Klansville USA

Nov 26, 2016
4 min read

The KKK is in any American history textbook. Every American knows something about the Klan. However, many things in the documentary on Klansville U.S.A surprised me.

I never really thought about how the Klan was highly active not that long ago. When you think about the KKK, you assume that it happened way before your day. However, my parents were alive when the documentary talks about the Klan in 1966. I also found it interesting that North Carolina had one of the biggest chapters. I haven't been in the state that long but I would of never guessed that this swing state would of had such a big group. I was also surprised that North Carolina used to be heavily liberal.

The first Klan emerged in 1864, following the years of the Civil War. The first group was in Tennessee. They dressed up in costumes and go out to terrorize freed slaves. It started out innocently but the reactions from the free slaves were to good not to continue. It soon became violent and murders began to happen. However, this quickly died down until 1915 when a movie came out! This shows that America has had a long history of allowing Hollywood to have a real cause and effect to people watching.

The movie, The Birth of a Nation, justified the violence of the Klan. The Klan repictured itself in a romanticized way. They said it was necessary to restore the south. The second Klan then emerged in the 1920s. An idea of 'Americanism' meant that there needed to be white supremacy. This Klan was urban, where there were huge waves of immigration and migration. In this second Klan, there were four million Americans. They had huge political power which may of set back civil rights for African Americans. Bad press ripped apart this Klan in the 1930s.

It wasn't until Brown v Board until the third Klan began to formulate again. It became powerful in the 1960s as the CRA began to make progress. North Carolina was the state that decided that the KKK was a white protestant club. Some say that this was a poor white person's cry for attention. Bob Jones was the first official leader. He was the founder of the rise of this klan. Many think that they were afraid of being invaded by the black man. This was their action to stop the black man from gaining power. Jones soon began recruiting members from other states.

The Andy Griffith show was a show set in North Carolina. It was supposed to be a show that portrayed North Carolina as the state thought it saw itself. This state was a network of small communities ruled by the Andy Taylor's of the world. There was always a peaceful resolution. It was a town that had no racial issues, where Africans were well behaved and that system never changed.

North Carolina then became the first state to call itself the new south, moving away from its former racial tension. The "North Carolina way" was when the people were going to be willing and gradually change their system with race relations. It had a moderate self image. This state wanted to be more progressive compared to other states in the south. However, blacks wanted faster change. The Klan then steps in to stop this to support the white people in mainly rural areas who did not want blacks to have any changed rights.

White people loved this KKK in the 1960s. It would be a night out for most of them. They brought the whole family and would attend rallies. There was food, music, and raffles. To attend, you didn't have to be a klansman, you just needed to be white. It was similar to a county fair. The Bible was also heavily discussed in order to justify white supremacy. Donations were easy to be collected and people often wanted to become members. However, if they are usually the Bible to testify the Klan, I am confused as to why they are burning the cross?

Quickly, Jones wanted to use the North Carolina group as a large voting block. He said that a politician can only take order with the klan's support. White people actually fell for this in day marches which showed that this group had nothing to hide and that they are human. Still, many respectable people did not support it but as long as no want spoke out against it, it would continue to assemble. Most walks ended peacefully, but blacks soon became tired of moving over for the KKK. They soon purposely began walking through black neighborhoods. However, North Carolina isn't the deep deep south so violence was not as big as in other places like Alabama. They just claimed that they were expressing their freedom of speech.

The Klan just did not go after black people, but they even shot dead a white mother who just so happened to be a civil rights activist. This caused President Johnson to threaten the klan and encouraged members to withdraw. He vowed to end the klan, which upset the entire group. So they began having daily rallies. One of the rallied even hosted the men charged with killing the wife. CBS recorded this white was the first time most Americans saw a rally. However the Klan thought they were just patriotic and anti-communist.

Jones became a crook and stole money from dues to put in his own personal bank account. He also did not testify at a Washington DC hearing which insulted a lot of his supporters. I think he was just in it for the money. He did not comment on the fifth amendment making his fellow followers see him as a communist. State officials also cracked down at this time because North Carolina had the highest numbers of members. They took advantage of the lose of leadership since it was a weak time for the group. Subdivisions of the Klan began in 1966 but soon fell apart. Then Jones was arrested for refusing to show klan records. By now, North Carolina's klan dwindle down in size. The Klan is shameful at this point, no main goals were achieved since Civil Rights progressed.

I thought that this documentary was interesting. I have learned about the klan in history classes but this should more detailed facts. I recommend this video to anyone. I am not huge into history but I really enjoyed this and found it interesting.