According to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) the Ku Klux Klan has over 150 active chapters, operating in 41 U.S. States. The SPLC estimates that between 5000 and 8000 Americans claim membership in a KKK organization.
Source: NewsOne, based on data from Southern Poverty Law Center
KKK membership tends to be concentrated in the South and the Midwest. However, there are active chapters present throughout the country. Even Vermont and Rhode Island each have an active Klan organization. Nine states lack a KKK Chapter. The states without a KKK presence are Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. However, with the exception of Hawaii, all of these states are home to at least one racist White Nationalist hate group that is not affiliated with the KKK.
The Klan’s influence is greatly diminished from what it once was. Yet, it still continues to survive in a number of locations throughout the United States. The KKK was founded on Christmas Eve in 1865, in the town of Pulaski, Tennessee. Nearly 150 years later, the organization continues to spread its message of hate against people of color, as well as against Jews, immigrants, and gays and lesbians.
KKK Chapters recently made news for threatening retaliation against protesters in Ferguson, Missouri, and for passing out recruitment flyers in Rutherford, New Jersey. At its peak, in the 1920s, the KKK had about 4 million members spread across various chapters around the nation. Klan membership has dwindled since then, but the numbers occasionally rise when racial issues are in the spotlight. Klan activity also spiked shortly after the United States elected Barack Obama to be the nation’s first African-American president.
With over 150 active chapters in 41 different states, the KKK unfortunately is still a part of the American cultural landscape. They are not confined geographically to one area, but are active in the Northeast, Midwest, South, and West. There is probably an active chapter in your state.
Keith Brekhus
Keith Brekhus is a longtime political activist who currently resides in Red Lodge, Montana. He has a Master’s Degree in Sociology from the University of Missouri-Columbia. He was a Green Party candidate for Congress in 2002. His most recent political job was working as a Field Organizer in Arizona’s White Mountains, in support of Democratic Congresswoman Ann Kirkpatrick’s successful 2014 re-election campaign.
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