The Resurgence Of The Ku Klux Klan In The 1920's

The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) is the oldest and most famous white supremacist American hate groups that emerged in 1865 and terrorized African Americans, but lost support during the 1870s due to the passing of the Congressional Ku Klux Act that declared martial law and imposed heavy penalties and military force against the KKK. However, during the 1910s and 1920s, the KKK experienced a national resurgence and recruited approximately five million supporters. The resurgence of the KKK in the 1920s had many radical changes to it, which is most notable in the ideology of the KKK. The ideology of the KKK during the 1920s was not just simply based on the notion of hating African Americans due to the bitter loss of the civil war that ended slavery, but had

Therefore, in order to live a life like Jesus, by sacrificing oneself in order to protect America, the KKK advocated for military discipline in order to preserve Protestantism, which means that the KKK used militant fighting strategies and terrorism until the goals of their organization had been accomplished. For example, William Simmons the first Imperial Wizard of the KKK wrote “The Klan unmasked” where he argued that “we are ready to impose our will, strength, and force against those who deem a threat to the great ideals of American Protestantism, just as Jesus sacrificed himself to protect the ideals of Christianity.” William Simmons illustrates that KKK justified their actions of violence and terrorism they carried out because the KKK believed that they were following the footsteps of Jesus by sacrificing themselves in order to preserve Protestantism in America. Therefore, Protestantism played a major role in the justification and driving force as to making people believe that their actions of racism, violence, and terrorism that they committed were for the greater good of America because it made them believe that they were acting

Historian Kelly J. Baker argues that the three objects of the KKK: the the white fabric, the wooden cross, and the colours of the flag materialized the relationship between Christianity and nationalism as the KKK hoped to achieve a homogenous, white, Protestant America that was free from corrupting influence of diversity in politics, religion, and race. The robes that the KKK wore were designed to match the robes that Protestant clergy members wore and the symbol on the white robes was a tiny blood drip to signify the blood Christ shed to save humanity. The robes that KKK members wore demonstrated how deeply Protestantism was ingrained in the ideology of the KKK because the robes functioned to represent the Klansman’s spiritual purity and their commitment to Jesus. The robes of the KKK demonstrate how ordinary men and women were attracted to the KKK because they believed that becoming a member of the KKK represented their commitment to the Protestant faith as doing the work of Jesus and justified any acts of violence or terrorism they committed as working towards preserving the Protestant faith in America. In 1923, The Knights of the Ku Klux Klan published a weekly newspapers from the Imperial Palace in Atlanta, Georgia