Last week, our class watched a video on the Klu Klux Klan in North Carolina. The assigned name of this North Carolina chapter was known as Klansville, USA. The person at the head of this chapter was a man by the name of Bob Jones.
Bob Jones was born in 1930 and grew up in Salisbury, N.C. as the son of a railroad worker. His father and mother had both been in their local chapter of the K.K.K in the ‘20s. Jones jumped around from job-to-job in his adult life and was considered “white trash” by most. Before joining the Klan, Jones would not admit he was racist unless he felt a need.
After a dying down of the Klan in the 1930s due to bad press, the Klan began to rise again in the 1950s with the passing of Brown v. Education. White men felt that they were not being paid enough attention as the progression of blacks continued. After joining the Klan, Jones was quickly chosen to be the grand dragon.
Alongside radical preacher George Dorsett, Jones began holding rallies for thousands of people all across North Carolina. There was live music, hotdogs, and many other amenities for an entire family. With an intensified fight for equality in North Carolina on the rise, Klan recruiting became extremely important.
In addition to the festivities at rallies, Dorsett would preach a powerful sermon proclaiming segregation was justified in the bible. Following the sermon, members would set a gas covered cross on fire as the hymn “old rugged cross” played.
By the summer of 1965, Bob Jones grew the Klan to nearly 2,000 paying members. However, as violent retaliation began among other Klans, Jones reminded his supporters that their fight was for political support against unwanted government, not violence.
In 1965, a white housewife was gunned down by Alabama Klansmen, causing the Government to take a harsh stance on the group. This struck a nerve in North Carolina, causing Klans to rally every night for four months straight proclaiming “we are unjustly being treated as an enemy.”
The House on American Activities Committee held hearings about the Klan on capital hill. As things were not going their way, Klan members got upset when Bob Jones took the stand and did not speak up for them. An FBI informant took advantage of the situation and urged Dorsett to create his own group, hoping this would dissolve the Klan.
Many did join Dorsett’s group but in favor of the FBI agent, the group did dissolve as Dorsett was not a good leader. Shortly after, Jones was arrested and prisoned for one year for not presenting legal documents. His members quickly resented joining the once-powerful group, even so far as to staple membership cards to a cross and burn it.
Overall, the Carolina Klan did not obtain any of the goals they were striving to achieve. Following his sentence, Jones went back to working as a lightning rod salesman. As time went on, many former members would go and record to say they felt shameful for their few years in the Klan. This falling of Klansville, USA was a major step to the end of such a large outpour of racial discrimination.
SOURCES: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gL-DFSKV8uU
No comments:
Post a Comment