Why did the KKK have such a large membership in the 1920s?
In working on my family tree, I found out that I had a couple of family members that belonged to the KKK in the early 20’s. These family members had come back from fighting in France (WWI) and came back very isolationist and with bad ideas that were passed around the troops as to the causes of world problems and problems at home. What I found out was that the KKK was seen as a patriotic organization to join. My relatives were not Southern – they were from the Chicago area. The group at that time was very anti-semitic and anti-Catholic. Yes, my white protestant relatives were both of those much to my dismay. Once the corruption within the organization was exposed along with some sentiments of the leadership that the vets felt were ‘anti-American’, the membership dropped off drastically. The Vets then joined organizations like the American Legion which were then and are to this day, honorable patriotic organizations to belong to. I’m not sure if you will find this information in your res
Many people, including ones who might be seen as fairly liberal, tended to be racist or at least bigoted by today’s standards. Often women were afraid of Black men and it was apparently a common myth that Black men were ‘out to rape’ White girls (this I heard from older relatives and others). Men were expected to protect the women, even if there was no real threat to begin with. If an African American man or boy even looked a White woman in the eye or did not move out of her way on a sidewalk, or things like that he was seen as a threat. And people were often upset about the rise in immigration and the fact many of those who came to America at the turn of the century were growing up and some, including some Jewish people were getting more prosperous. Anybody who was ‘different’ was potentially bad. You still hear and see that today about immigrants and people of other religions, etc but it was even worse in those days. Catholics were often prejudiced against Protestants, but many Prote
