Did the Klu Kluxklan Operate in Mckinney, TX during the 1920s - Research Paper Example

Libby Carter History 2620.011 Deborah Kilgore 3/19 Did The Klu Kluxklan Operate in Mckinney, Tx During The 1920’s? The klu Klux Klan’s history in Texas navigates to the modern day from the reconstruction era. several Klu Klux Klan organizations with different affinities for one another concurred with each other in many parts of the south but did the klu Klux Klan operate in McKinney ,TX during the early and mid-1920,’s? The essay will present evidence that this organization existed in Texas, went over McKinney and had several impacts in that region (Lowe, 1954). The essay also purports that the group’s actions were more propelled by feelings more than they were guided by logical thoughts. The Klan group in this time is often labeled as fascist as they adopted cruel techniques in the name of the conviction of attaining its “destiny”1. The klu Klux Klan is the name of an organization in the past and modern times in the united states that have backed extremist unreceptive notions such as white nationalism, anti-immigration to inhibit the ambulation of races and white supremacy to refurbish white control on the government. Often expressed through terrorism in the past. They have also been anti-communists since mid-twentieth century2. The first klu Klux Klan fared well in the late 1860’s in the southern states but later declined in the early 1870’s. The founders concocted a series of highly crafted secret rituals for this organization. The second klu Klux Klan emerged in the twentieth century and was successful nationwide in the mid 1920’s. The members of the group took on the wearing of white costumes that looked like robes, masks that had holes for the eyes and tapering hats that were designed to be eccentric and frightening and to conceal their identities: these were the same dressings adopted by the previous group. This group too adopted similar codes used in the previous group3. The Klan’s group was reported to have held a parade in McKinney for the first time in July 1871 and that the masked men roughed up a white teacher in a black school located in Bastrop. Thereafter however such terrible incidents lessened in number after a law was passed that gave the president of the United States the authority to break of the harbeas corpus right in the secret conspiracy cases. This was effective until the group refueled in the 1920’s4. This new group emerged with more tenacity after the World War 1 with the southern states recording the highest density. The members pulled of violent acts with atrocities being more committed to the black race5. Some Texans were very cordial to the Klan’s livid and narrow minded objectives and by the mid 1920’s the state factored in tens of thousands of followers. The membership had grown to a whooping four million white men which was 15% of the eligible citizens. McKinney was not an exception. The following is the texas map and a crop out of Mckinney. It was a common sight to spot the hooded gangs utilize cross burnings to exhibit the strength of the invisible empire. The organization was divided into different subdivisions with each group fighting for prominence. The group promised to bolster prohibition and to advocate for traditional morality. In the 1920’s the Klan’s members alleged that they had to compete for the available jobs in the country with the immigrants. They blamed the fault of political instability, anarchy and industrial wage price-structure to the incessant increase of foreigners to the country. With the great membership the organization was able to elect its favored sheriffs, judges, state legislators and other state and local officials. It was at this time they invented the decade where each member had to recruit 10 members to vote for the members that were candidates6. Consequently the people that were victims of the klu Klux Klan were arrested for uncommitted serious crimes while the Klansmen members were hardly convicted by the local juries. The adopted southern black codes dehumanized the African Americans. At this point and time the group grew rapidly7. Immigrants and African Americans were not the sole target of the group however; they also targeted the anti-prohibitionists, the Jews, the Catholics, homosexuals and other minorities. They were vehemently against any acts that did not concur with a hundred percent Americanism. The violent group imposed fear mostly into “colored people” and sympathetic whites who they referred to as “negro lovers”. The members had a powerful sense of victimizing the targeted people, and strangely stimulated to commit terrible acts of torture in the most inhumane manner, dragging the victims from their beds in their houses at the dead of the night committing murder, intimidation and spreading terrorism in the pretext of “self-defense” owing to a twisted discernment that they are under siege and hence have to defend their “way of life” and their brutal attacks on victims is justified and responds with the rights given to whites by God. These are passions often exhibited by fascists. The Klan even forced black people to vote as democrats in their favor: at this time blacks had been given the right to vote by the civil acts law. Any successful “colored” businessmen were brutally attacked and attempts that emerged to form trade unions to protect them were dealt with haste. The operations were conducted mostly in the night and invariably focused on the “unwanted groups.” lynching was also a method employed by the klu Klux Klan to terrorize the black population8. In the McKinney town the site was terrible. There were destroyed factories, torn apart railroads, fire gutted towns and people trying so hard to hide so as to evade the group’s attacks. Many of the people could not work and hence had no source of income; this reduced them to begging and homelessness9. Black people who were generally slaves were in more danger as the Klan purported that they the ‘negroes” must be put in their rightful place. . Their appearance was enough to terrify people. The klu Klux Klan believed that their duties were superior to every individual right. To the other whites they used persuasion and blackmail as tools to enlist them in their organization. The years that followed later the state had to use many funds on re-constructing hospitals, schools, and facilitating the provision of homes and food to the affected people10. The klu Klux Klan becomes the oldest domestic terrorist organization and has not ceased to create terror. There is still a substantial number that perpetuates its historical regressive ideals. It is also very interesting that the genesis of this organization was out of idle people trying to amuse themselves. Consequently they decided to capitalize on the unprecedented impact they had resulting in to the various heinous criminal acts that followed. The organization’s spread of ideals however gained considerable strength in the initial creation of the group and their rooting in their formation of parties in a legal system. Several laws and acts were enacted to protect the minorities from torture imposed by this organization and the northerners were more agreeing to follow the rules but the southerners were more reluctant and that is why the southern part of the nation was the stronghold of the klu Klux Klan, Texas being a major state in that effect. The towns viewed the klu Klux Klan’s members as heroes that proclaimed white supremacy to ensure that the ideals that the founders of the nation had were not overtaken by the foreign ideals; a shifting nature from a rural agriculture society to an urban industrial nation! it is this support from the locals, hate and the invisible governing body ideas are the things that bolstered their reign and fuelled the terror they imposed on foreigners and layered upon a reputation that which it can never possibly recover. References. Charles C. Alexander.The Klux Klan and the Pressing Texas: The Black Minority Cases. Houston: Texas Western Press, 1965 Goldfield, David R. The American journey: a history of the United States. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Prentice Hall, 1998. Linda Kilgoren. Klu Klux Klan in the South. Lexington: University Of Kentucky Press, 1965. Shawn Lay. War , Revolution and the Klu Klux Klan: A Study of Intolerance Border City, El Paso: Texas Western Press, 1985. Richard Lowe. A history of the United States. Vol.2 Goldfield: Cengage learning, 1954. Read More