The Rebirth of the KKK

1915-1930s3-6 Million Members

Ku Klux Klan

• America's oldest, most visible, and most infamous hate group

• White supremacy and anti-immigration

• Hostile towards Jews, Muslims, Immigrants to America, Asians, Homosexuals, Catholics,

End of 1st, Beginning of 2nd

• Becoming disorganized• Started to be seen as the true criminals• Being suppressed by other groups• Ceased to exist for decades until William J.

Simmons began a recreation with only 2 returning members of the original Klan

Events Leading to Rebirth

• The film Birth of a Nation• Leo Frank’s 1913• William J. Simmons at Stone Mountain

Birth of a Nation• Directed by D. W. Griffith• Based on the book and play, The Clansmen by

Thomas Dixon Jr.• Glorified the original Klan and began a new Klan

craze• Much of the Ku Klux Klan’s iconography are

derived from the film• Influence and popularity were enhanced by a

widely reported endorsement by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson.

Leo Frank

• Jewish man• Convicted of the rape and

murder of Mary Phagan• After a 25 day trial, Frank

was found guilty• Northern factory owners

exploiting southerners• Knights of Mary Phagan• Lynched

William J. Simmons

• Official founder of 2nd Klan• Wrote his own prospectus for a

reincarnation of the organization • Involved with lynching of Leo Frank

and Stone Mountain• Organized 15 men to burn a cross on

Stone Mountain on Thanksgiving of 1915

• Declared himself the Imperial Wizard of the Invisible Empire of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan

Stone Mountain, Georgia

• Setting of the 1915 revival• Hooded mob bet November 25, 1915• A cross was lit, and the oath was administered by

Nathan Bedford Forrest II • Witnessed by the owner of Stone Mountain, Samuel

Venable, who granted the Klan rights• "let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!"

–Martin Luther King Jr.• Klan was able to influence the ideology of the carving

The New Klan

• Emphasized the new costumes• Secret rituals and rallies• The Klan also organized to oppose the teaching of

evolution in the schools

Symbols and Activities• Burning of the cross: a symbol of intimidation• Costume: “Glory Suit” regalia• Symbol on the robe: red circle with a cross and a blood drop

in the middle • Violence was not uncommon• Lynching: illegal execution of an accused person by a mob

– Southerners felt threatened after the Civil war– Wanted to Maintain white supremacy– Estimated that between 1880 and 1920, an average of two African

Americans a week were lynched in the United States.

Political Influence

• Spread from South to Midwest and Northern States• Turned Anaheim, California into model Klan State• Played a significant role at the 1924 Democratic

National Convention • Worked for political and social reform• Members served in state legislatures and Congress,

and were elected to the governorship in several states.

Fall and Resistance

• The scandal surrounding the murder trial of D.C. Stephenson destroyed its image

• By 1926 the Klan had weakened• Many groups began speaking out against the

Klan• Attacked and referred to as violent and "un-

American“

» Springfeild, Ohio1923

Year Membership1920 4,000,0001924 6,000,0001930 30,0001980 5,0002008 6,000

After the 2nd Klan

• “Ku Klux Klan” used by many independent local groups opposing the Civil Rights Movement and desegregation

• Several members of KKK groups were convicted of murder in the deaths of civil rights workers

• Individual Klan groups in Birmingham, Alabama began to resist social change and blacks' improving their lives by bombing houses in transitional neighborhoods.

• "Bombingham" • Current Klans across the nation hold about 5,000

members