We will be exploring the growth and

the influence of the KKK in the 1920s.

By mid 1920s it was a powerful organisation with around 5,000,000 members

Hundreds of people in the big cities had never seen a Klansman and they thought the KKK could be ignored or treated as a few nuts who dressed up. But once we saw 40,000 of the Klan marching through our capital, well, nobody laughed anymore.

Early 1920s Klan was treated by many people in the big cities as a joke

HOWEVER…

Copy and complete this spider diagram in your

jotter.

Why did the Klan growin the 1920s?

You must complete SEVEN main branches of this diagram.

Why did the Klan grow in influence the 1920s?

1922: New Leader

Hiram Evans became leader (Imperial Wizard).

Under his leadership it grew in size and influence.

Growth in membership:

By 1924 it had nearly

5 million members

(but nobody knew

exactly how strong it

was because it was a

secret organisation).

One of the main reasons for the growth

was the appeal the Klan had for many

• Appealed those who were…

– Anti-Black

– Anti-Catholic

– Anti-Jewish

– Anti-immigration

Appealed to those who:

• Lacked education and were ignorant

Appealed to those who…

• Felt they were protecting ‘America’

• Were attracted by the Klan’s image of racial violence

Appealed to those who…

• Wished to remain anonymous (white hoods)

• Appealed to those who believed Immigrants and Blacks were a threat to…

– Jobs

– Housing

– Protestant faith and American way of life

Describe the reasons for the growth in the KKK during the 1920s.

5 marks

Why was the Klan not stopped?

• Police were bribed• Local officials were bribed• People were blackmailed into

ignoring it

• Many powerful people in the south were members of the Klan.

– e.g. state officials, policemen

• Klansmen were elected to positions of political power.

Why was the Klan not stopped?

Half the town belonged to the Klan when I was a boy. Most of the police were members. On nights when the Klan had its meetings there were no policemen around but instead

Klansmen worked as traffic patrolmen. It always puzzled me as a boy that the Klan patrolman was exactly the same shape and size as our local police patrolman.

Adapted from the memories of Robert Coughlan, a Catholic boy in 1924

• Threats were made to members who tried to leave.

• Threats were made to those who tried to stop its actions.

Why was the Klan not stopped?

• On the rare occasions that Klansmen were arrested for serious crimes they were unlikely to be convicted by local Southern juries.

Why was the Klan not stopped?

How useful is Source A as an explanation for why the Klan was not stopped.

4 marks

In Colorado the Klan elected a governor of the State, several judges and even the Denver chief of police. In one county of Alabama the Klan controlled judges, sheriffs and lawyers.

Source A is an extract from History of the Klan, 1999.