Category: Ku Klux Klan

In reality however, when considering the hypocrisy and lack of evolution after his initial revival of the organisation, he was not as important as he suggested. His ‘knights’ exercised the lynching of accused murderer Leo Frank for killing young factory worker Mary Phagan after not receiving a life sentence. Despite gaining Northern industrialist support as a direct result, this was ultimately insignificant because these groups were popular among fraternally structured organisations already and the court case that followed resulted in a slow decline in interest. In October 1921 the US House Committee on Rules considered the violent nature of the klan after a ‘New York World’ exposé, increasing short-term publicity (though negative) but loosing traction after William Simmons was acquitted; arguing again that it was still a fraternal organisation.

Regardless, William Simmons’ was important in terms of his understanding that any press is good press – separate from Edward Young Clarke. Whether consciously or unconsciously; he put the idea of an invisible empire aside, realizing that, ‘it wasn’t until the newspapers began to attack the klan that it really grew’ while, the result of the congress was ‘the best advertising we ever got; congress made us’. He was right – the Times published a statement a year before his retirement, in 1921 that they were ‘honored by being threatened by the Ku Klux Klan’. Similarly, William Simmons’ Atlanta charter took part in ‘whippings, tar-and feather raids and acid branding of the letters KKK on the foreheads of blacks, Jews and other ‘anti-Americans’. William Simmons denied any involvement of knowledge of such violence and many went under the radar because officials were either turning a blind eye or involved, he still gained from the exposure. Nevertheless, the klan ‘struggled to exist’ under William Simmons’ jurisdiction, particularly in his first five years because, despite his ideological focus on propaganda, this was actually a clawing bid to drum up membership. In comparison, membership spiked in 1920 when William Simmons signed a contract with the publicists Edward Young Clarke and Elizabeth Tyler. Similarly, membership hit its highest peak in 1925 during Hiram Wesley Evans’ time as wizard (during which Edward Young Clarke still held authority).

Edward Young Clarke acted as a mediatory form of the imperial wizard in his own right, before being elected. He redirected targeted violent sentiment toward African Americans, Jews, Catholic, Asians (particularly the Vietnamese), bootleggers, sexual deviance alongside ultra-American sentiment. This was incredibly successful, with the klan growing from just a few thousand in June 1920 to 100,000 new members by the end of 1921 – of which provided a tax-free $10 each. Furthermore, Edward Young Clarke’s influence reached beyond the interior of the klan, having published the politician and ‘Birth of A Nation’ filmmaker Thomas Dixon Jr’s book the ‘Flaming Sword’ in 1939. Aside from his influence alone, this highlights Edward Young Clarke’s importance in keeping this klan alive into the 20th century. However, we must remember that, akin to William Simmons and Hiram Wesley Evans, he was not necessarily above interior klan politics – telling President Calvin Coolidge that Hiram Wesley Evans ‘turned the klan into a cheap political machine’. Regardless, he still had the ear of the president and thereby retains his importance to some extent.

Secondly, this era of klan resembled a pyramid scheme as 80% of the klan’s profits were divided between Edward Young Clarke and Elizabeth Tyler – which also contributed to increasing corruptive klan practices, laying the foundations for the klan’s eventual demise after the IRS convicted them of fraud in 1965 under President Johnson. Similarly, in 1924 Edward Young Clarke acted in a truly klan-like manner, charged under the Mann Act for attacking a young woman who worked for him, diminishing his importance in terms of reputation though the klan was in disrepair by 1944. Furthermore, he was only as good as William Simmons in that they were intrinsically linked to each other. Thereby, when William Simmons was essentially ‘kicked upstairs’ after Hiram Wesley Evans simultaneously gave him the title of lifetime ‘Imperial Emperor’ in order to maintain his ‘popularity with older segments of the order’ while taking away all his practical power, Edward Young Clarke would also feel its effects. William Simmons, whose lawyer was soon murdered by Hiram Wesley Evans’ press agent which Hiram Wesley Evans denied complicity. In 1924, Evans paid William Simmons $145,000 for a promise to abandon the latter’s claim to Klan leadership. Nevertheless, Simmons was important in that he carried on this ideological legacy even after he was retired. Upon ‘leaving’ in 1924, Simmons sold the contractual rights of the klan to the klan corporation in exchange for $146,000, stating that he was ‘like general Lee at Appomattox – without the men nor munitions to carry on’. Relating himself to Robert Lee and the Confederate Army, he equates their surrender to a white supremacist struggle exaggerating his own contribution toward the cause.

Alternatively, Hiram Wesley Evans was the most important leader for the development of the klan outside the South, while being a ‘ranting’ but nonetheless passionate figure – even appearing on the front cover of ‘Time Magazine’ in 1924. Unlike the Reconstruction Klan – which was almost exclusively democratic and confined to the deep South, under Hiram Wesley Evans’ leadership all 48 states were covered. Moreover, in June 1924, Hiram Wesley Evans, the national leader or ‘Imperial Wizard’ of the klan, successfully used the ‘Republican National Convention’ in Cleveland as a way of getting a foot in the political door – bringing 60 other klansmen as a collective act that was far from ‘invisible’. Moreover, his feature spread on the front page of the Times in June 23rd of 1924, he militantly argued that ‘he would not allow any political party to own or disown the Ku Klux Klan’; attending the Democratic Convention in New York City later that year. In this sense, Hiram Wesley Evans was more important; building on William Simmons’ legacy with a wider cooperative outlook in exchange for wider reach and more indirect political influence.

Although William Simmons targeted industrialists, Hiram Wesley Evans was more specific – condemning them for ‘transforming workers into commodities’ and aiming publicity more toward skilled laborers and small-scale proprietors undergoing economic hardship. Hiram Wesley Evans was speaking to the context in which ‘unskilled labour lowered American standards of living’, after immigrants resided in the cities. . Nevertheless, this restricts his importance as a leader because, although fitting with white supremacist, isolationist ideology, it limited potential industrialist klan outreach. Furthermore, Hiram Wesley Evans furthered interior feuds; particularly with William Simmons both before and after his retirement – reducing both their levels of importance. Such feuds prevented the klan from being a coherent, evolving entity with one joint cause, while it tarnished their reputation among political circles. Similarly, after his forced retirement, William Simmons attempted to create similar white supremacist organization for women which only furthered the feud after Hiram Wesley Evans responded by making another women’s group and suing his group. On the other hand, Hiram Wesley Evans’ decision to move the klan’s offices to Washington D.C emphasizes his importance as a tactical leader – the move was a means of reducing publicity regarding the murder of William Simmons by Hiram Wesley Evans’ lawyer in

On the whole, defining what constitutes an important leader of an organization that takes pride in its ‘invisibility’ isn’t simple because we cannot necessarily decipher who was or wasn’t involved. Upon retirement, William Simmons embodied this implicatory sentiment – saying ‘I can never retire from the real klan’. We also can’t pinpoint to what extent the ‘invisibility’ was a threatening cover up of the actual, much less powerful reality of both the revived organizations complicit with bias and self-important leadership. For instance, William Simmons’ embellishment that his klan had 5 million members would, seemingly, make him seem like the most important figure however this figure comes into question when other estimates suggest it ranged from 2.5 to 5 million – making 5 million a huge leap. Similarly, Edward Young Clarke also exaggerated numbers; making a statement that in three months 48,000 new supporters were added to klan rosters. Taking into consideration what can actually be known, Hiram Wesley Evans’ era as wizard saw the highest peak of klan membership (in 1925) using what is seemingly the most accurate membership records, even if embellished.

Statistically speaking, Edward Young Clarke was nonetheless the main catalyst in increasing membership, making him particularly important in 1921 when membership became national. Receiving two dollars and fifty cents for each new sign up, Edward Young Clarke would have ‘occasionally yielded thirty thousand dollars per week’. Moreover, although it may seem as though he was just economically riding off the klan’s re-establishment – having worked with the Red Cross and Anti-Saloon league beforehand, he successfully carried both eras of klan into militant, uncompromising and cooperative organizations. He launched the Watcher on the Tower klan publication, bruised himself with expanding the treasury (as was typical of pyramid schemes in the 1920s) and he invested in real estate. His approach was more practical in comparison to William Simmons’ ritualistic, yet empty, speeches and Hiram Wesley Evans’ ‘costly and elaborate’ parade down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington as a ‘spectacular last grab to scotch rumours that the klan was dying’. This desperate attempt to, once again, make the klan seem bigger than it was with 22 men side by side in the parade to add false depth to the klan’s membership reduces Hiram Wesley Evans’ importance.

Nevertheless, William Simmons was more important than Hiram Wesley Evans for laying the ideological foundations for the klan and successfully getting the State of Georgia to grant a ‘charter’ for the ‘origination’ of the ‘invisible empire’ as a fraternity. This made him important because it acted as an excuse for the years that followed, allowing the klan to remain adaptable in a variety of scenarios, using specific contexts for to further their own purposes. Nevertheless, this judgement isn’t substantiated without point out that importance also correlated to different presidents with William Simmons’ klan having easier ideological relations with the segregationalist and lost cause fighter – president Woodrow Wilson. Whereas, Hiram Wesley Evans’ klan had to contend with Warren G. Harding who’s the anti-lynching bill was antagonistic to the white supremacist cause. In conclusion, following its disappearance as a coherent entity by 1944, the klan was ‘never as unified’ nor as productive as it was in the 1920’s – when the most important leader for the klan’s propaganda movement its economic and political and development, Edward Young Clarke signed his first klan contract.

Bibliography

1. Alexander, Charles C., The Ku Klux Klan in the Southwest’, (Kentucky: University Press of Kentucky, 2015)
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16. Simcovitch, Maxim, ‘The Impact of Griffith’s Birth of a Nation on the Modern Ku Klux Klan’, Journal of Popular Film 1 (1972) 45-54
17. Wade, Wyn Craig, The Fiery Cross: The Ku Klux Klan in America (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998)
18. Young, Julia G, ‘Making America 1920 Again? Nativism and US Immigration, past and Present’, Journal on Migration and Human Studies, 5 (2018), 217-235

Defining Cults in American History

Historians and philosophers have long debated if there can ever be a true definition of a “cult.” Some have said the difference between a cult and a religion is about two or three generations. Once a cult has survived for that long and appears that future generations will subscribe to the same beliefs, it makes the transition from a cult to a religion. Others believe cults are defined by a brainwashing and highly charismatic leader who indoctrinates their followers to believe they are something they are not. This definition differentiates cult leaders from religious leaders, whose role is to deliver the teachings of their religion and not coerce the public for their own agenda. Most people believe cults are a combination of both definitions, but all agree that cults are more totalitarian, authoritarian, and isolating than religions. Normally, one can live a normal life while being a member of a religious group, but cults often force their members to live away from society with all of the other followers, allowing mob mentality to affect their decisions and actions. The first amendment protects the American people’s freedom of religion, speech, press, and their right to assemble, creating a culture that for over two-hundred years has allowed for violent cults to rise up and commit atrocious acts of murder and savagery. Taking advantage of both their first amendment rights and the social climate at their respective times, the Puritans, the Ku Klux Klan, the International Peace Mission Movement, the People’s Temple, and the Manson Family all were able to acquire large followings and make radical changes during their existence.

The Puritans: America’s First Cult?

The Great Puritan Migration of the 1620s, when Puritans from England fled to the New World, marked the beginning of the United States of America. Some have argued that the Puritans’ extreme religious measures were the first cult in America and paved the way for other cults to form later in history. In Adam Morris’s book, American Messiahs: False Prophets of a Damned Nation, he writes, “the impulse to purify the group through separation from mainstream society, now regarded as the signature of a cult, could not be more fundamental to the nation’s history.” The Puritans did not leave England because they were oppressed, but because they were fanatics. Their goal was to buildta “city uponta hill,” wheretequality prevailed andtprivate property wastabolished. However, their actions were not completely consistent with their words. Their desire for religious tolerance was exclusively for themselves, and if someone did not agree with their beliefs they were labeled a heretic and shunned. Furthermore, the Puritans lived in compact villages and homes as opposed to a spread-out homestead; they were relatively isolated from world trade and they were severely religious. One could only live amongst the Puritans if they shared their same radical religious beliefs. While there were religious shifts and changes in the next 100 years, the next major cult/movement that arose was the Ku Klux Klan in the late 19th century.

The Ku Klux Klan: From Reconstruction to Modern Times

From the 16th to the 19th century, the brutal and violent treatment of African-Americans in the United States ultimately culminating with the Civil War in Following the Civil War, a social club was formed for Confederate veterans in Pulaski, Tennessee. In 1865, they named themselves the name Ku Klux Klan (KKK), which they derivedtfrom the Greek wordtkyklos, meaningtcircle. People fromtall ranks of society joined the Klan with the hope of getting rid oftRepublican influence in the South by terrorizingtand murdering itstparty leaders and all thosetwho voted for it. They elected Confederate generaltNathan Bedford Forrest as their first leader and gave him the titletof grand wizard. Clothed in white masks and robes, the first KKK sought to promote white supremacy and get rid of the newly given freedom the Republicans gave to blacks using violence and fear. Their dress both frightened superstitious African-Americans and prevented the federal troops from identifying them and became a symbol of white supremacy. Through a series of nighttime raids, the KKK violently whipped and killed free blacks and their white supporters. The 19th century Klan was responsible for the restoration of white rule in many parts of the South. However, due to the group’s excessive violence and pressure from the government, Forrest disbanded the group in 1869. Congress responded by passing the Force Act in 1870 and the Ku Klux Klan Act in 1871. These bills enabled federal authorities to punish anyone who tried to interfere with the freedom of blacks and allowed the president to impose harsh penalties on terrorist groups. But by the time these bills passed in the 1870s, the KKK had achieved their goal of white power in the South and did not feel the need to continue their violent actions, so the Ku Klux Klan Act was declared unconstitutional and repealed. The first Ku Klux Klan was violent and goal-oriented, and the second Klan took those characteristics to a new, awful level.

The second Klan started around four decades later when Colonel William J. Simmons encountered Thomas Dixon’s book The Clansman (1905) and D.W. Griffith’s film The Birth of a Nation (1915). Both the book and the film glorified the first Klan and promoted hateful rhetoric concerning the topic of African-Americans, inspiring Simmons to bring back the Klan in late 1915. The second KKK used propaganda and fundraisers to reach larger audiences than the first and spread a hateful and supremacist message. Fueled by patriotism and a longing for the old South, the KKK reached its peak of four million members in the 1920s, developing their now infamous white robes and burning cross to become symbols of their organization. Marches, parades, and nighttime cross burnings started to occur all over the country, and they did not just target blacks; Roman Catholics, Jews, and foreigners were also victims of the KKK’s terrorism. The Great Depression in the 1930s served as the downfall for the organization because people could not afford the membership anymore, leading to its temporary end in 1944. The KKK reappeared in the political scene during the 1960s when the Civil Rights movement was well underway. Klansmen would kill and terrorize anyone supporting equal rights for blacks, drawing inspiring non-Klan members to join them because of their fanatic rhetoric. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) finally stepped in and were able to The Ku Klux Klan left its mark on America by taking thousands of lives and perpetuating racism against blacks.

Father Divine and the International Peace Mission Movement

In the early 1930s, Father Divine, a prominent African-American religious leader, heard the sermons of a preacher on the streets of Philadelphia who called himself Jehoviah. These sermons served as the bedrock for Father Divine’s belief that he was equivalent to God. He forbade the use of “hello” among his people because it contained the word “hell,” so instead, his followers greeted one another with “peace.” Here lies the beginning of his movement, the International Peace Mission Movement. Father Divine required his potential followers, or “angels” as he called them, to sever any kinship ties so they could not be persuaded to change their minds about their new religion. By the 1940s, his movement controlled millions in real estate and had spread around the world. John Lamb, Father Divine’s secretary, credited the sudden success of Divine’s movement to the economic and political turmoil of the Great Depression. Lamb believed that the lack of wealth the Americans had meant that they no longer felt they had a higher purpose in life, and turned to Father Divine to help change their lives. Ruth Boaz, a former member of the Peace Mission Movement, wrote in her book Life with Father Divine about his ability to “capture the minds of sincere people and bend them to his will.” His skillful manipulation of his followers combined with their mob mentality meant that they were willing to do whatever Father Divine wanted because they believed he was their God. Following Father Divine’s instructions, his followers practiced a form of communism without even realizing it; they worked for little to no money, pooled their resources, and benefited from the common good.

Jim Jones and the Tragic End of the People’s Temple

Jim Jones came across Father Divine’s seemingly successful system of economic cooperation in 1956 and decided to start his Pentecostal congregation: The People’s Temple. Jones, a white man from Indiana, tried to appeal to the African-American community by preaching for social activism and racial equality. However, the whole time Jones was lying about his true goals, hiding his desire for socialism from his followers. Before Jones met Father Divine, he even called himself an atheist. Religion, to Jones, was only a way to reach the masses and help him take advantage of the social climate at the time. While Jones appeared to his community as a promoter of a peaceful interracial society, he really believed in immediate, radical action, and strongly encouraged his followers to tithe heavily. By the time his church had started to spread throughout communities, he started referring to his church as a movement and focused on expanding his following as opposed to spreading his original message. Instead of being wholesome and inclusive, he was superficial and greedy, affected heavily by drugs and mental illness. Not everyone saw_____ Jones needed to move the location of his Temple to another place. He chose the city Jonestown in the Republic of Guyana. After the People’s Temple had relocated to Jonestown, Jones, affected heavily by drugs and paranoia, told his followers that America was taken over by Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan, and there was no hope of returning. Jones used the biggest fears of his followers to manipulate them into staying with him and not returning to, what he claimed to be, fascist America. On November 18, 1978, Jones indoctrinated his followers to believe that it was better to die for socialism than live under fascism. As a result, over 900 people drank a mixture of Kool-Aid infused with cyanide and tranquilizers and subsequently died from the poisoning. The Jonestown massacre marked the end of the previously tolerant attitude of the American people regarding idiosyncratic religious movements.

Charles Manson: Misinterpreting Music and Leading a Murderous Cult

The 1960s were racist, violent, full of drugs, and the start of The Beatles’ popularity. Everyone in America was listening to their music, making their albums become huge hits and constant chart-toppers. Since The Beatles’ audience was so big and full of different perspectives, people interpreted their music in different ways. Most people listened to the beats of the songs and just danced to them. Others would listen to the lyrics and revel in their brilliance. But one man, Charles Manson, had a completely different perception of their music that ultimately led to the murder of nine people. Growing up, Manson’s life was not easy. One month after his birth, his 16-year-old single mother was imprisoned for armed robbery. He lived with his aunt and uncle until 1967, when he moved to San Francisco. At the time, psychedelic drugs played a huge part in social life. Manson used drugs such as LSD and psychedelic mushrooms to lure young hippies to him. He began to attract a small,tdevout group of followerstfrom the city’s bohemiantyouth. By the next year, he was the leader of a communal religious cult, or as he called it, his “Family.” Manson would teach his eccentric religious and spiritual beliefs, which derived from science fiction, and they would implement worshipping his beliefs into their daily routines. The prevalence of hallucinogenic drugs combined with the free spirits of teenagers in the 60s meant that many desired to be a part of his inclusive, tight Family. One of Manson’s followers, Paul Watkins, wrote in his book My Life With Charles Manson that “Charlie’s wanted to program [his followers] to submit: to give up [their] egos, which, in a spiritual sense, is a lofty aspiration. As rebels within a materialistic, decadent culture, [they] could dig it.” Since his following was expanding, he decided to move down to Los Angeles, California. Here is where Manson decided to start his rock and roll career by becoming friends with Dennis Wilson from the Beach Boys. Through Wilson, he gained a lot of celebrity connections, including the famous producer Terry Melcher. Manson had an intense love for music and eventually, his interpretation of the popular song Helter Skelter became the catalyst of his killing sprees. The Beatles featured the song Helter Skelter on their 1968 album, the White Album. While the phrase “helter skelter” means intense confusion, the Beatles did not use it for that meaning. As stated by Paul McCartney in The Beatles Anthology, the song “is a ridiculous song about slides…it’s loud and messy ’cause [McCartney] like[s] noise.” However, this is not the way Manson interpreted the popular song. He said that he believed the lyrics to be a subliminal message from the Beatles about a bloody,tapocalyptic race war that wastabout to start. In response to the racial protests and riots that were occurring everywhere in America, Manson began to use the words “helter skelter” to describe what he believed to be an oncoming, chaotic racial conflict.

The Beatles’ song completely changed the Manson Family and their agenda. Watkins noted that before Helter Skelter came along, all Charlie cared about were orgies, drugs, and odd religious rituals, but after the album, everything was different. The Manson Family sent telegrams, letters and phone calls to try to invite the Beatles to join them beforetthe race war, but they couldn’ttreach the band. So instead, they focused their energy on Manson’s music, which conveyed his fears about the race war. Manson moved his Family out to Spahn Ranch, an old movie set, and Manson had total control over the group. Manson hoped his friend Terry Melcher would produce his music, but Melcher rejected him. Soon after this rejection, Melcher moved out of Los Angeles and Roman Polanski and Sharon Tate moved into his old home. While initially Manson thought that the first crimes would be committed bytAfrican-Americans against whites, after his music career failed to take off he blamed the rich people. He told his followers that they would have to begin HeltertSkelter themselves, committing savage crimes in upscaletneighborhoods in an attempt totshow the African-Americans how the violence should be carried out. On August 8, 1969, five of Manson’s followers drove to Melcher’s old house and killed the five people inside— including pregnant actress Sharon Tate. The next night, another group of his followers drove around the wealthy parts of Los Angeles and randomly chose to kill the LaBiancas, using their blood to write “Helter Skelter” on the walls.

Bibliography

1. Bissell, Tom. “How Cults Made America.” The New Yorker. The New Yorker, April 24, 2019. https://www.newyorker.com/books/under-review/how-cults-corrected-america.
2. Boaz, Ruth, and Grace P. Schafer. Life with Father Divine. New York: Carlton Press, 1971.
3. Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Force Acts.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. Accessed October 12, 2019. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Force-Acts.
4. D’Mello, Bernard. “What Is Maoism?” Monthly Review, An Independent Socialist Magazine, July 1, 2015. https://monthlyreview.org/commentary/what-is-maoism/.
5. “FATHER DIVINE, International Peace Mission Movement.” Father Divine, 2006. http://peacemission.info/father-divine/.
6. Fleischacker, Sam. “Cult vs. Religion: What’s the Difference?” baltimoresun.com, June 4, 2019. https://www.baltimoresun.com/opinion/bs-xpm-2011-10-13-bs-ed-mormons-20111013-story.html.
7. “Freedom: A History of US.” THIRTEEN- Media with Impact. Picture History and Educational Broadcasting Corporation, 2002. https://www.thirteen.org/wnet/historyofus/web03/segment2.html.
8. “Grant, Reconstruction and the KKK.” PBS. Public Broadcasting Service, 2016. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/grant-kkk/.
9. Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple. Firelight Media, 2006.
10. Lamb, John. The Word of God Revealed. Philadelphia, PA: New Day Publishing Company, 1974.
11. Mailman, Erika. “What Happened After Jonestown?” Rolling Stone, November 16, 2018. https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/jonestown-jim-jones-bodies-memorial-756320/.
12. Morris, Adam. American Messiahs False Prophets of a Damned Nation. Liveright Pub Corp, 2019.
13. Pfeiffer, Lee, and Dick Lehr. “The Birth of a Nation.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. Accessed October 1, 2019. https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Birth-of-a-Nation#ref1216929.
14. Melton, J. Gordon. “Father Divine.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., September 6, 2019. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Father-Divine.
15. Rodia, Tina, and Tina School of Arts & Sciences. “Is It a Cult, or a New Religious Movement?” Penn Today, August 29, 2019. https://penntoday.upenn.edu/news/it-cult-or-new-religious-movement.
16. Sam Woolfe, Whette Fahrtz, and Lama Surya Das. “Differences Between a Cult and Religion.” Sam Woolfe, March 29, 2018. https://www.samwoolfe.com/2013/05/differences-between-cult-and-religion.html.
17. “The Clansman.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. Accessed October 12, 2019. https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Clansman.

Radical White Supremacy

From the ashes of a deceased Confederacy rose the newly obtained freedom of the former slave. In his wake, the freedman brought with him uncertainty and disunion, laying the foundation for one of the widest ideological divides in American history – the Era of Reconstruction. Initially a period of rehabilitation and effort to pay reparations to the freedman, the enactment of more progressive legislation in Reconstruction era America was abandoned in principle in its final stretch as a result of utter lack of enforcement (The Klanwatch Project). With its inception being one that was supervised by a liberal, Republican government, Reconstruction promised a new domain of recuperation and hope for the freedman that it would ultimately never deliver on given the progress-paralyzing victory of the Democratic Party in 1875 (Gates). The stride towards racial reform was crippled by the Democratic agitation to codify white privilege. The radical and tyrannizing movements that coupled this propensity for racially charged jurisprudence, namely the Ku Klux Klan, however, saw a decline in the closing years of the era. But despite the slump of the notorious KKK in the early 1870s, the hate group – motivated by a deeply-seated intent to cement white supremacy into America’s political order – that terrorized the freedmen of the nation not only thoroughly scarred the public consciousness regarding racial hierarchy but also by extension, America’s socio political trajectory as a whole (The Klanwatch Project). As such, the prompt disappearance of the Klan was, contrary to the interpretation of the trend at the time, indicative of their consequential triumph. The Klan’s receding membership wasn’t demonstrating accession of any form but rather, that a successfully situated white authority simply deemed its existence no longer necessary. The diminishing presence of the Ku Klux Klan in Post-Reconstruction America was in actuality a testament to the inauguration of a white dominion.

Reconstruction and the fundamental doctrine of amending injustice was hailed, at least by the freedman, with optimism and sanguine expectation. Progressive sentiments persisted for the most part even near the conclusion of Republican political authority in the United States, inciting greater measures of hope for the campaign of civil justice and equity. This was especially so with the ratification and enforcement of the Ku Klux Klan Acts, namely, the last of three that attempted to impose moral direction on racial violence – the Third Force Act. One of the last instances of Republican legislation that actively endorsed rights of former slaves, the Third Force Act afforded President Ulysses S. Grant the grounds to declare martial law in the presence of civil rights violations, rebuke terrorist organizations, and wield the unique power of federal intervention in furthering the movement for civil rights (United States Senate), demonstrating not only the imperative role government plays in facilitating racial equity, but also the capacity to which it could affect change – a capacity that would not be employed to the same extent come an ascendancy of Democrat-enforced sanctions on such exercises of power in the White House. What was thought to be a measure that would “extinguish the KKK for the balance of the 19th century” (Smith) through the prosecution and indictments of Klan members, however, witnessed no change in the socio political dogma of the white southerners that buttressed the egregious torment that was incurred upon the freedman. The period following the 1876 presidential election woefully saw to it that these initial commitments of the United States federal government would be rendered fruitless. The frequency and intensity of hate crimes levied against freed slaves were indeed dampened, but the resistance of the prevailing political agenda to the continuance of Republican doctrines of more liberalistic headway made evident the reversal of progress that the slowing of the KKK stood to represent (The Klanwatch Project). The contested Election of 1876 played an integral role in this trend of upturning America’s socio poliltical footwork towards interracial democracy, producing a compromise to the split electoral vote that put in power a Republican face in return for “a promise to end Reconstruction and withdraw federal troops from the South” (Bridges). Hereafter, the abortive efforts of the Republicans to defend the welfare of the now solitary freedman were officially and in all respects abandoned. What’s more, this roiling of racial unification harmonized immaculately with a declining Ku Klux Klan. This legislative displacement of power and policy made in favor of Democratic values of securing a white America made clear that no longer would there exist a need for organized and frequent brutality. The United States federal government might have had the capacity to garner capital to fight wars or work to revitalize the economy but now absent was the support and constitutional will to advocate for universal civil rights. Racial injustice would be an unquenchable parasite for longer still – especially by virtue of a disseminated Klan.

Yet another irreparable strike to and sponsor of the bleeding democracy that underscored post-Reconstruction America was the utilization of media as a vehicle to further personal prejudices and endorsements, as well as the flagrant idealization of the Klan among white southerners. Chronicle and press served as a smokescreen under which existed no expectation or standard for neutrality – an unobstructed platform through which a structure of beliefs in formidable support of the Klan’s ideology was amassed and came to convincingly justify the behaviors of the Klan. Ku Klux Klan members were demonstrated to be heros with the intention of appealing to the senses of excitement and violence (Railton). As such, white southerners who chose to believe that white was and ought to be the only color of the South only became further entrenched in their aspirations and saw the Klanmen as a regulating force necessary in protecting their interests in a time of political turmoil (Johnson). The reality was that the Ku Klux Klan reflected the values, ideals and creed of white America at the time. It was both a product and substantial contributor to the mainstream sentiments of the public consciousness (Parsons). At the peak of their power, such protection was thought to be guaranteed and became a standard expectation, particularly given the poor and decimated conditions of Southern states after the Civil War (Kreitner). This is what facilitated and ingrained a dependance on and following for the ideology of white supremacy.

Incontrovertibly apparent is the faulty correlation between a tapering Ku Klux Klan and the eradication of the major underpinning of racially charged violence and discrimination – the historical narrative provides us a contrary account. The disbanding of the Klan as a cogent, multistate, body not only failed to end the reign of anguish among the freedmen but in its demise ended up strengthening the call for an establishment of white Southern authority (The Klanwatch Project). The Klan’s political terrorism also proved bountiful in keeping freedmen away from polls (Chalmers). It had fulfilled what the Klasmen believed to be their shared objective – the political and social degradation of the black man in America, contributing vastly to the establishment of a white Southern majority and hegemony in Southern state governments through the abuse of black officeholders and politically literate freedmen (Dixon). The Klan normalized violence as a means to an end to retaliate and alleviate the unsettling of Southern life as a result of the Civil War and Reconstruction (Dixon). And insofar as the Klansmen philosophy was ultimately engendered in principles the majority of America’s white public itself subscribed to at the time, the lasting dogma and violence that post-Reconstruction America was forced to grapple with has blood on many ledgers. However, the United States federal government in this case is also an offender that cannot escape blame. The structural sanctions enforced to immobilize freedmen in state legislation saw no interference from Congress, despite its overwhelming obligation to mediate the deteriorating situation. For that matter, the governing body actually continued to increasingly extract itself from the neutral politic and contrarily endorsed the divisive and racist rhetoric of white before black, forsaking the democratic principles of equality as guaranteed in the United States Constitution and deserting the just cause of the black man (Chalmers). White supremacy didn’t require the Ku Klux Klan’s savagery to cement itself into the socio political integrity of America. In fact, history itself testifies to its vitality in the stark absence of a force of terror.

The conviction that drove the Ku Klux Klan’s campaign for racial segregation and aggression was tethered to public dogma. Being that its inception was mediated by sentiments pervasive throughout the public consciousness and its decline one that only exacerbated the segregationist nature of America’s social politics, the question remains as to what agitates it so such that it must persist and stalk themes of socio political discourse even today. A lashing Klan was a bleeding ideology fighting for life. Only when it was satisfied did it cease. To ignore the fact that these white supremacist organizations continue to exist, change, and grow in modern life is to take an unneccessary risk. The turbulent relationship between social political democracy is something that has roiled American society for the entirety of its history, which makes the Klan’s disappearance and America’s subsequent socio political turmoil a kinship that needs to be navigated should we expect to incur more and effective progress.

Works Cited

1. Beckett, L. & Brenneman, J. “The media and the Ku Klux Klan: A debate that began in the 1920s.” The Guardian, 5 Mar. 2018, www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/05/ku-klux-klan-kkk-media-debate.
2. Bridges, Roger D. “‘Betrayal of the Freedman: Rutherford B. Hayes and the End of Reconstruction.’” Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library & Museums, www.rbhayes.org/hayes/betrayal-of-the-freedman-rutherford-b.-hayes-and-the-end-of-reconstruction/.
3. Dixon, E. H. The Terrible Mysteries of the Ku-Klux-Klan, 1868, New York. The Klanwatch Project. “Ku Klux Klan: A History of Racism.” Southern Poverty Law Center, 1 Mar. 2011, www.splcenter.org/20110228/ku-klux-klan-history-racism.
4. Chalmers, David. Notes on Writing the History Of the Ku Klux Klan, 1866-1954. University Press of Florida, 2013.
5. Gates, Henry Louis. “How Reconstruction Still Shapes Racism in America.” Time, Time, 2 Apr. 2019, time.com/5562869/reconstruction-history/.
6. Johnson, Guy B. “A Sociological Interpretation of the New Ku Klux Movement.” The ournal of Social Forces, vol. 1, no. 4, 1923, pp. 440–445.
7. Kreitner, Richard. “December 24, 1865: The Ku Klux Klan Is Formed.” The Nation, 22 Dec. 2015, www.thenation.com/article/december-24-1865-the-ku-klux-klan-is-formed/.
8. Parsons, Elaine Frantz. “Sympathy for the Ku-Klux.” We’re History, 1 Dec. 2015, werehistory.org/sympathy-for-the-ku-klux/.
9. Railton, Ben. “American Popular Culture Embraces the Ku Klux Klan, 1877-1939.” We’re History, 1 Dec. 2015, werehistory.org/pop-culture-ku-klux/.
10. Smith, David. ‘An Examination of the Congressional Debate of the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871.’ Lake Forest College Publications, 2001, publications.lakeforest.edu/allcollege_writing_contest/17
11. United States Senate. “Landmark Legislation: The Enforcement Acts of 1870 and 1871.” United States Senate, 21 May 2018, www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/generic/EnforcementActs.htm.

The Ku Klux Klan was a white supremacist terrorist group that emerged during Reconstruction. It took violent steps to undermine the Republican party, hoping to maintain black economic instability and ensure white racial and economic superiority. With its long history of violence, is the oldest and most infamous of American hate groups. The KKK did many terrible things and used to be a huge influence in America.

The Ku Klux Klan is an American supremacist terrorist hate group that uses violence to induce what they need, they have been around for a very long time.”In 1915, white Protestant nativists organized a revival of the Ku Klux Klan near Atlanta, Georgia, inspired by their romantic view of the South additionally as Thomas Dixon’s 1905 book “The Clansman” and D.W. Griffith’s 1915 film “Birth of a Nation.”(History.com Editors)”. it had been largely chargeable for the restoration of white rule out of North Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia. there is not any record about who the klan leader was at that point.”The economic crisis in the 1930s depleted the Klan’s membership ranks, and also the organization temporarily disbanded in 1944. The civil rights movement of the 1960s saw a surge of local Klan activity across the South, including the bombings, beatings, and shootings of Black and white activists. (History.com editors)”. As its membership and public support faded, the Klan’s political influence dwindled. During the 1928 presidential election, the Klan unsuccessfully tried to convince Alabama voters to support the Republican candidate for President of the United States. By the beginning of the nice Depression, the Klan nationwide had virtually ceased to exist as a national force. The U.S. Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown v. Board school desegregation decisions and also the start of the fashionable civil rights movement breathed new life into the floundering hate group during the 1950s when a 3rd incarnation of the Klan emerged to launch a campaign of violence and intimidation. The history of this klan is gloomy and long.

The Ku Klux Klan is known for its violent methods, they do not make empty threats. “There were many murders and beatings that were never reported because of fear of the Klan. This document is an example of the sort of threats that the Ku Klux Klan became known for.”(“A Ku Klux Klan threat, 1868.”1). This is often relevant because it shows that individuals were frightened of them which forced people to believe them out of fear. they’d also write threatening letters to vote democrat and the majority listened. “They administered lynching. This was the name given to violent acts like kidnapping, hanging, whipping, mutilation, and murder towards certain groups they considered to be threatening the American way of life.”(“Separate but equal policy to 1939”). Most lynchings were conducted by white mobs against black victims. Lynchings became frequent within the South. Sometimes victims were shot, burned alive, or otherwise tortured and mutilated during public events. Lynchings were photographed and published as postcards, which were popular souvenirs within the U.S. Particularly within the West, other minorities Native Americans, Mexicans, and Asians were also lynched. The history of the Ku Klux Klan is extremely brutal and disheartening. This kind of stuff affects people today because unnecessary violence still happens simply because of someone’s race.

The Ku Klux Klan had a significant impact on everyone in America but mainly people of color. By 1870, the Ku Klux Klan had branches in nearly every southern state. Even at its height, the Klan didn’t boast a well-organized structure or clear leadership. Local Klan members–often wearing masks and wearing the organization’s signature long white robes and hoods–usually applied their attacks in the dark, working on their own but in support of the common goals of defeating Radical Reconstruction and restoring racism within the South. (hitory.com editors).”Members of the Ku Klux Klan firebombed the house of NAACP Florida decision-maker Harry Tyson Moore and his wife, Harriet, on holiday they both died this hurt and affected people deeply. At least 10 percent of the Black legislators elected during the 1867-1868 constitutional conventions became victims of violence during Reconstruction.“The depression in the 1930s depleted the Klan’s membership ranks, and also the organization temporarily disbanded in 1944. The civil rights movement of the 1960s saw a surge of local Klan activity across the South, including the bombings, beatings, and shootings of Black and white activists(history.com editors).”There were numerous instances of bombings, whippings, and shootings in Southern communities administered secretly but the work of Klansmen. The Klan was unable to stem the expansion of a replacement racial tolerance within the South within the years that followed. Though the organization continued a number of its surreptitious activities into the first 21st century, cases of Klan violence became more isolated, and its membership had declined to some thousand.

The purpose of this paper is to inform on the mistakes this country made and to not let something like this happen ever again without punishment. The KKK had a huge influence over politics using intimidation and it would work. There were many members at first but they have dwindled dramatically and some leaders weren’t even recorded anywhere. The methods they used would always be protesting, lynching, threatening, and violence. The Klan nonetheless remains the historic symbol of racist terrorism.

Racism: prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one’s own race is superior.

The Ku Klux Klan, or the KKK, is a white supremacist group that rose in the southern states of the United States of America in the 1860s.

It is undoubtedly a terrorist organization, an especially insidious one. The Klan has been curbing the rights of other citizens since its beginning, as it is the unofficial paramilitary arm of the Southern segregationist governments, which allowed the clan members to kill with impunity, therefore being able to eliminate and suppress activists of any sort.

The Ku Klux Klan’s primary motive was to suppress blacks, and those in support of them, such as the Republican Party, to maintain white supremacy in the country.

They did so by demonstrating cross burnings at night, hanging bodies of black people, bombings of black churches, and other ghastly actions.

At first, their focus was only on African-Americans, but slowly, as the movement gained momentum, they partially started targeting other races such as Jews and Hispanics

In 1871, the government of the United States passed the Klan Act, one of the first actions against the group, which allowed officials to intervene and arrest Klan members on a large scale, causing the Klan to disappear over the next several years.

But the Klan revived in 1905 when Thomas Dixon, an American writer, adapted his book, “Clansmen” into a play that introduced the burning cross as the symbol for the Ku Klux Klan.

If you have watched the 1915 movie called “the Birth of a Nation”, you would agree with me about how such adaptations revived national interest in the workings of the Klan on a large scale.

In 1920, the Klan became a more public organization and expanded its platform to include Prohibition, anti-Semitism, xenophobia, anti-Communism, and anti-Catholicism. Induced by the white supremacy displayed in “the birth of a nation”, whites across the country continued to take actions against the blacks, including bombing the house of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) Florida executive director.

But then the Klan again began to disappear as its members were convicted of murder, except for those groups in the southern states, where small groups continued to operate and bombed around 25 predominantly black churches in the 1960s and the 70s.

These sickening, gruesome acts of the Ku Klux Klan have been strongly criticized by citizens of the USA, and the rest of the world, causing great resentment to rise against the Klan.

Lastly in the 21st century, one of the major heads of the Klan was convicted on manslaughter charges and sentenced to 60 years in prison, resulting in major inactivity of the KKK.

The Klan is slowly rising again, in May 2019, the Klan had plans for having their second annual “Kookout” in Dayton, Ohio, which had the entire city feeling apprehensive. This attracted nationwide attention in the USA. But only nine people from the Klan showed up for the rally, and their slogans were drowned out by 500 to 600 protesters who gathered to show their opposition to the hate group’s message.

Joining the Ku Klux Klan is as easy as submitting an online form, the requirements only being that one should be white, and a Christian.

While the Klan has terrorized minorities during much of the last century, its leaders now showcase a public front that is more virulent than violent. Leaders from several different Klan groups all said they have rules against violence aside from self-defense, and even opponents agree the KKK has toned itself down after a string of members went to prison years after the fact for deadly arson attacks, beatings, bombings, and shootings.

Personally, I feel that the Government of the United States should take, and should long have taken, severe actions against the discriminatory propaganda of the Ku Klux Klan.

In the end, freedom of expression in a democracy is one thing, but unlimited and irrational freedom of expression is another, harming another community or a race in ways of spreading your own is incorrect, especially in a country like the United States where entire population consists of migrants and no natives.

The struggle of racism has hurt many people of color, but has brought upon good fortune from their actions to be treated as citizens of the U.S. The movements that occurred during history, have shaped the black community, giving them hope for the future. These movements have also changed the minds of many whites to see the error in their ways and accept this change. Osha Gray Davidson wrote the book ‘The Best of Enemies’ and how it offered a portrait of relationships that defied all odds. By taking a true story of effort and charisma from one black woman, Ann G. Atwater, and her unlikely friendship with C.P. Ellis, leader of the Ku Klux Klan. Osha Davidson demonstrates that race is tied to issues of class, and that cooperation is possible when people start to listen to one another, even in the most divisive situations. Each person had their own fights that they were passionate about, Atwater with her fight for better housing in the black community and Ellis’ fight in school segregation. These two activists were from different worlds, but had more in common with each other when it came to doing the right thing for both sides. Ellis recalls, “Both of us were like two people without a country for a while there”. He is stating that they were both being assailed by their friends from their betrayal to the fight since they were working with one another.

The actions taken by previous activist have sparked someone else to the fight, Ann Atwater, fighting for better housing for blacks. In the past, segregation for housing was an issue for blacks who wanted to move or live in a better home, but loans were not in their favor. There was a suburbia called Levittown, an area where veterans coming home can buy affordable homes. These suburbs were a safe haven for whites moving there because it was paradise to them, even if it was a fake utopia. In the 1930s, as part of the new deal, FER created loan programs to help Americans finance their homes. However, to decide who got these loans, the government created redlining (color-coded maps) resembling green areas as good and red areas as bad. The red areas had it rough since they were filled with African Americans and other minorities living there and they were not allowed to have any loans. Ann Atwater worked with an organization called “Operation Breakthrough” was designed to promote cooperation between federal and local governments and raise levels of competition in the housing construction industry. Operation Breakthrough became top priority during the first Nixon administration, conceived as a program for mass construction of low-and-moderate income housing. In Durham, poverty was still a problem that some had to fight both racial and class divisions: One against whites who claimed superiority and wealthier blacks who didn’t associate with lower class. These struggles helped shape Atwater to become an activist for the poor black community. Ann Atwater began to represent poor people with housing problems, and would go door-to-door telling others how she was able to resolve this problem. One act of her was giving everyone a welfare regulation manual so people could learn their rights. Atwater mobilized poor blacks in Durham to stand up and teach them the necessary skills to survive.

While learning about race and equality, we see that whites are considered as wealthy people without a worry in the world, but those statements can be thrown out the window after hearing about C.P. Ellis. Claiborne Paul Ellis, known as C.P., lived on the north part of the railroad tracks separating each race in Durham. His house can be compared to how blacks live: small, dark, and cramped. Their everyday life was the same just as past generations, you’re born, get schooling and work, until retirement or death. Later, families decided to send their children to northern colleges to learn all the latest management techniques. C.P. Ellis had experienced an awakening for realizing that he was white. He started to wonder about the race in America and what only matter was more of ideology than of genetics. He realized this while playing sports with some black kids and after the loss, one of the white kids blurted out, “You niggers get back across the track” (Davidson, 64). This statement shows how these were raised to treat black people, even though they were in the same boat as them when it came to living arrangements. To make things better in C.P. situation, he said back himself and felt a tingle coursing through his body. C.P. father blamed blacks for their lifestyle and Ellis caught on with that theory, only because his father blamed blacks for not having money to take his boy to a ball game. After Paul Ellis passed, C.P. took what his father told him to heart, but it did not work out in his favor, “Do right, support the police, salute the flag and good things will happen to you” (Davidson, 70). As Ellis got older, he got fed up with the disillusion of the American Dream and the strain of taking care of a wife and kids, which one was deaf, he needed to blame someone. Through men he worked with, they invited him to join the KKK and he became an active member, climbing his way to the top as the Exalted Cyclops. However, after meeting Ann, they both came to an understanding of what they were fighting for and he became civil rights activist.

During the 20th century, schools were still considered segregated between blacks and whites because public schools in the south. The NAACP challenged educational inequality in the region in a series of cases before the U.S. Supreme Court between 1935 and 1950. The NAACP contested the segregated education with accordance to the constitution by pressing five cases challenging Jim Crow schools through the federal courts. Marshall and a team of NAACP lawyers decided to press the court to end segregated public education. C.P. Ellis was a chairman for the “Save Our School” Program (SOS) with Ann Atwater, which is a series of open forums on school problems in Durham. SOS was an “charrette,” with intensive community involvement in certain areas helping with problems and formulating a solution. When told about the needs for students, Ellis brought up problems in school violence and asked for more law enforcement in school cases. From his actions, Ellis achieved good personal relationships with black leaders who in return praised his “honesty” and charged white moderates with “hypocrisy”. Ellis had this to say about Atwater, “I used to think that Ann Atwater was the meanest black woman I’d ever seen in my life…but, you know, she and I got together one day for an hour or two and talked. And she is trying to help her people like I’m trying to help my people”. Ellis came to the realization that they were both fighting for their own communities and found that they were more alike after one day of talking. The program “S.O.S” wanted to achieve integration of schools peacefully, so they created an exhibit in R.N. Harris Elementary to show the children both sides of the community. They had different artifacts from both the black and white communities, but the most controversial piece was a set of KKK robes that CP brought. They wanted to use education to teach both black and white children about each community to get a general understanding that they hoped would end violence and lead to a better education for both races.

Therefore, Ann Atwater and Claiborne Paul Ellis have changed things for the better for public schools and making them integrated. These two major influencers discovered that their life experiences were not all that different and created something that would benefit children, even adults. Both grew up in poverty and shared concerns for the education of young people in their communities, including their own. Atwater was already fighting for this cause for the sake of future generations, but Ellis began to realize that desegregation and civil rights were universally beneficial across racial lines. The system that held their communities down became their common enemy, not each other. Before, these figures did not want anything to do with each other because of their beliefs and past experiences that made them to who they were today. Reading this book, it gave me an understanding that it was possible for both sides to have a common interest and come together for that interest. After 10 days of talking, Atwater and Ellis came to know each other as individuals and not as stereotypes. They became the unlikeliest of friends that could prosper more as a team to the civil-rights movement than never talking and keeping things as they were.

In true David Duke style, the foundation of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan (KKKK) is shrouded in political myth. Duke’s claim that the Knights were founded in 1956 by Ed White (a pseudonym for Jim Lindsay) has, however, been largely discredited as a propagandistic attempt by the budding Klan leader to fend off depictions of his group as an inconsequential upstart. The group seems to have first appeared briefly in New Orleans in 1973, with Duke billing himself grand dragon and Jim Lindsay grand wizard. But records show that the KKKK was not formally incorporated in Louisiana until 1975, following Lindsay’s murder, when Duke listed himself as founder and national director and his then-wife, Chloe, as secretary.

Duke’s attempts to win over the old guard of Klan leaders, both by re-imagining the origins of his group and by reaching out early on to fellow ‘Klan brothers,’ belied his revolutionary plans. Famously calling on fellow Klansmen to ‘get out of the cow pasture and into hotel meeting rooms,’ Duke saw himself as the leader of a slick, new Klan which would captivate the public through political discourse, eschewing the violent methods of the past. Duke thus brought the art of media manipulation to the Klan, wooing mainstream media personalities such as NBC host Tom Snyder and attracting dozens of reporters to write excited stories about the Knights’ 1977 ‘Border Patrol’ publicity stunt, a supposed effort to close the U.S.-Mexico border to undocumented entrants that lasted just a few days. Under Duke’s management, the Knights opened its doors to women and Catholics (while never giving up entirely on the view that women are, above all else, best utilized for producing white babies). This all served to reinforce the public image of a more modern, educated Klan, an image that Duke reinforced by shunning Klan robes for suits and ties.

Duke also revamped the Klan’s particular brand of bigotry. No longer a mere horde of cross-burning minority-haters, the Knights, like many other American hate groups, became ‘Nazified’ — focused on Jews rather than blacks as the primary enemy — with Duke spinning elaborate theories about everything from Jewish control of the Federal Reserve to a Jewish conspiracy behind the civil rights movement. Likewise, the leadership of state KKKK chapters boasted a pantheon of budding neo-Nazi figures, including notorious anti-Semite Don Black in Alabama, White Aryan Resistance founder Tom Metzger in California, and David Lane, a future leader of the terrorist group The Order, in Colorado.

For a while, the Knights prospered, hosting in 1975 one of the largest Klan gatherings in decades in Walker, La. By 1979, Duke had built membership in the KKKK to an estimated 1,500, with another 10,000 non-member supporters. Duke and his tactics were arguably the catalyst for the Knights’ growth, but the egocentric leader also posed a constant threat to his group. Even one of the Knights’ greatest successes, the Walker rally in 1975, contained the seeds of trouble. In the rally’s wake, its organizer, Knights member Bill Wilkinson, quit in disgust over Duke’s management of the proceeds. This kind of criticism soon became common, with aides to Duke, also including Metzger and others, eventually alienated by what they portrayed as his corruption, his womanizing and his self-serving desire for personal political glory. A series of schisms rocked the Knights, and by 1980, the breakaway group that Wilkinson had formed following his departure — the Invisible Empire, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan — boasted more members than Duke’s KKKK.

Thus, by the time that David Duke left in disgrace, after being caught on camera trying to sell the Knights’ membership list, the KKKK was already weakened. That, plus the prosecution of several group leaders including Duke for allegedly inciting a riot at a New Orleans meeting, decimated the Knights. Many of those KKKK members who remained followed Duke to his new, non-Klan group, the National Association for the Advancement of White People, and the KKKK almost entirely collapsed several years later with Don Black’s 1981 arrest for conspiring to invade the Caribbean nation of Dominica. Leadership of the weakened KKKK passed to Stanley McCollum and the 1980s saw a decline in Klan activity, with the Knights claiming only a few hundred members when Thom Robb took over in 1989.

Robb, who eschewed the Klannish ‘Imperial Wizard’ title in favor of the more businesslike ‘National Director,’ led the group to something of a revival in the early 1990s, even attempting at one point to start a family-oriented Klan camp near the KKKK’s new headquarters at his home in Harrison, Ark. Claiming, like Duke, to represent a ‘kinder, gentler’ Klan, Robb followed in Duke’s media-exploiting footsteps with the added boon of expanded Internet communications. Robb’s was the first Klan site on the Web and he managed to develop a number of linked sites, thus creating the impression of a mushrooming cyber-movement. A gifted public speaker, Robb was also an adherent and pastor of Christian Identity theology who wooed his listeners with speeches embracing a more subtle form of hate cloaked behind white ‘pride’ and Christian compassion. But these promising efforts could not stop a series of schisms similar to those that plagued the KKKK under Duke.

Like Duke, Robb also had a sharp interest in financial matters. He ‘formalized’ KKKK recruitment, abandoning initiation rites in favor of a simple mail-in fee, in return for which members received booklets and tests allowing them to pay for their ‘promotion’ to the next level. Complaints arose that this practice made Klan membership virtually meaningless. The salesmanship exhibited by Robb has sparked other controversies about money management, as well. In 1994, a number of high-ranking members split with Robb amidst accusations that he had made off with telephone hotline funds and a $20,000 donation to the group. These peoples were also highly critical of Robb’s ‘kinder, gentler’ approach and went on to found more confrontational Klan factions. One of the splinters that emerged was a Michigan-based group that promptly hosted a more ‘traditional’ Klan rally, hoods and all, in Lafayette, Ind. Ed Novak, an ex-lieutenant of Robb’s, founded the Chicago-based Federation of Klans and took with him roughly one third of Robb’s membership.

Although weakened since the 1994 split, the KKKK has continued to stage rallies and other events, garnering the most media attention for its involvement in several ‘free speech’ lawsuits. The group was represented by the ACLU in a 1999 Missouri case in which a local KKKK chapter was initially barred from participating in the state’s ‘Adopt-a-Highway’ cleanup program. And, that same year, it engaged in a failed attempt to underwrite St. Louis, Mo., broadcasts of the National Public Radio new program ‘All Things Considered.’ Most recently, the Knights were sued by the conservative tabloid Rhinoceros Times in North Carolina for allegedly inserting Klan leaflets into papers that were then distributed to local residences.

Today, Robb’s website continues to bill the Knights, somewhat disingenuously, as ‘the most active white rights organization in America’ and still offers Klan membership for a price. Robb recently began calling his organization ‘The Knights Party’ in an attempt to emphasize what he sees as the need for a softer, more political approach along the lines of David Duke’s tactics. In order, apparently, to finance political activity, the Knights website offers numerous wares for sale, such as handcrafted, glazed-ceramic statues of Klansmen.

During the 1920’s there were a series of social changes, such as: prohibition which was heavily debated as having a large impact on society as it made the majority of people in the cities “lawbreakers,” the culture war between rural and urban America along with racial tensions in terms of the KKK and the Scopes Trial, the changes in Women’s role in society and fashion, and the rise of a common consumer culture all across America due to things like mass media and target markets. The variety of changes had different levels of impact all over America that affected different socio-economic backgrounds differently as well as people from different demographics. Moreover, the extensivity of the social changes in America and their impact was not always as intended by the government i.e.: considering prohibition and the changes it had on America’s society. Overall, besides consumer culture, the rest of the social changes were relatively minor, only impacted the lives of a small majority or did not have the intended effect in terms of prohibition laws.

Prohibition caused many people in American society, mainly in urban cities, to adopt a more blasé idea to lawbreaking. Moreover, the criminalisation of the alcohol industry had detrimental effects on the lives and health of many as it led to an underground industry, which was not widely affected by the increase of law enforcement. Firstly, increased law enforcement efforts did not appear to reduce drinking: arrests for drunkenness and disorderly conduct increased by 41 %, and arrests of drunken drivers increased 81%. Among crimes with victims, thefts and burglaries increased 9%, while homicides and incidents of assault and battery increased 13 %. In urban areas such as Chicago, the home of Al Capone’s operations, prohibition had a negative effect on the constituents. Moreover, by 1925, there were over 100,000 illegal bars in New York. This can be seen as the main social change of the “Roaring 20’s” as it led to an increase in illegal activity that was in part fuelled by the masses. In America between 1927 and 1930 more than 500 gangland murders took place. The most infamous incident was the St Valentine’s Day massacre in 1929 when Capone’s men killed seven members of his rival Moran’s gang while Capone lay innocently on a beach in Florida. In addition, drinking became synonymous with what rural Americans despised about the urban city and was equated with the working class and immigrants. The increase in violence was not the only harmful effect of prohibition as safe and regulated Industrial alcohol was replaced with self-manufactured “moonshine” which disproportionately affected lower class I who could not afford to import alcohol from other countries, resulting in a multitude of health problems for them. The principal social effect of prohibition was to encourage normally law-abiding citizens to openly flout the law. The extent of law-breaking in America’s cities was striking – Chicago and New York being particular examples. Furthermore, there was a growth in organised crime in cities that impacted many – helped by media coverage that sensationalized. In rural America, the states already had laws against drinking that were heavily enforced. In rural America, prohibition was more strongly enforced. The intended impact of prohibition, to reduce drinking, was not seen by the end of the decade. The social change in America was extensive however, it had a negative impact. For example, Hoover the current president during the era of prohibition threw parties that involved copious amounts of drinking. Furthermore, An ex-bootlegger estimated that about 80 % of congressman drank whilst prohibition laws were in place, conveying the deep-set corruption and signifying that the laws were ignored on a governmental level that prohibition brought about in American society. This was illustrated as it turned most of the population into lawbreakers. This had a knock-on effect as it led to a spike in crime rates.

In addition, aspects of the culture war had a large impact and instigated a plethora of social changes like an increase in racial tension as well as increasing the separation between rural and urban America, Darwinists like Scopes and the Creationists. KKK membership during the 1920s rose to between 3 million and 8 million, with Ohio’s membership rising to 300,000. The Klu Klux Klan lynched 200 people over the 1920s and had 500,000 female members. However, the KKK was not that powerful “to argue that it initiated and controlled all or most racial violence during the period is merely to believe Klan propaganda” (Modern History Review magazine archive). Whilst membership tot the Klan was mainly confined to rural areas, it was widespread none the less. However, belief in some of the Klan’s ideology was not that new and pre-existed before the 1920’s and dated back to slavery and was prevalent during the civil war. Klan membership only peaked due to racial tensions and the influx of liberal views being explored by some people in America. The almost confinement to rural area’s shows that whilst it was extensive had a lesser impact on the urban cities, however, the impact still existed.

In addition, The Scopes Trial had a major impact on America’s culture war. It was watched by the whole world and was the first trial to be broadcasted on the radio. The Evangelical’s claimed it was an “attack on the bible” and Ministers such as Billy Sunday reached audiences of thousands and Aimee Semple McPherson of California preached her fundamentalist message over loudspeakers to arena-sized crowds. She used unconventional methods to convey her message to the general population like using scoreboards to show “the triumph of good over evil.” This had an almost unprecedented effect as it is still used by some televangelists who use similar methods. This trial ignited the Culture War as many people disagreed with the outcome and this was prevalent as the Supreme Court Ruling in favour of Scopes set a precedent that was used to overturn laws in 22 states about the teaching of evolution in the future. This was extensive as the impact of the trials initial verdict was perceived as a win from many conservative people, mostly situated in rural America, and as shock to more liberalistic Americans, mainly situated in urban areas. This highlighted the divide in both culture and mindset between urban and rural America.

In addition, there were several strides in the rights and liberties of women. The emergence of “flapper culture” was seen as a “symbol for sexual liberation”. “Flappers” were mainly young women who rejected conservative, old school values and rules. In 1923 Margret Sanger opened the first birth control clinic in the United States. However, not all American’s were happy with the changes they were described as “lost” by the more conservative members of society. This was reflected by a few restrictive legislative laws were created. Utah attempted to pass legislation on the length of women’s skirts; they were not allowed to go into public with “skirts higher than three inches of the knee”. This emphasised the deep-rooted misogyny and hatred for the newfound liberation and the emergence of a new culture. Virginia tried to ban any dress that revealed too much of a woman’s body, meaning women were escorted off beaches if they were in bathing suits as they were not allowed to wear “shirtwaists or evening gowns which displayed more than three inches of her throat”. Ohio tried to ban form-fitting outfits and forbid the sale of “garment which unduly displays or accentuates the lines of the female figure”. Whilst the flapper girl culture was a drastic change it was only isolated to small urban areas like New York. One area of change that affected the lives of almost all women in America was the ability to become more independent. Factors such as the rise in the ability to invest in the stock market meant that women could grow their finances, and therefore had a higher level of disposable income that they could spend. The increase in manufacturing meant that women had a lot more free time and less housework due to innovation of washing machines and hoovers. This was extensive as it affected most women in America. The liberation and modern style of living of some women was reflected in the growth of the cosmetics industry. Previously makeup had been associated with prostitutes. The industry’s earnings increased during the decade from $17 million to $200 million. The 19th amendment June 4th, 1919 allowed women the right to vote. As the turnout in 1920 was 49.2% compared to election of 1916 which was 58.9%. This could be seen as not that extensive as in the 1920 election the turnout rate was lower, but federal census data shows that in Chicago women made up 2/3 of voters.

Lastly, consumerism paired with the decreasing prices of luxury goods helped create a common culture and bridge the gap between the growing urban and rural divide. This was the most significant and impactful social change as it affected most of America. Companies like Ford made headway in streamlining manufacturing. Ford’s new assembly line meant that by 1925 one car was constructed in 93 minutes compared to 14 hours in 1921. New car models, colours and the invention of pyroxylin finishes meant that cars were more desirable to the average American. This combined with the cheaper labour costs of the manufacturing process due to Ford’s Assembly Line, meant that cars were more affordable, and by 1929 23,121,000 cars were owned by Americans compared to 6,771,000 in 1919. This was very important as cars helped create a more interconnected America, as it created a need for diners, motels and service stations. Moreover, it also brought about a common culture across America due to the creation of things like drive-in theatres. Likewise, the 1920’s saw a boom in the purchases of radios and by the late 1920’s 1 in 3 homes were equipped with a radio compared to none in the early 1920’s. Furthermore, Frederick Taylor’s scientific management theory (management theory) improved efficiency and increased productivity. Higher wages meant that everyday Americans had a high disposable income and therefore, the manufacturing boom improved their lives by making luxury goods like cigarettes, fridges and makeup more accessible. The boom in manufacturing ensued that many people bought consumer goods and ignored mounting debt due to their belief in the stock market, therefore people spent even more of their disposable income, that they could not necessarily afford. This is arguably the most extensive social change as it was ubiquitous creating a common culture across many of the states. Buying on margin and the Laissez Faire stance toward the stock market made expensive and luxury goods available to even poor Americans as many people bought up to 70% of the price using money borrowed from banks. This was by far the most extensive change as it affected the majority of American’s including women in rural areas and people of colour.

In conclusion, social change during the 1920’s was undeniably large in terms of the stray from orthodoxy in terms of women and the increase in crimes. However, the intended effect of prohibition was not achieved and the extent of social change in a positive way was almost non-existent as the only areas that truly kept to prohibition was the rural areas mainly isolated to the South already had prohibition like laws. The positive effects of the culture was arguably nonexistent, one cannot deny that the KKK was isolated to the rural states and whilst their membership peaked it also suffered a severe decline by the end of the 1920’s showing that the social change was not massive. Moreover, membership to the Klan was based on long-existing stigmas and views held by the American society, conveying it was not a social change but a transparency in views. Whilst the 19th amendment gave women the right to vote, the decline in turnout shows that the change was not that extensive. The flapper girl culture was secluded to the upper-class American women in urban cities. The only truly extensive social change in terms of women was the newfound free time due to the lack of housework. This allowed many women to take up new jobs and hobbies such as smoking. On the other hand, the rise of the consumerist culture in America was an extensive change as it affected almost all of America. This was very widespread as the rise in radio and advertising meant that mot of America bought the same things. In conclusion, despite a uniform consumerist culture the rest of social change was not extensive.