The KKK in the 1920’s

In the 1920’s, many historians describe the Ku Klux Klan as being very prevalent. In fact, it was at this time that the Klan was near, if not at, the height of its popularity and influence. In 1915, a man named William J. Simmons, who was a already a part of various other white-power groups, decided to restart the Klan, as it had been inactive for a couple decades. The growing modernism and modern issues became very prevalent for a lot of people. The changing roles of different groups, like women and black people, as well as the changing role of the sciences, like Darwin, became very scary for a lot of “traditionally”-minded people. People started to look for a way to get the comforts of the past back. In their search, many people found the Ku Klux Klan as the solution to this issue. As a result, membership within the clan grew exponentially, and with that increase in membership, the Klan started to gain more power within society as well, even gaining control of a few state governments. These governments were often quite oppressive towards the minority groups and promoted the ideas of bigotry and racism. These were often the characteristics of the Klan’s platform within these governments that they seized control of. 

However, the Klan of the 1920’s was much different from the previous Klan’s that existed before. Previously, in the mid 19th century, the Klan’s power was mostly concentrated in the South. At that point, the Klan was mostly comprised of poor/lower-class white Southern men and women who existed as a “white power” organization that sought to return America to a land for the white people. Besides the African Americans, they also persecuted groups like the Jews, Catholics, and liberals. While the purpose generally remained the same in the 1920’s, the method with which they did so was very distinct and different than before. 

Firstly, as opposed to being solely concentrated and powerful in the South, the new Klan was prevalent throughout the entire nation. New factions of people joined the Klan, and they were located all throughout the country. With this change also brought a change in the composition of the Klan, as while it remained a white organization, the members started to flood in from a different class. Members were flooding in from the middle class, and while there were still many poor people part of the Klan, the middle class people began to be the ones most involved with the Klan. In addition, the operations of the Klan were no longer covert and done under the cover of night. The increase in new members brought in an ability to be much less covert than before. The activities that the Ku Klux Klan engaged in represented this fact as well. The Klan often had many public activities such as various festivities, pageants, and varying types of social events. The Klan members even sometimes did not feel the need to wear their hoods at events, due to the comfort that they felt from having such a large support base. This comfort and power seemed to culminate in an event occurring on August 8, 1925. On that date, over 50,000 members of the KKK marched through the streets of Washington DC with banners, shouting. They were obligated to show their faces for the march to be allowed, and they felt no fear in the outwardness of their actions. However, most of their lynching was done under the cover of night time. They conduct over 100 lynchings during this time period, and still remained a violent group. 

The Klan saw its fall with the anti-Klan propaganda. The National Association or the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) wrote books, speeches, and political art denouncing the Klan and their actions. It was this activism that slowly pushed the Klan into irrelevance once again, at least until the 1950s - 60s. 

The Ku Klux Klan was necessary to the American people at the time when morale was the lowest for the traditional-minded people. The changing roles of various groups came very quickly for some people, and they did not have time to ease into it. The black and female activism brought up their status, and many traditional people who lived in the Civil-War era days did not enjoy that, so they refused to change, culminating in the Klan’s resurgence. The Klan still exists today for those who do not embrace the changing world, and it can be seen as nothing more than a reaction to the shock of a changing world. 

Sources:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/pingnews/434444514

https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-us-history/period-7/apush-1920s-america/a/the-reemergence-of-the-kkk

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/12/second-klan/509468/