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The rise and fall of the 1920s ku klux klan
The rise and fall of the 1920s ku klux klan
The United States in the 1920s
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In 1926 American society was changing rapidly through immigration and many races of people were bringing their cultures with them. A man named Hiram W. Evans was the imperial wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. Evans made the argument that these new immigrants were destroying the racial definition of what an American should be. He felt that true Americans were part of the Nordic race because the early pioneers fit into this category. The Klan’s point of view was that America should stay American and maintain this Nordic race of Caucasian people.
Julia Modine Ms. Hoag U.S. History I 12 December 2017 Hiram Wesley Evans effect on America Much of mainstream white, protestant America was ripe for the emergence of a persuasive and unifying cultural ideology in the 1920s that catered to its fears, prejudices and misguided beliefs. The Ku Klux Klan had been around for decades and had always held up the ideal of the original American pioneer stock and their descendents as the true recipients of the American promise. In the mid-20s, the Ku Klux Klan underwent a resurgence in popularity amid growing alarm within a large percentage of middle and working class white men due to increased volume of immigrants competing in the workplace, growing religious sects and racial integration.
Jim Crow laws were still prevalent and continued to restrict their freedom (Doc D). During the 1920s, the American economy took a giant step forward. Economic prosperity put the “roar” into the twenties. A new
During the 1920s, there were many different races, religions, ethnicities, and backgrounds in America. The Progressive Era, which lasted from the 1890s until the 1920s, was a time when industrialization, urbanization, and immigration led to a flood of people coming into America.1 It brought a multitude of new challenges and presented new targets for the Klan. There was much happening at this time regarding basic civil rights. African Americans were free of slavery, but they were not free in many other aspects. Jim Crow Laws were in full effect, segregating their entire lives.
However, by 1925, it was discovered that the KKK was a fraud and very corrupted. This caused the Klan’s influence and membership to decline expeditiously. Notwithstanding, the events that occurred in the 1920’s still had a positive effect on the lives of Americans because social reform during this time was the only reason why the KKK shrunk in size in the first place. Many people were able to become
The Ku Klux Klan first emerged in Pulaski, Tennessee following the Civil War. As we know today, the mere mention of the Klan triggers fear as the KKK is known for its various tactics of violence that came in the form if lynchings, murders, and mutilations. Following their emergence, the KKK were quickly symbolized and portrayed as the protectors of the South, following the defeat of the Southern states in the Civil War and the beginning of the period of Reconstruction by the federal government (Gurr, 1989, p. 132). During the 1920s, the KKK achieved its greatest political success and growth outside of the South. During this period, the membership of the Klan heavily expanded to the states of Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Oklahoma, Colorado, and Oregon, to which the KKK obtained two to two and one-half million members at its apex.
In 1921 the Number of new immigrants shot up to 805,000. Congress started to limit immigration. The Ku Klux Klan started to rise again searching for “Native, White, Protestant, supremacy.” Over time and after a few mishaps by leaders, the KKK’s membership decreased to 50,000. Darwinism was starting become more prevalent.
The Ku Klux Klan movement, and the Conjure religion, are both religious movements that focused on gaining power and control over another race, religion, or situation. However, the Ku Klux Klan movement and those who practiced Conjure had very different motivators. Conjure in the United States originated primarily in the South, and was practiced mainly by Black Americans. Black Americans, whose political and social personhood had been denied during the time of slavery in the South, used Conjure to gain a sense of power and protect themselves from White American masters. In the Race and New Religious Movements in the USA textbook, Document 2 of the Conjure Chapter spoke of a slave, Dinkie, who used Conjure to avoid lashings from the new overseer.
During the 1920’s there was much unrest in America due to the end of World War I. Immigration into the United States was limited, there was Prohibition, strikes and much more. The rise of groups was another thing that was happening during this time period. One such group was the KKK, also known as The Ku Klux Klan. This group was founded in 1866 by many confederate veterans. (Ku Klux Klan 1).
In an attempt to protect the country from the perceived radicals of southern and eastern Europe, the numbers of immigrants allowed into the country was strictly limited as opposed to the numbers that were allowed into the country from northern and western European countries (Tindall & Shi, 2013). The dynamics of the country was changing as many groups of the diverse population embarked on an era of modernization and liberalism, while the previous political traditionalists wished to remain conservative and limit any attempts to expand societal cultures. The traditionalists and pro nativism groups, who were opposed to foreigners, revived the white vigilante group, the Ku Klux Klan (Tindall & Shi, 2013). Attempting to protect society from the African Americans, the Catholics, the Jewish and all modern and liberal ideas, the Ku Klux Klan espoused and promoted their moral ideals and religious fundamentalism as the only way for America to remain conservative.
Sam Beyda 3HR April 26, 2015 History Term Paper “The Klan” “The strongest thing about these Kuklux was that they did not hesitate to unmask themselves when asked to do so; and out of the whole party, none were identified. Every one who saw them says their horses were more beautiful than, and far superior to, any in the country round them. They spoke little, but always to a purpose. (“Movements of the Mystic Klan”, Shelby 1870)” The Ku Klux Klan is a native-born American racist terrorist organization that helped overthrow Republican Reconstruction governments in the South after the Civil War, and peaked during the 1920s.
America underwent a massive evolution of culture in the 1920’s. Many factors contributed to this evolution, both positive and negative. After the end of World War I, America was left in a state of unrest and fear; this fear was worsened by events such as the First Red Scare, the Great Migration, and the return of the Ku Klux Klan. This unrest and fear caused mass violence in America, which prompted the government to pass the Emergency Quota Act and the National Origins Act. These acts were meant to pacify nativists by limiting immigration rates.
The analysis and finding of the Ku Klux Klan is that this extremist group is also associated as a hate group as time evolved with the definition of hate groups and todays extremist Christian groups. This data and finding has been accumulated from research of the origin of the Ku Klux Klan and their extreme actions in carrying out what they believed to be the right forum of saving America from those they identified as not being of American decent. Throughout history they have intimidated those whom are not so called pure white and their belief in racial superiority over all nationalities. These accounts have been verified though quantitative research approach though out history by historians.
The KKK was many times depicted as burning a cross and to them this represented Jesus’ selfless sacrifice that would triumph over any evil like immigration, Catholicism, Bolshevism, and Judaism, but also the cross represented 100 percent Americanism because the KKK protected the American nation by purifying it from any foreign and internal threats. William Simmons argued, “America must close the door to the diseased minds and bodies of foreign lands because the present horde of immigrant invaders composed of Italian Anarchists and Russian Jews deride America and its own ideals.” Simmons illustrates the idea of the KKK’s position against anti-immigration by arguing that if foreign immigrants were allowed into America, they would transform American society and would destroy American ideals, like Protestantism. This shows how American men and women believed that racism, violence, and terrorism was justified in protecting the purity of the White race from immigrants that threatened to destroy the 100 percent pure American ideals that America was founded on. The KKK behaviour in the 1920s showed that they had anxiety about foreign immigrants because the KKK believed that if foreign immigrants were
Introduction The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) is America’s oldest and original domestic terrorist organizations who originated in the United States. The terrorist acts that we see from international terrorist today, is no different than what the KKK has been doing for the past 149 years. From kidnapping to bombing buildings, the KKK was already doing this well before ISIS and Al-Qaeda or any other terrorist group was in the picture. They are an internal terrorist organization that threatened the social stability in America. Like other terrorist group they base their violence on their religious beliefs.
