Re-Rise of the Klan

1915 and Beyond

Terms to Know• Ku Klux Klan• Prohibition• Suffrage• Boycott• Manslaughter• Lynching• White supremacy

Original Klan•Formed in the Reconstruction South•Instrument of white racial terror against newly freed slaves•Died out in the 1870s

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/grant/peopleevents/e_klan.html

“… Ku Klux Klan, was formed in Pulaski, Tennessee, in 1865. Originally founded as a social club for former Confederate soldiers, the Klan evolved into a terrorist organization. It would be responsible for thousands of deaths, and would help to weaken the political power of Southern blacks and Republicans.” PBS.org

The NEW Klan•Formed in Stone Mountain, GA•1915•Inspired by D.W. Griffith’s racist movie Birth of a Nation

–Depicted the original KKK as a heroic organization

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/rushmore/gallery/gal_rushmore_05.html

1915, the Daughters of the Confederacy had this sculpture of Robert E. Lee carved into Stone Mountain.

Birth of a Nation•The film depicted the original KKK as a heroic organization•Until 1920, the Klan was limited to a few local chapters in Georgia and Alabama

The Klan Transforms• Hiram W. Evans, a dentist from

Dallas became imperial wizard in 1922

• He hired professional publicists and fund-raisers to recruit members

• They advocated “100% Americanism” and “faithful maintenance of white supremacy”

• Also …– Supported Prohibition– Attacked Darwinism– Attacked birth control

Klan’s New Targets• Original targets were freed slaves

in the 1800s• New Klan made a special target of

the Catholic church– A hostile and dangerous alien power– Catholic and democracy cannot mix

• Presented itself as the righteous defender of the traditional values of small-town Protestant America

• By 1924, more than 3 million members

• President Harding even joined

Klan Tactics Klan Targets•Boycott businesses•Threatened families•Public whippings•Arson•lynching

•Sexually promiscuous•Blasphemy•Drunkenness•Blacks•Catholics•Jews

Women• Half a million joined • Constituted nearly half of the Klan

in some states• Klanswomen drew on family and

community traditions to defend themselves and their families against what they saw as corruption and immorality

Fall of the Klan• 1925, Grand Dragon David C.

Stephenson picked up a young woman at a party, got her drunk on a train with bootleg liquor and assaulted her

• The woman died and Stephenson was convicted of manslaughter

• The most famous leader was disgraced and in jail

• The new Klan began to lose members and influence

• Economic prosperity of the late 1920s also led to its decline

The Klan? Others?• The KKK may not be a very

active organization today, but they do still exist.

• What other “hate groups” exist today?

• Bibliography• Faragher, John Mack , Mari Jo Buhle,

Daniel Czitrom, and Susan H. Armitage. Out of Many: A History of the American People. 3rd ed. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2002.