History of the Ku Klux Klan in Oklahoma
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Xerox University Microfilms 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106 77-1815 CLARK, Carter Blue., 1946- A HISTORY OF THE KU KLUX KLAN IN OKLAHOMA. The University of Oklahoma, Ph.D., 1976 History, United States Xerox University luilcrofllms, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106 THE UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA GRADUATE COLLEGE A HISTORY OF THE KU KLUX KLAN IN OKLAHOMA A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE FACULTY In partial fulfillm ent of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY BY CARTER BLUE CLARK Norman, Oklahoma 1976 A HISTORY OF THE KU KLUX KLAN IN OKLAHOMA APPROVED BY ------- lAi DISSERTATION COMMITTEE ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Many people assisted me in the research and prepa ration of this dissertation. First thanks go to the State Archivist John Stewart for locating the material on vio lence and the m ilitary court hearings that proved so valu able to this study. He offered kind assistance despite the chaos of moving his operation into a new building. Others at the State Library in Oklahoma City who assisted me include the former Archivist Robert Clark, his succes sor Tom Nickerson, as well as Marietta Malzar and Brad Roberts. At the Oklahoma Historical Society Mary Moran in the newspaper room assisted me. I wish to thank John H. Montgomery for his kind permission to read his senior the sis in the Society Library. Laurie Asseo and Susan Sam at the Oklahoma Publishing Company found materials for me. Charles F. Cox, Jr., of Norman, volunteered his legal ad vice on court records and use of some materials. Barbara Purtell located a senior thesis at Oral Roberts University, title d "The Ku Klux Klan versus Unionism in the 1920's," which was useful. Jere Roberson of Central State Univer sity gave the use of his copy of The Kloran. the ritual i i i book of the Klan. In Tulsa, the Cecil 0. Bensons pro vided considerable assistance to me, and Harriett Lynde gave generously of her personal collection of photographs of the post-race riot period. Cecil White assisted when I visited the Southwest Baptist Theological Seminary Li brary, in Dallas, and Mark Eckhoff helped me in the Na tional Archives, Washington, D. C. In Tahlequah the Brad Agnews were helpful. Dr. Angie Debo lent me her notes and interview transcripts on the period of the Klan, and shared with me her personal experiences. Many newspaper editors in the state gave their kind advice and help in my researches, and their names are listed in the bibliography under per sonal letters. When requested, I did not cite their names in footnotes in order to respect their desires for anonym ity. Many others gave me the benefit of their experiences and their advice, and they are listed in the bibliography under "Personal Letters" and "Interviews." Again, I re spected their individual requests not to be cited if they so des i red. i H. Glenn Jordan of the Western History Collections at the University of Oklahoma Library located many germane printed materials, and the staff of the Western History Collections Manuscripts Division was helpful. I wish to thank Jack Haley for his generosity in locating manuscripts, photographs, and individuals to interview. i V My mother provided constant encouragement and her support is gratefully acknowledged. The professors on my dissertation committe were always available for assist ance with criticisms and suggestions. Their aid is ap preciated. PREFACE The Knights of the Ku Klux Klan is a frustrating topic to study because of the paucity of information. Hours of digging through archives or newspaper files may reveal but one pertinent reference. Enter a room filled with people and inquire about the Klan and the result is similar to turning on a light at night in a kitchen and watching cockroaches scatter. Memories of residents of the state old enough to remember the Klan period are clouded with time. Often they are sensitive about their involvement and reluctant to discuss it. Klan records no longer exist for the use of interested researchers, and for good reason. Today the order is stigmatized. Events in Oklahoma in the Twenties when the order was at its height provided some of the taint which left the Klan with the label of a terroristic organization despite the best efforts of its leaders and membership to dull the image of violence in the popular mind. What information is available on membership, ac tiv itie s , and goals of the Knights is often fragmentary and speculative as a result of years of neglect or out- vi right attempts to destroy existing evidence. In Oklahoma only one set of membership records exist for a town in the 1920s and they concern a women's order in the north ern fringes of the state. Even those, records are heavily damaged and fragmentary. In the end analysis, the choice becomes one of accepting at face value the statements of proponents or opponents of the hooded order for figures on numerical strength, dates of beginning for klaverns, and involvement in night-riding actions. Even after much research and investigation into the Klan following its firs t appearance after the Civil War in the South, mystery and silence shroud modern knowledge of the order. The mystic quality of the brotherhood and its spectral cos tumes lent an aura of impenetrability that still exists. Only rarely do documents surface that are of p ri mary value to the researcher interested in the Klan. This study utilizes sources for the first time that link the Klan to violence under o ffic ia l orders. The material consists of the m ilitary court hearings in the Tulsa area in 1923 while that city was under martial law. Never be fore have members of the Knights of the Ku Klux suffered the exposure those documents release to the eye of the investigator. Only a few members of the order were con tinually involved in acts of night-riding, but their ac tions provided the proof that linked the Klan to terrorism in the Oklahoma countryside in the 1920s. vi 1 The Klan is known for personal immorality by of ficials in the state of Indiana, for longevity and re nascence in the state of Georgia., and for violence in the state of Oklahoma. The level of violence in the Sooner State far exceeds that admitted in previous accounts by historians and overshadows the one sensational murder in the state of Louisiana in 1922 which is pointed to as the basic incident leading to the Klan image of terrorism and murder. The firs t convictions of Klansmen for night- riding in the nation during the 1920s were in Oklahoma. The firs t m ilitary court of inquiry into alleged Klan acts outside the Deep South since Reconstruction took place in this state. Violence was not the only "first" involving the order in Oklahoma. The group made its firs t public ap pearance outside the Deep South after World War I in Okla homa. Sooners were anxious to join their neighbors under the fiery cross and banner and soon the membership soared to the point that the Knights of the Klan were the most powerful influence in the state next to business. Klan leaders claimed important and lasting influence in Okla homa. They proclaimed that the order firs t successfully cleaned up the oil capital, first ousted a governor of a state, and from their power base in Oklahoma first success fully turned back the tide of alien influence that threat ened the state and the nation. vi i i From modest beginnings in the leading cities of the state, the Klan achieved vast membership with its ap peal to local grievances and fears. Its appeal to white Anglo-Saxon Protestants in the mining districts where aliens competed with them for work spurred the member ship drive.