History - The Ku Klux Klan

What was the KKK?

To be in the KKK you needed to be a WASP.

• White 
• Anglo-Saxon
•  Protestant 

Who did they hate?

They hated:

• Blacks 
• Jews 
• New Immigrants (Polish) 
• Catholics  

How many members did they have?

• 1920 - 100,000 members 
• 1925 - 5 million members

 Who was in the KKK?

Most were from the south as the blacks migrated to the north to get cheap labour.

• Politicians 
• Teachers 
• Judges 
• Police

Why lost interest?

• David Stephenson (Grand Wizard)
• Convicted of r*pe and mutilation in 1925

George Arnwood

• mentally retarded black man
• in October 1933 = accused of assault of 4 white women
• dragged out of jail by the KKK.
• beaten, hung and lit on fire.

Religious Fundementalism

• Most were from the South-East of America
• 1920 Bible Belt was introduced = Alabama, Texas, Virginia...

Monkey Trial

• 1924 Tennessee - Butler Act
• Illegal to teach Evolution
• John Scopes - deliberately taught the theory of Evolution
• Trial July 1925
• Scopes found guilty & fined $1000
• Disaster for Religious Fundementalism = they were trying to stifle freedom

Jim Crow Laws 

• 17th and 18th Century.
• Blacks brought to USA = Slaves.
• 1860's slavery ended - Southern States where whites were minority = introduced segregation to control black people's freedom = JIM CROW LAWS
• Jim Crow was a 19th Century comedian who ridiculed black people.

A law restricted the lives of freed black people:

• Trains
• Theatres
• Cemetries
• Hospitals
• Telephone booths
• Hotels, Restrooms, Taverns, Cafes

The Great Migration

• 1910-1930 = many blacks went to North, i.e. New York 
• With most employees fighting in WW1 = many companies sent agents to South to recruit workers.
• Taking what little money they had - more than a million African Americans headed for the likes of New York, Chicago, Detroit.
• Conditions were not much better - poor housing & poor Wages