The Three Klans
By Danielle Albergo, with comments by Ed Tabor and Pat O'Brien
[1] This is an institution of chivalry, humanity, mercy, and patriotism; embodying in its genius and its principles all that is chivalric in conduct, noble in sentiment, generous in manhood, and patriotic in purpose; its peculiar objects being:
1. First, to protect the weak, the innocent, and the defenseless from the indignities, wrongs, and outrages of the lawless, the violent, and the brutal; to relieve the injured and oppressed; to succor the suffering and unfortunate, and especially the widows and orphans of Confederate soldiers.
2. Second, to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, and all laws passed in conformity thereto, and to protect the states and the people thereof from all invasion from any source whatever.
3. Third, to aid and assist in the execution of all constitutional laws, and to protect the people from unlawful seizure and from trial, except by their peers in conformity to the laws of the land.
[2] The above passage is the original constitution written by the first Ku Klux Klan. The origin of this group’s name was formed by combining the Greek term for circle, kyklos, with clan. Different versions of the KKK existed over three time periods. Although the public may have some general knowledge about the Klan, few are aware of the three distinct past and present organizations.
[3] The first Klan was founded in Pulaski, Tennessee, in December 1865, after the Civil War had come to an end. During this time, local governments in the South were weak, which lead to fears of black outrages and an insurrection. Former officers in the Confederate Army formed armed patrols in their local communities in response to these fears. The KKK was the largest and most prominent organization of these armed patrols. They advocated white supremacy and white nationalism.
[4] During April 1867, representatives of the Klan from several states met in Nashville to draw up the Klan’s first constitution. Members of the KKK elected Brian A. Scates to be the President of the Klan. Nathan Bedford Forrest, an ex-confederate cavalry commander, was chosen as the Klan’s Imperial Grand Wizard. The majority of members within this organization were veterans of the Confederate Army who were against Radical Republicans and believed in restoring white supremacy. Radical Republicans were known for pushing the United States government to abolish slavery, and after the war, they supported Civil rights for newly freed slaves. Radical Republicans also supported the right of African Americans to vote. The Democratic Party strongly opposed the views Radicals stood for. In turn, the KKK was formed. (see comment by Pat O'Brien)
[5] In order to speak out against the Radical Republicans and advocate white supremacy, the Klan resorted to using scare tactics. Members donned white masks and robes to hide their identity and heighten terror of their night rides or their chosen time for attacks. Some men claimed that their costumes represented ghosts of the Confederate soldiers to further frighten superstitious blacks. During attacks, these costumed men would relentlessly burn down houses with little regret for occupants inside. They went after the lives of black political leaders, families of black churches and community groups, and black members of the Loyal Leagues, who were supporters of the Republican Party. Assaults and murders of blacks by the KKK were reported on a weekly basis by the agents of the Freedmen’s Bureau.
[6] The objective of these brutal actions was to suppress black voting. For instance, prior to the 1868 Presidential election, the Klan killed, wounded, and injured more than 2,000 people in Louisiana. They targeted black Republicans by chasing and hunting them through woods to their death. Through fear, KKK forced many members of their communities to vote for members of the Democratic Party.
[7] As time passed, support was lost among the Klan’s white social elite, and it became more of a fraternity for poorer whites. Forrest formally disbanded the KKK in 1869; however, it wasn’t completely crushed until the Force Acts of 1870 and 1871 were written. This Act stated that Klansmen could now be tried for their hate crimes in federal courts. As a result, the first Klan came to an end.
[8] In 1915, the second Klan was established in the Stone Mountains outside Atlanta, Georgia. This group was made up of approximately 4-5 million men. Its goals were to preach Americanism and the purification of politics, while continuing to carry on the tone of racism that the first Klan stood for. Their mission statement added an anti-Catholic, prohibitionist, and anti-Semitic agenda to the original anti-black ideology. (see comment by Ed Tabor)
[9] This Klan was founded by William J. Simmons. After watching The Birth of a Nation, Simmons was inspired to rebuild the Klan. He obtained a copy of the Reconstruction Klan’s “Prescript†in order to write his own prospectus. Although Simmons was inspired to create the Klan, other factors lead to the emergence of this second group. In fact, three main events lead to the creation of the second Klan: the release of The Birth of a Nation, the lynching of Leo Frank, and the migration of blacks and whites to Southern cities.
[10] The Birth of a Nation was thought to have glorified the morals of the Ku Klux Klan. This film portrayed blacks as unruly and destructive to civilization. For instance, a controversial scene in this film features a black man chasing down a horrified white woman in pursuit of rape. This leads the woman to throw herself off a cliff in fear. Soon after, the KKK captures the black pursuer and immediately hangs him despite the right to a trial by jury. Scenes like this lead whites to view the Klan in a new light. The Klan was portrayed as an heroic organization instead of as a hate group. (see comment by Ed Tabor)
[11] Another reason for the rebirth of the Klan was the 1915 lynching of Leo Frank. Frank was a black factory manager accused of raping and murdering one of his employees, Mary Phagan. The coverage of his trial was broadcast so widely throughout the news that mobs would daily surround the courtroom. Eventually, Frank was found guilty of rape and sentenced to life imprisonment. Enraged citizens still upset with the death of Phagan formed a hate group against blacks known as the Knights of Mary Phagan. This organization kidnapped Frank from prison and lynched him. The publicity from this event caused members of the Knights of Mary Phagan to join the emerging Klan.
[12] Social factors prior to 1915 also contributed to the creation of the second Klan. The Great Migration of the blacks and whites from rural areas to Southern cities increased tensions. In urbanizing cities, the Klan grew rapidly. Members were frustrated with such issues caused by the increasing population as limited housing, rapid social change, and competition for jobs. The KKK was unable to accept change.
[13] Once again, this Klan used violence to force their views about white supremacy. Lynching was a popular source of entertainment and rebellion for the KKK at this time. According to the Library of Congress, by 1918, 3,224 people were murdered by lynching. This statistic does not account for the large number of unreported lynching occurrences by local authorities who sided with the Klan.
[14] The end of the second Klan occurred around the 1940s. World War II was the focus of America’s attention from 1939-1945, and, therefore, the KKK died out. However, it wasn’t long before the third Klan emerged. (see comment by Pat O'Brien)
[15] Finally, around the 1950s, the third Klan began. This Klan was created in Birmingham, Alabama. As an independent loyal group, currently 5,000 members belong. It is considered to be a subversive or terrorist organization that formed alliances with southern police departments in the past. This group opposes the civil rights movement and desegregation. They strongly resist social change, similarly to the second Klan’s perspective.
[16] Although there is no single creator, this Klan was formed by many independent local groups who had opposed the Civil Rights Movement and desegregation in the 1950s. Members of this group were white males and females of at least 18 years of age that must profess faith in Jesus Christ as their personal savior.
[17] In the earlier stages of the third Klan, members displayed acts of violence to show their opposition for the Civil Rights Movement. The bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham is an example of the Klan’s brutality.The third Klan bombed black’s and civil rights activist’s homes in transitional neighborhoods such as Birmingham. In fact, there were so many bombings in the 1950s that the city’s nickname became “Bombingham.†In 1950, bombings were so common forty black Southern family homes had been destroyed.
[18] The later stages of the Klan do not participate in violent acts. Current members are not asked to commit any illegal crimes. Instead, members frequently gather at white power music concerts and attend unity rallies with other white supremacists.
[19] Unlike the first and second Klan, the third has yet to be disbanded. The government has attempted to break the Klan by reviving the Force Act and Klan Act from Reconstruction days; however, they have not succeeded.
[20] The Ku Klux Klan has had a powerful, negative impact on many African Americans, not only in the past but in the present as well. Although the Klan has fallen many times, unbelievably, white unity rallies of the third Klan exist to this day.
Comments
Danielle speaks of the portrayal of the Klan in The Birth of a Nation as one of an “heroic organization instead of a hate group." I’ve described Griffith’s treatment of the Klan as an allusion to the chivalry of the Middle Ages. In the film the members of the Klan are always mounted upon noble steeds as they do battle with the “lowly†black foot soldiers of the reconstruction government. They adorn themselves in medieval hoods/robes decorated with the Southern Cross. The Southern Cross itself is used as an allusion to the cross of St. Andrew, the traditional flag of Scotland. The character of Ben Cameron specifically links the Klan to Medieval traditions of the British Isles in his reference to the Scottish cross, as he makes his "holy" pledge to God. In his book The Clansman, Dixon specifically refers to them in quasi-medieval heroic terms: "reincarnated souls of the Clansmen of Old Scotland went forth under this cover and against overwhelming odds, daring exile, imprisonment, and a felon's death." (qtd in Lang 8) Such language recalls the romance of the warrior class in ages past. These "knights" also have their own form of courtly love, to protect the virginity and purity of white women. In several scenes of the film, the Klan descends on black aggressors to save the purity of Southern women. The Klan also promotes the “noble†hierarchy of the South. In the final election scene, the Klan stands in full regalia, mounted and armed to protect the process of democracy.
The second incarnation of the Ku Klux Klan dovetailed with a nativist zeitgeist among Anglo Americans during the late 19th and early 20th century that was primarily in reaction to the influx of “less acceptable†immigrants from southern and eastern Europe (called “hyphenated-Americans†by Woodrow Wilson). One must remember that what we now regard as “ethnicity†was, for most of the history of the United States, regarded as “race." This can be broken down into three epochs. The first begins in 1790 and runs to about 1840. The 1790 federal law limiting naturalization to "free white persons" was passed at a moment when color stood out as a mark of status: the only chattel slaves were of African descent, the only "savages" were the indigenous peoples, and most of the rest were British-descended Christians (of the reformed sort). The law expressed the consensus among legislators that geographic origin, religion, nationality, physical type, civilization, republicanism, and fitness for self-government were linked, and for a half-century it presented few problems to those in power. Essentially, Europeans were “white,†and that didn’t pose a problem because it was mostly English coming to the United States.
The second epoch begins in the 1840s with the massive waves of Irish and German immigration (the first “unacceptable immigrantsâ€) and runs to 1924, which is the epoch in which one would find the second Ku Klux Klan. During that period, as a result of the new infusions, internal divisions among whites came to the fore, and the monolithic white race of the previous period was fractured into hierarchically ordered distinct white races: Celts, Teutons (Germans), Slavs, Hebrews, Mediterraneans, Anglo-Saxons, and so forth. Historian Matthew Frye Jacobson refers to them as “probationary whites.†Races existed on a continuum, and Anglo-Saxons were set off, for example, against Irish as well as against Mexicans. On the bottom were Africans and, to a lesser extent, Asians. This is also when the United States more than dabbled in Eugenics (a pseudo-science that argues that stopping reproduction among the less desirable will strengthen the gene pool), resulting in the forced sterilization of thousands of “feeble minded.â€
The third epoch begins with the 1924 Johnson Act (more commonly known as the Immigration Quota Act), which was essentially the culminating moment of the second epoch by drastically reducing immigration, and runs to the civil rights era, when "Caucasian" unity replaced Anglo-Saxon exclusivity, and in place of a multiplicity of races there arose a bipolar distinction between black and white. This was when the word “Caucasian,†derived from the Caucasus Mountains, began to appear on the census. The second epoch is noteworthy because this belief in eugenics was shared by Hitler, as reflected in the reference to an “Aryan Birthright†in Birth of a Nation. It was the horrors of the Nazis that caused the United States to question its direction and move away from eugenics. This helped mark the end of the second Ku Klux Klan.
Danielle reports that the second Klan which was formed around 1915 added “an anti-Catholic, prohibitionist and anti-Semitic agenda to the original anti-black ideology.†Documentation exits that shows Thomas Dixon’s book The Clansman, and D.W. Griffith’s film adaptation of the book, The Birth of a Nation helped to inspire the second Klan. When the film came under attack in New York City in April 1915, Dixon defended the film by creating a jury of three clergymen to evaluate the film. Unsurprisingly, these clergymen defended the white supremacist viewpoint of the film. The surprising element of this jury is the presence of a Catholic priest, the Rev. John Talbot Smith DD., Roman Catholic. Dixon may not have known about anti-catholic sentiment in the new rising Klan, but here is one of the great ironies of history. A Catholic priest, in the interest of national purity, unwittingly helped to promote an organization that would soon discriminate against him.
It is correct to argue that the Ku Klux Klan formed in response to the Republicans challenge to white supremacy in the South, but it should be noted that the Radical Republicans never were a majority in Congress and consequently did not control Reconstruction. Indeed, it was a series of compromises between the radical wing of the Republican Party and their moderate majority. Consequently, Reconstruction was quite temperate in its reach, although not so in the minds of white supremacists. The racialist beliefs, other than slavery, of the mainstream moderate republican were not very different from their southern counterparts -- which makes Lincoln’s transformation from that of a moderate Republican to one willing to emancipate without compensation and colonization more noteworthy. For example, the Radical Republicans wanted complete suffrage and land redistribution for the freed slaves, but, in a compromise with the moderates of their party, settled for partial suffrage and very limited land redistribution through the Freedmen’s Bureau. Evidence of compromise is also present throughout the 14th and 15thAmendments. Albergo correctly argues that the Radical Republicans urged President Lincoln to emancipate throughout the first years of the war. This is remarkable considering the Radicals were never a majority and seems to suggest that Lincoln was open to the idea. That’s not to argue that Lincoln was secretly plotting to emancipate all along, but it does seem to demonstrate receptiveness.
