Klansville U.S.A
- Matthew Amend
- Dec 7, 2017
- 3 min read
Near the end of the semester, my first year seminar classmates and I met to view the documentary Klansville U.S.A. This film explores the origins, the rise, and the fall of the KKK, and how it came to exist in North Carolina. The program can be viewed below, or by following this link. Also below are some key points that stuck out to me the most while watching the documentary.
On August 14th, 1966, a rally in Raleigh North Carolina was held for the KKK. Hundreds of police were present, it was the state's largest political gathering of the year.
The rally was called as a support for clan leaders being investigated by Congress and the FBI.
Grand Dragon Bob Jones was facing possible prison sentence.
His dream was to build the clan into a political force but he knew he relied on their militancy.
He was the most successful grand dragon in the country. He grew the NC Klan from nothing to 10,000 members in 3 years.
There were no politicians voicing concerns for the white working class.
No one spoke to poor white folks who saw integration as a threat to their income and way of life.
Bob Jones was the son of a railroad worker. He grew up in Salisbury and dropped out of high school. He was later discharged from the military for refusing to salute a black officer. He then bounced around between lots of odd jobs.
Segregation promoted a niche that was above blacks but below successful whites
Jones never said he was a racist, he claimed he was fine with blacks and Jews as long as they kept to themselves.
In 1865, the KKK was formed. Their plan was to dress up in elaborate costumes and harass freed black slaves. They posed as confederate officers coming from the grave.
The Klan Eventually devolved to murdering people. They threw blacks off bridges, hung them from trees, etc.
The Federal government clamped down in 1871 on the Klan.
In 1915, The Birth of a Nation portrayed Klan violence as necessary to restore order to a south in chaos and romanticized the Klan as heroic.
This sparked a revival of the Klan in the 1920's. The ideology of white supremacy and 100 percent Americanism resonated across the country.
This was not a rural Klan, it was a national movement, including up north.
In 1925, 50,000 Klan members gathered to march down Washington. By this time the Klan had 4,000,000 members and had real political power.
Their huge rise was followed by their fall in the 1930's due to bad press and power struggles.
In 1954, with the integration of public schools, the Klan rose again.
In 1960, Greensboro sit ins sparked demonstrations across the south.
Officials reacted as civil rights moment spread and people in power openly advocated for segregation.
NC did not initially have the KKK.
Poor white people found themselves in a strange space - black people were progressing and poor whites were not being paid any attention to - they were looked down upon by wealthy whites.
If blacks moved up, they would be at the bottom.
Bob Jones became NC's first Grand Dragon.
The March on Washington displayed the growing strength of the civil rights movement.
Jones held a rally on cornfield at his hometown. The goal was to attract a couple hundred people, a couple thousand turned up.
White people were so afraid that they would have even less. They felt invaded by Civil Rights Activists.
Jones launched a huge recruitment campaign. George Dorset became minister for the NC Klan.
Jones and George combined were unstoppable at first.
Residents believed that NC would change slowly however gradual change wouldn't be good enough for either party.
Whites in NC felt like they couldn't rely on their politicians, they could only rely on the Klan.
In the Summer of 1964, tons of rallies were held for whites only.
There were raffles and bands playing and other entertainment, like county fairs. Even if there were only a few Klansman there, it was a social event for the whole town
As night fell, the tone of the rallies would grow darker as well, speakers would be brought out and crosses were burned.
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