Ku Klux Terror: Birmingham, Alabama, from 1866-present

Everything you need to know about the bloody history of the Ku Klux Klan in Alabama, from its inception in 1866 to its current abominations, is here. During Reconstruction, the KKK "redeemed" the state for white, one-party rule, then disbanded. In 1915, it reappeared as a fraternal order and political vehicle. What started out as a small group of drunken Confederate veterans on horseback harassing freed slaves became a vast network of violent, power-hungry racists. The Klan committed its most atrocious crimes against the African-American civil rights movement from 1954 to 1969. Read about an innocent man whose irreparable mutilation was intended as a warning to a pastor who supported racial integration of schools. The Klan's most devastating hate crime of that era, the deadly bombing of Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, remained technically unsolved until 1977. Even today, the KKK and its philosophy endure.