Chicago Judge Lifts Ban on KKK Newspaper; But Plans to “Review” Future Articles
In a curious ruling on this day, a Chicago judge lifted a ban on a Ku Klux Klan newspaper, but retained the authority to act as a “censor” of future articles that might be offensive to racial and/or religious groups.
In the 1920s, the KKK had considerable support outside of the South because of its virulent attacks on the Catholic Church and Jews. It had an estimated 50,000 members in Chicago, for example, and was especially strong in Indiana and Oregon. In a number of cities, Catholics had sufficient political power that KKK meetings and publications were banned.
Boston Mayor James Curley famously banned KKK meetings in the city on October 21, 1923. Protests by African-Americans, meanwhile, led to bans on the famous but racist film, Birth of a Nation, in a number of cities (see March 3, 1915). The national strength of the Klan in these years was best indicated by a march of between 20,000 and 30,000 KKK members in Washington, D.C., on August 8, 1925.
Read the great new book about the KKK in the 1920s: Linda Gordon, The Second Coming of the KKK: The Ku Klux Klan of the 1920s and the American Political Tradition (2017)
Read about the history of the Klan: David M. Chalmers, Hooded Americanism: The History of the Ku Klux Klan, 3rd Ed. (1987)
Learn about the KKK today: http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-files/ideology/ku-klux-klan
Learn more about African American history: Henry Louis Gates, Life Upon These Shores: Looking at African American History, 1513-2008 (2011)