The Ku Klux Klan in Kansas City, Kansas

by Tim Rives

Overview

The Ku Klux Klan kicked off a nationwide revival in 1921 and took Kansas City, Kansas, by storm. The majority white population--alarmed by the influx of immigrants, Catholics and Jews--joined the Klan in thousands. The Klan held picnics drawing crowds of twenty-five thousand and parades up Minnesota Avenue with thousands of Klansmen, electric lights and robed horses. They also intimidated African Americans, vandalized Catholic cemeteries and censored "offensive" books from public library shelves. Its members fed a political machine, electing more than one hundred Klansmen to local offices, from district attorney to mayor. Author Tim Rives shares this troubled and little-known story, where the men of the Klan's inner circle ruled the city for nearly thirty years.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781540240200
Publisher:	History Press Library Editions
Publication date:	08/19/2019
Series:	No Series Linked
Pages:	178
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.44(d)

About the Author

Tim Rives is the deputy director and supervisory archivist of the Eisenhower Presidential Library, an army veteran and Kansan. He is a graduate of Wichita State University and Emporia State University. His articles have appeared in the Journal of Military History, the Baseball Research Journal and Prologue, among others. His work has been translated into Turkish.

Table of Contents

Preface 7

Acknowledgements 11

Introduction 13

Chapter 1 The Contours of Local History 27

Chapter 2 Crashing the City 37

Chapter 3 "Methods and Operations" 55

Chapter 4 Reform and Reaction 69

Part I A Tendency to Split 69

Part II The Persistence of Anti-Catholicism 73

Chapter 5 Kith Kan Klan 84

Part I Who? 84

Part II How Many? 92

Chapter 6 Politics 100

Chapter 7 "Everything That Is Good" 112

A Glossary of Klanspeak 129

Appendix A Klan Political Candidates, 1921-1930 131

Appendix B Wyandotte Klan No. 5 Membership Roster and Occupational Status Comparison 137

Notes 153

Bibliography 163

Index 167

About the Author 173