Hate & Intolerance in the 1920s: The re-emergence of the Ku Klux Klan

Hate & Intolerance in the 1920s: The re-emergence of the Ku Klux Klan US History: Spiconardi

Origins • Founded in 1866 by Confederate soldiers to resist Reconstruction • Focused on intimidating “carpetbaggers” and “scalawags” • What are these terms? • Often used violence, although many members against use of violence • President Grant’s Civil Rights Act of 1871 had ended Klan • Allowed for civil redress against the KKK (you could sue the KKK and gain financial compensation)

Re-emergence of the Klan • Why? • The Birth of a Nation • Film glorifies the original Klan • Creates a mythology about the KKK • Plot • Gus a former slave and murder proposes to a white girl, Flora. • She flees into the forest where Gus chases her • Instead of allowing him to rape her, she leaps to her death • Gus is then lynched by the KKK

The Birth of a Nation Quote from Pres. Wilson’s book A History of the American People, which was used in the film

Re-emergence of the Klan • Why? • Leo Franks • A Jewish man in Atlanta was convicted of raping and murdering a woman • Franks was sentenced to death • New evidence emerges casting doubt on Franks’ guilt • Governor of Georgia commutes the death sentence • KKK kidnaps Franks from jail and lynch him

Re-emergence of the Klan • Why? • Reaction to immigration • As massive amounts of eastern Europeans came to America in the 1910s and 1920s, a new wave of xenophobia hit America • Great Migration • As more and more blacks move to urban centers in the North during WWI, whites became intolerant of blacks

Klan Views • “Native, white, Protestant supremacy” • The rights and interests of white Americans must be protected • Anti-Semitic • Homophobic • Xenophobic

Klan Views

What’s up with that? • The Burning Cross • Taken from a Scottish war tradition, in which soldiers set St. Andrew’s cross on fire to gather their forces • Ku Klux Klan: What does it mean? • Greek for circle, kyklos, and clan combined

Re-Formation The KKK was reformed in Stone Mountain, GA (1915) at a mountain carving depicting figures of the Confederate Army

Re-Formation Why would anyone join a hate group? • By 1924, the Klan reached its peak in membership • Roughly 6 million members

Hate Groups Today

Hate & Intolerance in the 1920s: The re-emergence of the Ku Klux Klan