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

"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."

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

Second Era Begins - 1915 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.

William J. Simmons, Imperial Wizard

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

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.”

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

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."

End of the 2nd Era - 1930 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

Ku Klux Klan Today Once again gaining strength Focus: immigration, gay marriage, and urban crime http://www.kkk.bz/ http://www.adl.org/PresRele/Extremism_72/4973_72.htm