Ku+Klux+Klan+1920

 [|reactionaries]   **Many white Southerners felt in the aftermath of the Civil War. Blacks, having won the ** **Struggle for freedom from slavery, were now faced with a new struggle against ** **widespread racism and the terrorism of the Ku Klux Klan. While the menace of the ** **KKK has peaked and waned over the years, it has never vanished. ** //-The Hundred Years of Terror-Washington Poverty Center // It was a normal night in Georgia. The midnight wind blew silently throughout the sky. Moonlight blanketed the earth, peeking through the trees. The world was hushed except for the echoing chant throughout the forest. “White Power! White Power!” rang out like a shot gun in the lonely woods. A group of men, dressed in snowy white marched into the darkness. A burning cross was the only heat provided. Some men walked and others straddled horses, but all were moving quickly. The herd of long hoods and pointy masks moved closely together, as if they were one. Near the back, two colored boys followed the unidentified men. Their heads hung low and rocked steady with the beat of their walk and they looked in misery. They were captives. No reason at all except for drinking out of the wrong fountain at school. The men saw them and took action that night. Both boys, nearly fifteen knew the result for such an act. Death, was the answer for boys like them. The pack moved deeper into the wood to find the perfect spot. They have done this before. The clearing, beside the creek, would be the most secretive place. When arriving at their destination, the mightiest of the men turned and nodded is pointy white hat. The boys flinched as the rope was removed from their throbbing wrists and they walked to stand beside the tallest pine tree. Men cheered and yelled at the boys, calling them names and taking turns hitting them. Fists hit their heads, rocks and sticks battered their tiny bodies. They could not run, it was to late now. A rope, frayed at one end, was untied from the saddle of a white horse. One hooded man walked towards them slowly, taking heavy thunderous steps. When he reached them, he grasped the rope tightly. Then, grabbing a stone from the ground he attached it to the rope, opposite from the noose. He then threw it over a branch, the rock bringing the rope to the cold earth below. When it hit the ground, other men grabbed it to secure their trap. The boys knew it was over as one was attached to the noose. With I finial cheer and a grunt, the boy was lifted of the ground, kicking his legs. In a moment, it was over. The finial boy stood crying as the body was thrown to the creek. Then he to had the rope wrapped around his neck, lifted up, he was hung. The masked men mounted their horses and relit a new cross. They stood it by the creek’s bank, and the ceremony was over. Riding into the night, the [|Ku Klux Klan], left without a trace. The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) was organized in May of 1866. It was an attempt by southern white [|reactionaries] to reverse the [|Radical Republican Reconstruction Acts]. Most of its leaders and members were former members of the [|Confederate Army]. The Klan in the 1870’s went on a path of destruction. Wearing white masks, with white cardboard hats, rode the southern countryside lynching and killing African- Americans and anyone who sympathized with them. In many respects the Ku Klux Klan was a reaction against southerners losing their sense of white supremacy. Feeling that the civil war had undermined their southern way of life especially by allowing blacks to vote the Klan was committed to reverse the Radical Reconstruction plan. More than anything else the KKK was determined to reverse Reconstruction efforts to make blacks the equal of whites. For the better part of the remainder of the 19th century the KKK acted outside the law in its killing and torturing of African -Americans. Yet it would be the rebirth of the Klan and its second coming in the 1920s where for a moment the Ku Klux Klan would act out its agenda of racism with significant political power. In that moment the Klan transitioned from just a reactionary fringe movement to a credible political organization. At the turn of the century especially in 1915 the KKK was reformed. Its new leader, [|William J Simmons] redirected the Klan on the basis of [|Thomas Dixon’s]book, __The Ku Klux Klan__ as well as, the film concerning the book: //Birth of a Nation// directed by[|D.W. Griffith](spartacus.schoolnet). In //Birth of a Nation// the film depicted white confederate soldiers returning home to find that their homesteads had been destroyed and that blacks were in a protected status by Reconstruction. The film contained many emotional scenes, however, the scene that represents the birth of the reconstituted KKK of the 20th century portrays a dejected Confederate soldier and his sweetheart being saved by Ku Klux Klan members galloping wearing white sheets, saving the couple, as well as, symbolically saving the south. The first viewing of the movie was in Grand Forks, North Dakota. It was sold out for weeks. The movie eventually made its way across the nation and the Klan was reborn by this play on sentiment and emotion, but more importantly on racism, as well. In November of 1915, the imperial Wizard Simmons gathered new and former Klan members to announce that the Ku Klux Klan had been revived. The Ku Klux Klan meeting in Atlanta in 1915 attracted a significant amount of publicity. It was through this publicity that the Klan was able to become more than just a southern influence. In 1922 Hiram W. Evans became the Imperial Wizard. The new Klan of the 1920’s formed itself on the basis of trying to be elected to achieve political power. Although there was a continued movement of the KKK to continue to lynch southern African-Americans. Evans tried to direct the organization to become politically involved. By 1925, membership in the Ku Klux Klan reached 4 million people (sparticus.schoolnet) In the 1920's the Ku Klux Klan took up the pledge under the motto, “the Klan's fight for Americanism". (Paxton, 1). The Klan traveled around the country mainly the south and the mid-west to sell 10$ packages to individuals in order to become Klan members. In the package there was information about vigilante activities, and also a small kit to explain who to hate. In this kit, the Klan outlined its enemies. Again, these enemies included liberals, immigrants, Catholics, Jews, and people of color. “In 1920 alone, the Klan sold 100,000 packages". (McClymer, 2). In 1924, at the Democratic Party national convention, the Klan believed that they could influence American politics. At the time, a Catholic, Al Smith of New York made a speech to the party asking the Democrats to condemn the Ku Klux Klan. Smith asked the party to vote on his motion. However, the party voted not to support Smith's call to condemn the KKK, reflecting the influence the Klan had within the party at the time. Therefore, it appears that the Ku Klux Klan had influenced the Democratic Party in 1924. In fact the Klan’s influence was so disruptive to the Democratic Party it took 103 ballots to nominate John Davis from West Virginia as the presidential candidate. The power of the KKK can be measured by the fact that they were a national influence. Their power was found in the 1920's in Midwestern states and communities where they effectively carried out their policy against groups that they believed that were harming the United States. It was not uncommon that the Ku Klux Klan was the real police force in many local southern and Midwestern communities. The Klan would close a movie down if they thought it was immoral, furthermore they would publicly "out" a teacher who they considered too liberal. The KKK was particularly active in public and school libraries in banning books that they believed were offensive. Therefore, the Ku Klux Klan worked under the radar where without national scrutiny they could carry out there policies. The Klan would monitor state and local elections to make sure that the "right" Candidate was elected. The Klan of the 1920's was considered the "Second Klan" (McClymer,3). The first Klan formed immediately after the Civil War where they practiced murder, burning, and lynching, avoiding a more ingenious plan of trying to infiltrate the political process. The Klan of the 1920's kept their racist agenda and actions down and secretive. The Klan worked on organization and membership as trying to develop a political base. In many respects the Klan tried to work within the system to make sure the purity of American ideals, as they perceived them to be. It was in 1924 that the membership of the Ku Klux Klan nationally has reached its greatest height. Consistently within the year 1924, the months between June and September witnessed a major increase in Klan membership. In 1924 according to the New York Times, Five states political directions were controlled by the Ku Klux Klan (NY Times, 1924). These states were Oregon, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Indiana. During that same year the New York Times noted that in fourteen states the Klan was gaining power as a political force. These states included Washington, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia and Maryland. Ironically, the Klan was Losing some of its influence in southern states such as, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Tennessee. Additionally, the New York Times ran a headline, on October 27th 1923, which read "Hooded Band Sways Elections in Seven States and Dreams of Controlling in Others". (New York Times, October 27th, 1923). “In 1922 Texas voters sent Klansman Earl Mayfield to the U.S. Senate, and Klan campaigns helped defeat two Jewish congressmen who had headed the Klan inquiry. Klan efforts were credited with helping to elect governors in Georgia, Alabama, California and Oregon. In Colorado, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Indiana, and Ohio, the Klan also achieved major power between 1921 and 1924”. (Southern Poverty Law Center) There are those who believe that the Klan was a radical fringe group in the early 1920s, however, when an organization such as the Ku Klux Klan can influence elections in seven states, it must be considered a strong political influence. The 1924 presidential election indicated just how strong the KKK was in the political arena. The Klan had tried to pas itself off as a progressive institution, however, they were interested in the progressive form that would aid whites that would include, turning the nations back on immigrants and the other areas in the population that the KKK felt were marginal. That presidential election that year was entitled “a Klan Bake”, the Ku Klux Klan had many delegates n the convention floor and they were able to vote down a measure that would condemn them in front of the entire convention. Besides opposing the Democratic candidate Al Smith for his stance on prohibition, and being a Catholic, the KKK formed a Third Party and ran their own presidential candidate. The Ku Klux Klan ran on their presidential ticket William McAdoo, a representative from California and the son- in -law of former President Woodrow Wilson. McAdoo did not have the experience to become president and yet, the Ku Klux Klan was able to run a third party as a legitimate ticket where Membership in states with the largest number of active Klan members included eleven states. The eleven states included Indiana, Ohio, Texas, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Oklahoma, New York, Michigan, Georgia, New Jersey, and Florida. (Jackson, Document 1). Jackson also indicated that there were over one million members in five Midwestern states. Again, the Ku Klux Klan was not a fringe extreme group with those types of numbers of members. Jackson discovered that Klan members were in every type of job be it white or blue collard. Clearly the Klan was having an impact on the political process of 1924 whether America like it or not. In the Southern Poverty Law Center’s exposition on //The Hundred Years of Terror// it noted: “Although politicians became increasingly uncomfortable with Klan allies as a result of the turmoil, the success of the Klan candidates across the nation in 1924 buoyed Evans' spirits. His notoriety peaked with a parade of 40,000 Klansmen down Washington's Pennsylvania Avenue to the Washington Monument in August 1925. Evans boasted of having helped re-elect Coolidge, of having secured passage of strict anti-immigration laws and of having checked the ambitions of Catholics and others intent on "perverting" the nation. All in all, the Klan was riding high in the saddle.”(Southern Poverty Law Center) The coming of the Second Klan understood the importance of their involvement in the political process. This goal bridges from the 1920’s to present day. The KKK views them as a white rights movement. In many respects the Klan sees themselves as the last hope for America. In the end, the ultimate goal of the KKK is to use the political process to forward their racist agenda. As the 1920's became a period prosperity, Americans turned inward towards them and adopted a consumer approach to the modern world. The hate that the KKK spread was drowned out Americans being fully employed and being able to buy consumer goods such as cars, and other durable goods. In short, America was working for that decade. The Ku Klux Klan’s agenda lost steam and fell by the wayside. For that brief moment in 1924, the Ku Klux Klan used its political power to try and influence the national agenda. Never again, would the organization occupy a position of such political importance. Yet it is important to know that a group that advertises hate and bigotry came close to achieving major political power.
 *  The Ku Klux Klan's long history of violence grew out of the resentment and hatred. **<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 200%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times-Roman','serif'; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Times-Roman; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-language: X-NONE">