This research examines the rise of the Ku Klux Klan in urban America in the 1920s. In the context of this research, "rise" is defined in terms of increased Klan membership, increased public acceptability of the Klan and its activities, and the increased political influence of the Klan.
The rise of the Klan in the 1920s occurred during the 1921 1925 period (Horn, 1989). Klan membership, acceptability, and influence plummeted subsequent to 1925 (Sims, 1991). The reasons for the rise of the Klan during the first half of the decade are closely intertwined with events and developments that occurred from the mid 1880s through 1920, particularly those that occurred from 1915 through 1920, as well as with those that occurred from 1921 through 1925 (Ingalls, 1979). Thus, the examination of the rise of the Klan during the 1920s requires a consideration of relevant events and developments that occurred from the mid 1880s through 1920.
In the United States of the 1920s, black Americans were referred to as Negroes. Terms such as blacks, African Americans, and so forth were not used. Thus, in this research, the term Negroes is used to denote black Americans.
By the end of the nineteenth century, the Ku Klux Klan was a moribund organization (Newton and Newton, 1991). The military crack down on the Klan in South Carolina by President Ulysses Grant dealt a near death blow to the organization throughout the Southern states where the organization was most active and influential (Horn, 1989). Further, United States Supreme Court decisions detrimental to civil rights, together with waning Congressional and Presidential interest in the protection of freedmen, from the mid 1870s through the 1890s lessened the public attraction in the Southern states for an organization such as the Ku Klux Klan. The deterioration of federal efforts to protect the freedmen and punish the former secessionist states delivered the death blow to the Reconstru...