Materialien für den bilingualen Sachfachunterricht
GESCHICHTE auf Englisch
Jgst. 9
The Ku Klux Klan
M 2.4 (Group 4)
Anti-Semitism
In 1915, a Jewish factory manager from Atlanta named Leo Frank was falsely accused of the rape1
and murder of 13-year-old Mary Phagan, a girl employed at his factory. The newspapers nationwide
reported about Frank in a sensational and highly emotional way and stressed the fact that he was a
Jew.
During the trial in Georgia a white mob2 surrounded the courtroom every day and there was a heated
atmosphere. Frank was sentenced to death although there was not enough proof of his guilt. But the
governor of Georgia changed Frank's sentence to life imprisonment. The mob did not want to accept
this, and a group called the Knights of Mary Phagan kidnapped Frank from prison and lynched3 him.
After this event, the Second Klan was founded by former Ku Klux Klan members and members of the
Knights of Mary Phagan. The Second Klan said that the Bible, the United States flag and the
Constitution were their principles. They believed that you had to be white and Protestant to be
accepted and seen as a true American. Klan-persons were hostile to many groups, e.g. Catholics,
Blacks, foreigners and Jews. Many still thought that the Jews were collectively guilty of the crucifixion
of Jesus Christ.
Many of the new immigrants had come from Eastern European countries. Quite a few of them were
Jewish. They had found work in the industrial cities, mainly in the North. The children of these
immigrants entered skilled and professional occupations. Young American Jews were moving into
white-collar jobs and were becoming doctors, lawyers, dentists etc. The Ku Klux Klan used the fact
that many “native born Americans” were afraid of the competition of Jewish people for jobs. In its
propaganda the Klan spread anti-Semitic prejudice like saying that Jews controlled international
banks.
White Protestants had dominated the entertainment industry before the war, but during the war and in
the 1920s the industry changed. People from all over Europe came to the new Hollywood studios. The
Ku Klux Klan said that Jewish money dominated the movie industry and that the Jewish influence in
the entertainment industry was spreading immorality.
Anti-Semitic feelings had also grown with the Russian Revolution in 1917. Conservative Americans
saw Jews as the leaders in the Bolshevik revolution and feared those revolutionary ideas could also
find supporters in the USA. In 1919, there were a number of strikes throughout the USA, and the Ku
Klux Klan and others maintained that Jews had been the leaders in those labour struggles and were
working for a radical change of the United States. Henry Ford for example wrote a number of quite
popular anti-Semitic articles. He blamed the Jews for everything he disliked – also for Jazz music.
Because of his anti-Semitic attitude Hitler even mentioned Henry Ford in “Mein Kampf”.
All this anti-Semitic propaganda led to quotas which limited immigration from countries with large
4
numbers of Jewish emigrants. In 1921 and 1924 Congress introduced a quota system for
immigration, which granted 80 % of the visas to immigrants from Western Europe.
Tasks:
1. Give a short summary of the Leo Frank Trial.
2. Explain why the trial was important for the KKK.
3. Tell the others what the Second Klan believed in.
4. Find reasons why you can call the KKK anti-Semitic.
1
Vergewaltigung
Mob, Menschenmasse
3
lynchen (eine aufgebrachte Menge ermordet jemanden)
4
Quotenregelung
2
Materialien für den bilingualen Sachfachunterricht
GESCHICHTE auf Englisch
The Ku Klux Klan
Lucille and Leo Frank at Frank's trial.
The lynching of Leo Frank
Jgst. 9
Materialien für den bilingualen Sachfachunterricht
GESCHICHTE auf Englisch
Jgst. 9
The Ku Klux Klan
M 2.5 (Group 5)
Anti- Catholicism
From 1880 to 1914, more than 22 million people migrated to the United States. The majority of white
immigrants had traditionally come from western Europe, but during the second half of the 19th century,
many immigrants came from central, southern, eastern, and northern Europe. A lot of these
immigrants were Roman Catholic. Some others were Orthodox Christians and Jews.
The Second Klan said that the Bible, the United States flag and the Constitution were their principles.
The Klan saw itself as the pillar1 for law and order, “old time religion” and moral values. But
nevertheless, despite stressing the importance of the Bible and the Christian faith, the Ku Klux Klan
hated Catholicism. It was open only to native-born white Protestants.
The reason for this was their belief that Catholics could not be good Americans because of their
allegiance2 to the Pope. They thought Catholics were ruled by Rome and would never fully support the
US government. For them, Catholics were not reliable and could not be trusted. The KKK opposed
foreigners in the United States and even wanted an end to Catholic immigration. Catholic immigrants
should not be granted citizenship, and Catholic students should read the Protestant Bible.
Furthermore, the KKK believed that Catholics did not want to integrate into the American society
because they sent their children to Catholic schools. The KKK ran a campaign to stop private schools.
Children were supposed to be sent to state schools to be “Americanized”. In Oregon, the Klan
proposed a bill to close private Catholic schools. One of the Klan’s arguments was that only in state
schools would children become true Americans. They also said that private schools were controlled by
non-American organizations which did not teach traditional American values but foreign ideologies.
The KKK also wanted to stop the influence of Catholic priests. In their view, priests were a danger to
families because they had a lot of influence over women and children. In Birmingham, Alabama, a
Klansman murdered a Catholic priest - but was acquitted3.
The Klan was also known for threatening and beating up people or even lynching them. They
disturbed Catholic services4, put up burning crosses in front of Catholic churches, burnt churches and
attacked the homes of Catholics. Klan propaganda portrayed Catholics as evil people who were trying
to take over the American government. Eventually they would hand the USA over to Rome and the
USA would be ruled by the Pope.
In 1928, Al Smith became the first Roman Catholic to be nominated by his party to run for President.
Many Protestants feared that Smith would be dependent on the Pope and receive orders from Rome.
They believed that he would not think of the good of the country but of the good of the Catholic
Church. The KKK campaigned against Al Smith. They printed thousands of hate pamphlets saying that
the Pope would move into the White House: there were anti-Smith posters, anti-Smith buttons and
anti-Smith rallies. They also used the stereotypes placed on Irish Catholics who were supposed to be
lazy and drink a lot. Smith lost in the election.
Tasks:
1. Tell the others what the KKK believed in.
2. Explain why the Klan was anti-Catholic.
3. Give some examples of anti-Catholic actions.
4. Try to find out why they did not want a Catholic President.
________
1
Pfeiler
2
Gehorsam, Loyalität
3
freigesprochen
Materialien für den bilingualen Sachfachunterricht
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The Ku Klux Klan
4
Gottesdienst
Published in The Ku Klux Klan In Prophecy, 1925
Jgst. 9