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If you follow the time line backwards a little while you will find the era of the Ku Klux Klan, also known as the "American knights." The Ku Klux Klan is still an organization today, but has become so small that it is no longer a threat. The Klan was a very important part of our American history, yet one question, no matter how long ago this all happened, still remains. Was the Ku Klux Klan a racist or patriotic organization? In order to find the answer, it is vital to retrace the Klan’s history; beginning to end, and then I will be able to supply the answer accurately. There were many events that triggered the start of the Ku Klux Klan. It started at the end of the Civil war when radical congressmen tried to do away with white supremacy in the rebel states. Congress established the freeman's bureau March 3rd, 1865. The bureau was designed to protect the interests of former slaves. This included helping them to find new employment and to improve educational and health facilities. In April 1866, Johnson vetoed the Civil Rights Bill that was designed to protect freed slaves from Southern Black Codes. The black codes were laws that placed severe restrictions on freed slaves such as prohibiting their right to vote, forbidding them