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The Appeal of the Second Ku Klux Klan

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The Appeal of the Second Ku Klux Klan Masaryk University Faculty of Education Department of English Language and Literature The Appeal of the Second Ku Klux Klan Diploma Thesis Brno 2018 Supervisor Michael George, M.A. Author Bc. et Bc. Iva Kubíčková Egertová Declaration Prohlašuji, že jsem závěrečnou (bakalářskou, diplomovou, rigorózní, disertační práci) vypracoval/a samostatně, s využitím pouze citovaných literárních pramenů, dalších informací a zdrojů v souladu s Disciplinárním řádem pro studenty Pedagogické fakulty Masarykovy univerzity a se zákonem č. 121/2000 Sb., o právu autorském, o právech souvisejících s právem autorským a o změně některých zákonů (autorský zákon), ve znění pozdějších předpisů. I hereby declare that I worked on this thesis independently and that I used only the sources mentioned in the bibliography section. …..................................................... Bc. et Bc. Iva Kubíčková Egertová Brno, 30 March 2018 Acknowledgement I would like to thank to my supervisor Michael George, M.A. for his help and valuable advice during the process of writing this thesis. I would also like to thank to Scott M. Waring, Ph.D., who helped me to find some valuable information regarding this thesis. Table of Contents Declaration ....................................................................................................... 2 Acknowledgement ............................................................................................ 3 Table of Contents ............................................................................................. 4 Introduction ...................................................................................................... 6 1 The First Klan ................................................................................................ 8 2 Establishment of the Second Ku Klux Klan ................................................. 10 2.1 Leo Frank and Mary Phagan‘s Murder ................................................. 10 2.2 William Joseph Simmons – Founder of the Second Ku Klux Klan ........ 12 3 Expansion of the Klan in 1920s ................................................................... 15 3.1 Evans Taking Control over the Invisible Empire ................................... 16 3.2 The Klan‘s Vigilantism .......................................................................... 19 3.3 The Klan as a Profitable Business Organization ................................... 23 3.4 The Ku Klux Klan in Politics .................................................................. 27 4 ―The Birth of a Nation‖ as One of Successful Recruiting Tools ................... 30 4.1 ―The Birth of a Nation‖ and Woodrow Wilson........................................ 32 4.2 Analysis of the film ................................................................................ 33 4.2.1 The Plot.......................................................................................... 34 4.2.1.1 Part I: The Civil War ................................................................ 34 4 4.2.1.2 Part II: Reconstruction ............................................................. 35 4.2.2 Blackface in ―The Birth of a Nation‖ ............................................... 41 5 Who were Klansmen? ................................................................................. 43 5.1 The Ku Klux Klan as a populist group ................................................... 46 5.2 Women in the Klan ............................................................................... 48 6 The Klan‘s Hierarchy and Rituals ................................................................ 53 6.1 The Kloran and the Constitution of the Klan ......................................... 53 6.2 The Klan‘s Rituals ................................................................................. 55 6.3 Klonversation ........................................................................................ 57 7 Decline of the Second Ku Klux Klan ............................................................ 58 Conclusion ..................................................................................................... 61 Bibliography ................................................................................................... 64 Anotace .......................................................................................................... 72 Klíčová slova .................................................................................................. 72 Abstract .......................................................................................................... 73 Key Words ..................................................................................................... 73 Appendices .................................................................................................... 74 5 Introduction The Knights of the Ku Klux Klan became a phenomenon of the 1920s America. Hooded men marching through the streets of American towns and cities, burning crosses in the fields were an inspiration to some and dread to others. In 1915, William J. Simmons, along with sixteen of his followers, climbed the Stone Mountain where they burned a cross and established the new Klan as a patriotic fraternal order. The original Klan was based on its disdain towards African-Americans, this new order despised not only African-Americans, but also Jews, Catholics, immigrants, or people of low morals. The Klan tried to bring back the tradition of white Protestant America. And to a degree, it succeeded. Millions of members in the early 1920s are a proof of it. This thesis describes both the Klan‘s expansion and decline in the 1920s and tries to explain the appeal of the organization to such a wide spectrum of Americans. The leaders of the Klan used various techniques of attracting potential recruits. One of these techniques was certainly the film ―The Birth of a Nation.‖ There is a chapter dedicated to the movie, as it was not a recruitment tool only for the second Klan, but was used until 1960s. Other beneficial tactics of recruiting new members are also part of this paper. The thesis covers descriptions of the Klan‘s rituals, hierarchy, or its Constitution and holy text Kloran. The Knights of the Ku Klux Klan was a fraternal organization open only to men. That does not mean women did not have opinions similar to men‘s. An auxiliary called the Women of the Ku Klux Klan was established in 1923 and is briefly discussed in this paper, too. 6 The thesis also describes the Klan‘s involvement in politics despite its claims it is not a political body. Due to very limited availability of resources about this topic in the Czech Republic, the majority of the sources were either downloaded, found, or purchased online. Some books were ordered in printed form from the USA. 7 1 The First Klan After the Civil War, the South found itself in chaos. All the beliefs of the southerners were turned upside down. Economy was slow, their slaves were freed, and people knew their lives would never be the same as they were before the war. The first Ku Klux Klan was formed in the town Pulaski in Tennessee by several former Confederate officers in December 1865. Those soldiers had come from the front to find their homes disheveled. They were not happy about the outcome of the war, and they were not happy about the freedom their slaves suddenly had. This led to the establishment of the first Klan ever. Its name is probably derived from the Greek word kuklos which means circle (Lingea), then, the founders added the word clan spelled with k, probably to achieve alliteration. At first, the Ku Klux Klan was a loosely organized secret group of political and social terrorists. (Bryant) The members of the Klan would often go for night rides on horseback to attack mostly African-Americans. ―Klansmen stated that they were only vigilantes acting in the public interest.‖ (Miller 967) By this public interest they meant lynching and harassing not only former slaves, but also white Republicans. In 1867, the mainly Republican Congress passed the Reconstruction Acts, which started a period known as Radical Reconstruction. The Acts included measures such as division of the South into five military districts, a permission to all males to participate in constitutional conventions, or voting rights for all men regardless of their race. As the Klan did not agree with the Acts, it evolved into a political organization. (Bryant) Former Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest served as the leader – called Grand Wizard – of the organization. ―Under Forrest‘s control, the Ku Klux Klan became a major force of counterrevolution in Tennessee and the rest of the South.‖ (Wills 337) Even though Forrest believed in the power of 8 persuasion and tried to force it in the Klan, he failed and individual factions struggled for control. (Ku Klux Klan – History) Only two years later, Forrest was forced to officially disband the organization, but it still continued in a loosely organized system. (Miller 967) Small cells kept raiding harassing African-Americans and Republicans and their violence kept growing. (Ku Klux Klan Act) The real end of the first Klan brought the Enforcement Acts, specifically so called Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871. This act, originally requested by president Ulysses S. Grant, was introduced to protect African-Americans from the Klan‘s violence. It also included the possibility to declare martial law. After that, the Klan slowly faded away and ended its existence along with the Reconstruction period.
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