1. Anti-Immigration and the KKK
Created by Heather Dorey
Hohokam Middle School
Tucson, AZ

2. "Our unity is threatened by hordes of immigrants
"Our unity is threatened by hordes of immigrants who bring foreign ideas and ideals into our land," he intones. "Two things must be done: first, we must stop influx of foreigners; second, we must through education, bring all people to common program of acting and thinking."

3. How did the KKK begin?
Began in Pulaski, Tennessee in 1866 by former Confederate veterans as a social club
Focused on the ideas of white supremacy and opposition towards Reconstruction
Attempted to control freedmen through threats and violence

4. Second Era Begins
KKK resurfaces under the leadership of William J. Simmons and a renewed sense of nativism
This new Klan spread from the south into the rest of America
Focused not just on African-Americans but anyone who was “un-American” including immigrants, Jews, and Roman Catholics.

5. William J. Simmons, Imperial Wizard

6. Membership grew to between 2 and 5 million people
Included ordinary, “respectable”, white middle class Americans
Film “Birth of a Nation” is released in 1915 showing the KKK as America’s savior

9. In 1924, writer Stanley Frost wrote the following about the KKK:
“The Ku Klux Klan has become the most vigorous, active, and effective organization in American life outside business.”

10. In 1925, more than 25,000 KKK members marched in Washington, D.C.

11. 1925 KKK Manual
Purpose:
"To unite white male persons, native-born, Gentile citizens of the United States of America, who owe no allegiance of any nature or degree to any foreign government, nation, institution, sect, ruler, person, or people; whose morals are good; whose reputations and vocations are respectable; whose habits are exemplary; who are of sound minds and eighteen years or more of age, under a common oath into a brother hood of strict regulations."

12. End of the 2nd Era
Corruption amongst Klan leaders and the Great Depression caused the organization to slow down but they never went away
Regained strength once again during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s, membership about 20,000

13. Ku Klux Klan Today Once again gaining strength
Focus: immigration, gay marriage, and urban crime