1925 August 8

KKK Stages Huge March of 35,000 in Washington, D.C.

 

More than 35,000 Ku Klux Klan members marched down Constitution Avenue in Washington, D.C. on this day, wearing their Klan robes but not their masks. The march marked the high point of the Klan’s power in the 1920s when it had a strong national presence and was almost as focused on attacking the Catholic Church as it was on African-Americans.

Earlier in the decade, it had sponsored a law in Oregon that would have closed down Catholic parochial schools, but the law was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court on June 1, 1925.

The 1924 Democratic Party Convention, meanwhile, was deeply divided over a proposed resolution, on July 6, 1924, that would have condemned the Klan by name. After a long and bitter debate, delegates passed a modified resolution that condemned hate groups but did not specifically name the Klan.

The March on Washington proved to be the peak of the Klan’s power and influence. Largely because of financial scandals and sexual misconduct involving top leaders, the organization suffered a dramatic loss of members beginning in 1926. The Klan revived in the 1950s and 1960s in reaction to the civil rights movement.

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)

See documents on the KKK in the 1920s (photos; 78 rpm records, etc.):
http://www.authentichistory.com/1921-1929/4-resistance/2-KKK/index.html

Watch film of the Klan march: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qv4xHcK63cQ

Learn about the history of the Klan: Wyn Ward, The Fiery Cross: The Ku Klux Klan in America (1987)

Learn more about the Klan today: http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-files/ideology/ku-klux-klan

Learn more about the history of marching on Washington: Lucy Barber, Marching on Washington: The Forging of an American Political Tradition (2002)

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