Klansville USA

 During the last couple of weeks in class we watched many historical documentaries. Today's video talked about the Ku Klux Klan or the KKK in North Carolina. This group in North Carolina was named Klansville USA. 

The leader of this North Carolina Klan was known as Bob Jones. The Klan started off as a couple of friends and grew to the thousands of people. Bob Jones grew up in Salisbury North Carolina and served in the Navy after he dropped out of High School. He was discharged after not saluting a black officer. Afterwards he jumped around from jobs. 

The Klan first started going around pulling "pranks" on African Americans by going around and taunting them and causing horror in their lives. The Klan revived around the 1920's and called for 100% americanism. In 1925, 50,000 klansman gathered in Washington. Afterwards 4 million Americans claimed membership in the Klan. By the 1930's the Klan fell due to bad press. 

In 1954 when the U.S claimed that schools should be integrated, the Klan rose back up again. This came from the historic case of Brown V. Board of Education. Governors like George Wallace openly claimed that segregation should be allowed. In the summer of 1953, Bob Jones petitioned for a charter to be organized for the Klan in his home state. Jones held a rally in a cornfield by his house hoping to preach to a couple hundred people. Instead around 2,000 people showed up because they believed the black people were taking away the rights white's deserved. 

When The KKK Was Mainstream : NPR History Dept. : NPR

George Dorsett became the Klans official Chaplin. He would preach at almost every rally in the state. The Klan continued to rise and grew more and more attention the the nation. Thousands and thousands of people continued to show up to these rallies. 

Bob Jones grew the Klan to have 10,000 official members by the year of 1965. He stated he did not advocate violence. He saw the group as a force that would make sure white people kept their rights. They would have walks to show the Klan has nothing to hide. August 21st 1965, marchers approached a black neighborhood and it turned violent. 

In march 1965, a housewife was gunned down by a Klansman in Alabama. This led to the federal government working on an assault against the Ku Klux Klan. President Linden B. Johnson called for people to leave the Klan and return to their normal lives. The Klan decided to rally and say they were being torn down unrightfully. 

Hearings began to be held that determined whether the group should stay together or not. As it fell apart, Bob Jones did not speak and the followers started to lose interest. Dorsett soon became the leader in place for Jones. However, he was a poor leader and the group started to fizzle out. Jones was arrested for not presenting and documents or information during the trials. 

All in all, the group was not very successful as it grew and fell multiple times. Although there was a large following, legally the Klan was unsuccessful and did not accomplish many of their goals.


Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gL-DFSKV8uU

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