US History: Spiconardi

HATE & INTOLERANCE IN THE 1920S: THE RE-EMERGENCE OF THE KU KLUX KLAN

ORIGINS

Founded in 1866 by Confederate soldiers to resist Reconstruction

Focused on intimidating “carpetbaggers” and “scalawags” What are these terms?

Often used violence, although many members against use of violence

President Grant’s Civil Rights Act of 1871 had ended Klan Allowed for civil redress against the

KKK (you could sue the KKK and gain financial compensation)

RE-EMERGENCE OF THE KLAN

Why?

The Birth of a Nation Film glorifies the original Klan

Creates a mythology about the KKK

Plot Gus a former slave and murder

proposes to a white girl, Flora.

She flees into the forest where Gus chases her

Instead of allowing him to rape her, she leaps to her death

Gus is then lynched by the KKK

THE BIRTH OF A NATION

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

RE-EMERGENCE OF THE KLAN

Why?

Leo Franks

A Jewish man in Atlanta was convicted of raping and murdering a woman

Franks was sentenced to death

New evidence emerges casting doubt on Franks’ guilt

Governor of Georgia commutes the death sentence

KKK kidnaps Franks from jail and lynch him

RE-EMERGENCE OF THE KLAN

Why?

Reaction to immigration As massive amounts of eastern

Europeans came to America in the 1910s and 1920s, a new wave of xenophobia hit America

Great Migration As more and more blacks move to

urban centers in the North during WWI, whites became intolerant of blacks

KLAN VIEWS

“Native, white, Protestant supremacy”

The rights and interests of white Americans must be protected

Anti-Semitic

Homophobic

Xenophobic

KLAN VIEWS

KLAN VIEWS

WHAT’S UP WITH THAT?

The Burning Cross

Taken from a Scottish war tradition, in which soldiers set St. Andrew’s cross on fire to gather their forces

Ku Klux Klan: What does it mean?

Greek for circle, kyklos, and clan combined

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

Re-Formation

RE-FORMATION

By 1924, the Klan reached its peak in membership

Roughly 6 million members

Why would anyone join

a hate group?

HATE GROUPS TODAY

HATE GROUPS TODAY