LibGuides: VCE History: Area of Study 2: Social &amp; Cultural Change: America's Marginalised

Klu Klux Klan

Populism, Fascism, and the Ku Klux Klan of the 1920s
The American Ku Klux Klan is familiar to many: after the Civil War, it formed in the southern states as a masked terrorist group devoted to maintaining white supremacy and ensuring cheap sharecropper labor. But few know about the “second KKK,” which attracted three to six million members in the 1920s in the northern states. It became a mass organization by expanding its enemies list to include Catholics and Jews. It claimed that America was “destined” to be a white Protestant nation, and that God had created the Klan in order to stop Catholic and Jewish conspiracies to seize power. This second Klan was mainly nonviolent, was not secret, and pursued a highly successful electoral and legislative strategy. In this talk, historian Linda Gordon argues that the second Klan’s white nationalist ideology and strategy continue to influence US politics and can help to illuminate the recent rise of “populist” and fascistic movements around the globe.

The Twenties in Contemporary Commentary: The Klu Klux Klan
From America in Class primary source collection "Becoming Modern: America in the 1920's": Spreading far beyond its southern Reconstruction roots, the resurgent Klan of the 1920s was a short-lived but potent phenomenon. By equating white Anglo-Saxon Protestantism with “true Americanism,” it fueled intolerance for blacks, Catholics, Jews, immigrants, and those it deemed immoral and lawless. Under the guise of patriotism and Christianity, it justified acts of intimidation and vigilante justice. As the Klan grew nationally, many “klaverns” eschewed violence while fostering suspicion and prejudice toward “the other” in their communities. The selections in this document, from commentary on and by the Klan, offer an overview of this pivotal movement of the 1920s.