vysotsky argue that rather than focusing on distinct organizations, we should instead think of the movement as composed of religious, political, and youth cultural organizations. This approach instead directs our attention to characteristics of group ideology and activity.

George Lincoln Rockwell. Rockwell (center), head of the American Nazi Party, and a group of followers in uniform are shown giving the “Heil Hitler” salute in front of headquarters with Nazi and U.S. flags waving in the background (1960). The American Nazi Party was the predecessor of a variety of neo-Nazi splinter groups.

Source: Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images.

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