The rise of the Ku Klux Klan in North Carolina

Résumé du document

The original idea of the Ku Klux Klan was born in the late 1865, in the minds of six young men -John Lester, James Crowe, John Kennedy, Richard Reed, Frank Mc Cord and Calvin Jones- in the quiet town of Pulaski, Tennessee. They were Confederate soldiers during the Civil War and were bored with their dull lives. So they decided to form a club that they named after the Greek term "kyklos" meaning circle of friends. But their rather innocent organization showed an incredibly fast growth and rise in popularity, so much that it turns into a craze murdering thousands of people, mainly Black. It is though difficult to put the blame of all the Klan's activities on six people, that is why we should study in what political and geographical (with the narrowed scope of the state of North Carolina) contexts it fits in.

Extraits

[...] Indeed it established itself as a restorer of moral rights against a modernized economy. They wanted to bring back the old mythic antebellum days when all white men could be masters. Their two main goals were to chase those who helped the Blacks (especially the Republicans) to obtain equality and to punish these minorities (by intimidation and whippings). The economy of North Carolina had been shaped by slavery, so the political tension regarding slavery was present since the 1850's and it divided the state. [...]

[...] Indeed the army was maybe the only one which was able to stop the Klan, but they were too busy with guarding the border with Mexico. But even if they had concentrated on it, Klansmen occupied too high social positions to be touched. The response of the newspapers to the Klan's actions were biased. The Ku Klux Klan was supported by most of the local newspapers. When The Iliad in Louisiana dared to tell how the Black and White Republicans were suffering because of this organization, a mob destroyed its office and press. [...]

[...] Indeed it was part of the everyday life. The large plantations, the slave population and the burgeoning entrepreneurial economy in the cities was characteristic of North Carolina's Low Country. And this strong localism was a proof of lack of economic and geographical (because of the mountains) integration of the state in the United States. There was no centralized regional coordination. The local sovereignty ruled upon the North Carolinian economy, army and politics. And the Ku Klux Klan was a reaction against that. [...]

[...] They used a whole range of codes for the months or the days. The "Prescript", a sort of convention of the Klan written by George Gordon former confederate brigadier) in 1868, contained the questions that the applying members were asked: mainly on the Republican party and the racial equality. To become members, they had to adhere to the ideas of the Klan, to be a man of at least 18 (violence was considered a "man's work"), having been recommended by a member, and they were required to swear an oath of secrecy about all the Klan's matters and members under threat of death. [...]

[...] They auto-proclaimed themselves "an institution of Chivalry, Humanity, Mercy and Rationalism" "to protect the weak" Even bad publicity could stimulate membership. Actually, for those who lack control over their lives, it offered the possibility of mastering some people's lives and deaths and to enjoy the thrills of war without the risks. The Klan imagined itself as an embodiment of order and will. Actually they had never been very centralized. They were different groups in different states, but they all rallied to the same doctrine. It laid on the main concept of White Supremacy. [...]