Since the late 1860s, there have been many organizations that have used the title "Ku Klux Klan" or have split off from KKK groups using different names.
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Reconstruction Era paramilitaries
During Reconstruction, there were a number of white supremacist paramilitary groups that were organized to resist the reconstruction measures. While the Ku Klux Klan was the most famous, it overlapped in membership and ideology with a number of others. In some cases, they were virtually indistinguishable.
1877–1914
Between the Reconstruction period, known as the Klan's "first era", and the rebirth of the modern movement in 1915, there were a handful of groups that scholars have identified as "bridges" that engaged in similar vigilante activities and introduced Klan-type organizing into areas untouched by Reconstruction. In some cases, small towns often had so-called "decency committees" or "vigilance committees", who often used vigilante tactics against targets such as criminals, prostitutes, drunkards, and in some instances, Black people, Native Americans, Mexicans, Chinese Americans, European immigrants, Catholics, Mormons, and non-Christians, including Jews and atheists. Sometimes, in fact, their attire or disguise resembled that of the KKK.
1915–1944
During the "second era", the KKK movement saw the rise and decline of one of the largest and most influential Klan factions, the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan Inc. There were a few splinter groups, though, such as the Knights of the Flaming Sword, founded by ousted Imperial Wizard William J. Simmons and the Independent Klan of America, founded by Indiana Grand Dragon D. C. Stephenson. The 1930s saw the growth of fascist-leaning groups such as the Black Legion and a revived Knights of the White Camellia. It was also during this time period, that, for the first time ever, certain KKK groups began openly seeking working relationships with neo-nazi and neo-fascist groups, such as the German-American Bund and the Silver Shirts. The KKK also openly worked alongside the Anti-Saloon League, in their shared goals of enforcing prohibition.
1944–1954
In the period roughly between the end of World War II and the passage of the Supreme Court's so-called "Black Monday" ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, a number of small local "associations of Klans" were active, mainly in the Southeastern states. By this time period, the KKK already had links to the Christian Identity movement.
1954–1969
During the period of the civil rights movement in the late 1950s and 1960s, the Klan experienced its "third era" which saw the growth of a number of KKK groups that sought to resist desegregation, by both peaceful and violent means. However, desegregation was not their only targets, other topics of Klan protest and hatred included the 1960's counterculture, labor unions, divorce, evolutionism, liberalism, and so-called Jewish Bolshevism. It was also around this period that many Klan groups began working with other white supremacist groups like the White Citizens' Council, the American Nazi Party and the National States' Rights Party.
1970s–present
The last decades of the 20th century and the first years of the 21st have been hard for the Klan because the public increasingly found their views unacceptable and law enforcement agencies began to prosecute them with more vigor. Since this time period, many factions of the Klan began making alliances with neo-Nazis, white power skinheads, and radical followers of the militia movement, in order to boost membership. Many of these modern KKK groups have also been exploiting the controversial issues of illegal immigration, affirmative action, gay marriage, abortion, Islamic terrorism, and prayer in school, in order to attract membership.