Rise of the Ku Klux Klan
1920s
Reasons for Increase




Modernization and Urbanization
Migration of blacks to the Northern Cities
Increased immigration due to the Industrial
Revolution
Rise of unions
Membership



Men and women
Professionals (doctors, lawyers, teachers, etc.),
“blue-collar” workers (factory workers, etc.), and
farmers.
Politicians (local, state, and national)
–
–
Georgia: 35% of government officials belonged to the KKK
(1923)
Over 25 percent of native-born men and 12% of native born
women in the state of Indiana were official members of the
Ku Klux Klan (1920s)

[Hopkins, Ben B., How the KKK Was Born in the South]
National Membership in the KKK (in
millions)
5
4
3
2
1
0
1870s
1915
1925
Membership Cards
Demonstrations
Lynching
Resistance to the KKK
Writers and Journalists
 Activist Groups
 NAACP (National
Association for the
Advancement of Colored
People)
 Churches
 Harlem Renaissance
artists, writers, etc.

The KKK today

Membership in the South: approximately
6,000 (harder to track since the movement is
no longer mainstream).

These are part of the stated objectives of the Ku Klux Klan
today (compiled from KKK recruitment literature):
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Reassert America's White Christian heritage.
Return prayer to school.
Stop all non-white immigration.
Quarantine all AIDS carriers.
Make the purchase of American industry and property by
foreigners illegal.
Do away with free trade that harms the American worker and
employ a policy of protectionism.
Troops on our southern border to stop the entry of illegal aliens.
Stop reverse discrimination by doing away with Affirmative Action.
Declare all laws attempting to enforce gun control as
unconstitutional.
Questions:

With all of the advancements our country has made toward
equality and tolerance (extending equal rights under the 14th
Amendment, end of legal segregation, Civil Rights Movement,
expanded education), why do groups like the KKK still exist?

The KKK has changed from a mainstream organization that
operated out in the open (1920’s era) to a more secretive,
underground organization that represents a very small minority
of U.S. citizens (today). What does this change illustrate about
the changing nature of racism in America?