One Hundred Percent American Book Review In One Hundred Percent American: The Rebirth and Decline of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s by Thomas R. Pegram is taking an objective view in arguing that the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) was influenced by and influenced the mainstream American during its rise and fall in popular culture in the New Era of the 1920s. Pegram states that the Klan would go along with the public’s view on what is seen as right and what is seen as wrong. He further contest that the Klan influenced American society by trying to push what a “true’ American looked like and what they believed in. Pegram notes that the KKK used its power to regulate what should and shouldn’t be taught in public schools. Pegram lastly insists that the Klan did seek have influence beyond local school boards and state officials, but was not as successful in influencing the mainstream American. The Klan is known to have a great influence on American History, but the Klan would also follow the public's view on Catholics, Jews and Blacks to a certain extent. That extent was broken, many times it was broken, but the Klan would keep …show more content…
The Klan was successful in its thrusts by seizing local boards and some state and national representatives but not successful in transforming “state government into nodes of native-born white Protestant cultural assertiveness.” The Klan was not prosperous in its crusade in asserting significant legislation that would affect the public life. This signifies that the Klan was not able to use the law to influence the mainstream American of the 1920s. After the Klan’s failures in those offices, many were not able to hold their power and then plummeted in 1925 along with its fall in membership. That decline was the loss of people is a loss of influence on Americans. The Klan was not able to recover after these losses and had little impact on the bigger level of
This gave the Klan a large amount of power; the power was way over their heads. In order to break the Klan, a human rights activist named Stetson Kennedy joined the Klan to learn all of its secrets and information. Kennedy learned that the his clan’s chapter primarily consisted of low-earning, poorly educated men who wanted a place where they can stay out all night and vent their frustrations. After learning the secrets and information from the Klan, Kennedy gave this information to authorities and to the writers of the Superman radio program, where they used this information to create a radio show featuring Superman defeating the Klan. This lead to an influx of people learning about the Klan, and even talking about the Klan became a game for kids; and it lead to the Klan’s loss of appeal and loss of power.
Hahn discusses both the well-known struggle against white supremacy and the less examined conflicts within the black community. He tells of the remarkable rise of Southern blacks to local and state power and the white campaign to restore their version of racial order, disenfranchise blacks, and exclude them from politics. Blacks built many political and social structures to pursue their political goals, including organizations such as Union Leagues, the Colored Farmers’ Alliance, chapters of the Republican Party, and emigration organizations. Hahn used this part of the book to successfully recover the importance of black political action shaping their own history.
The original edition of The Strange Career of Jim Crow had as its thesis that segregation and Jim Crow Laws were a relative late comer in race relations in the South only dating to the late 1880s and early 1890s. Also part of that thesis is that race relations in the South were not static, that a great deal of change has occurred in the dynamics of race relations. Woodward presents a clear argument that segregation in the South did not really start forming until the 1890s. One of the key components of his argument is the close contact of the races during slavery and the Reconstruction period. During slavery the two races while not living harmoniously with each other did have constant contact with each other in the South. This c...
The Antebellum Era between the years of 1825 to 1850 was abundant with many reform movements that signified great change within the people of the nation. Although many of these changes were good and lasting reforms, extremists’ stark views did the contrary and inhibited change. Luckily, reform movements such as the women’s rights movement, the abolition of slavery, and temperance all led the nation in the right direction towards the expansion of democratic ideals. These ideals encompass the belief that all citizens are equal and are entitled to certain unalienable rights.
“The connection between the revivals of the Second Great Awakening and abolition was so strong that it would hardly be an overstatement to say that the revivals were responsible for antislavery becoming a radical national movement.” During the time period, evangelical religion underlay the culture of America to such an extent that the revivals of the 1830s resulted in “tangible” structures for social reform — the revivals touched many aspects of political and social life. The revivals implicitly created political obligations and led to a demand for an activist
...ty and their survival as a group in society because of restraint from the federal government in the ability to litigate their plight in Court. The Author transitions the past and present signatures of Jim Crow and the New Jim Crow with the suggestion that the New Jim Crow, by mass incarceration and racism as a whole, is marginalizes and relegates Blacks to residential, educational and constitutionally endowed service to Country.
In this paper, I will also provide some discussion of the difference between the different civil right’s leaders and their movement in relation to the Tulsa Race Riot and why some of their advances were met with success when the one in Tulsa was met with complete failure. I will detail some of the prominent figures and the unknown figures that were crucial during the race riot and elaborate on their contributions. My thesis for this paper is as follows: After World War I the hope for equality both in the law and through the law was prominent in the minds of African Americans and many of them believed that taking a stand and declaring their rights was the way to fight against the inequalities against blacks; this was especially true for the African Americans whose actions spurred the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921.
The political crisis of the 1850’s is one of the most underrated influential decades in US history. Many people talk about the 1920’s and the 1940’s and 50’s; however, much of that history ─ especially of that between the late 1940’s and the late 1960’s ─ was predicated upon by the crisis of the 1850’s. To understand its importance, one must understand its composition, its origin, and its effect. The crisis of the 1850’s, predicated upon the furious debates of slavery in new western territories and consisting over debates of states’ rights versus federal power, had lasting effects directly concerning the Civil War and on the nation especially in relation to the century long ideological battle over race in America.
"Violence against African-Americans occurred from the first days of the Reconstruction…klansmen rode to frustrate Reconstruction and keep the freedman in subjection.
From White Supremacy to White Power: The FBI, COINTELPRO-WHITE HATE, and the Nazification of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1970s. " American Studies 48.3 (2007): 49-74. Jstor.com. Web. The Web.
An example of the KKK using violence was “John W. Stephens, State Senator from Caswell, is dead. He was foully murdered by the Ku-Klux in the Grand Jury room of the Courthouse.” This was making a big impact on Reconstruction because the KKK was killing anybody that supported Reconstruction. Another piece of evidence of the KKK killing reconstruction was, “[the Klansmen] broke my door open, took me out of bed, took me to the woods and whipped me three hours or more and left me for dead. They said to me, “Do you think you will ever vote another damned Radical ticket?” “They said I had voted for Grant and had carried the Negroes against them. About two days before they whipped me they offered me $5,000 to go with them and they said they would pay me $2,500 in cash if I would let another man to go the legislature in my place.” This negatively impacted reconstruction because the KKK were killing and bribing anybody who voted the Radical Ticket. Overall, there’s plenty of reasons the KKK put a negative impact on the Reconstruction of the
The Strange Career of Jim Crow, by C. Van Woodward, traces the history of race relations in the United States from the mid and late nineteenth century through the twentieth century. In doing so Woodward brings to light significant aspects of Reconstruction that remain unknown to many today. He argues that the races were not as separate many people believe until the Jim Crow laws. To set up such an argument, Woodward first outlines the relationship between Southern and Northern whites, and African Americans during the nineteenth century. He then breaks down the details of the injustice brought about by the Jim Crow laws, and outlines the transformation in American society from discrimination to Civil Rights. Woodward’s argument is very persuasive because he uses specific evidence to support his opinions and to connect his ideas. Considering the time period in which the book and its editions were written, it should be praised for its insight into and analysis of the most important social issue in American history.
...es Vyry’s family who even though being tortured by the Ku Klux Klan found their place in the new society. Above that, some of the blacks tried to succeed in politics, where only whites were before. However, the persistent racial hatred of whites suppressed their efforts.
Finally understanding the breadth of the black’s commitment to their cause, supporters of segregation began to feel threatened by the boycotters. Because of African Americans’ long-standing status as “property” and the widely held belief that they are inferior, the white Southerner’s unyielding faith in his ability to control blacks had never before seen such a threat. A rally meant to prevent integration held by the Central Alabama Citizens Council in February 1956 introduced a handbill modeled after the Declaration of Independence and portrayed African Americans as animalistic savages that would bring about the end of civilization. The author contorts the opening words of the Declaration in an attempt to deem whites the “original” Americans with the right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of dead niggers”. This handbill attempted to negate the raised spirits of the African Americans and return the power to the hands of white extremists by threatening to “abolish the Negro race” by use of “guns, bows and arrows, sling shots and knives” (Handbill).
...r right to vote. Social and economic segregation were added to the black American’s loss of political power. In some cases, to keep white supremacy, a group called “Ku Klux Klan” would intimidate black males who had voted or who tried to vote. The Ku Klux Klan along with other groups would often burn their homes, churches, and schools down. Some even resorted to murder. A number of these blacks were killed while attempting to defend their right to vote.