Behind the Mask of Chivalry: The Making of the Second Ku Klux Klan

327 Pages·1995·2.48 MB·English

by  Nancy K. MacLean

BEHIND THE MASK
OF CHIVALRY
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BEHIND THE MASK
OF CHIVALRY
The Making of the
Second Ku Klux Klan
NANCY MACLEAN
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
New York Oxford
Oxford University Press
Oxford New York
Athens Auckland Bangkok Bombay
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and associated companies in
Berlin Ibadan
Copyright © 1994 by Nancy MacLean
First published in 1994 by Oxford University Press, Inc.,
198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016-4314
First issued as an Oxford University Press paperback, 1995
Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without the prior permission of Oxford University Press.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
MacLean, Nancy.
Behind the mask of chivalry :
the making of the second Ku Klux Klan /
Nancy MacLean.
p. cm.
Revision of thesis (doctoral)—University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-19-507234-0
ISBN 0-19-509836-6 (Pbk.)
1. Ku Klux Klan (1915)—Georgia—Athens. 2. Athens (Ga.)—Race relations.
3. Athens (Ga.)—Social conditions. I. Title.
HS2330.K63M225 1994 322.4'2'0975818—dc20 93-27548
8 10 9
Printed in the United States of America
To my sister, Mary Anne,
my parents, Jack and Ann,
and the memory of my mother, Jeanne
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Acknowledgments
Sex has shielded me from some of the illusions and compulsions
of my subjects. The fantasy of the "self-made man," for one, was
never an option. So many people and institutions helped with the
writing of this book in so many different ways that a full enumera-
tion of their contributions would itself fill a book. But some de-
serve special mention.
Institutional support came from several sources. An Alice Free-
man Palmer Fellowship, a Dissertation Fellowship from the Uni-
versity of Wisconsin-Madison Graduate School, and a Charlotte
Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship gave me the time for
research and writing. Archivists and staff members at many places
aided the research process, particularly those at Special Collec-
tions, the Russell Library, and the University Archives at the Uni-
versity of Georgia Libraries in Athens; the Georgia Department of
Archives and History in Atlanta,- the Atlanta Historical Society;
the Library of Congress; the Robert W. Woodruff Library at Emory
University; the Southern Historical Collection in Chapel Hill; and
the William R. Perkins Library at Duke University. I owe special
thanks to Dale Couch and Virginia Shadron for sharing with me
their vast knowledge of the resources at the Georgia Department
of Archives and History in Atlanta and their expertise in Southern
history. Their generosity and good humor made research a
pleasure.
Other debts are more difficult to describe, since the more I re-
flect on them the larger they loom. Singular thanks are due to
Gerda Lerner. Her commitment to promoting women's history and
viii Acknowledgments
developing women's minds helped bring together and sustain a re-
markable group of women in the Graduate Program in American
Women's History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. As a
forum for thinking and learning about gender in history, it was
exceptional—and hindsight teaches, precious. My greatest intellec-
tual debt is to Linda Gordon, who was the advisor for my disserta-
tion, which this book comes from. Her formidable intellect, politi-
cal good sense, personal warmth, and devotion to her students
enriched this book and its author in immeasurable ways. Gerda
Lerner, Florencia Mallon, Tom McCormick, and Steve Stern taught
me much and gave me invaluable advice at various stages of this
work. For their incisive comments on parts of this work and for
years of challenge, engagement, and solidarity—spiced with ample
doses of much-needed diversion—Bob Buchanan, Maureen Fitzger-
ald, Joyce Follet, and Leisa Meyer also deserve thanks. At North-
western University, Jim Campbell, Jim Oakes, and Bob Wiebe gave
me the benefit of their careful readings and thoughtful criticisms.
Thanks also to Steve Hahn for encouragement and very helpful
suggestions at two critical stages of this project.
Others, outside the field of history, contributed in their own
distinctive ways. Over the last decade, I have learned as much
about the issues at stake in this work from activists and organizing
as from scholars and research; political work schools an awareness
of connections and a kind of rigor hard to acquire elsewhere. I owe
a special debt to the people involved in the International Socialist
tendency, whose ideas and activism taught me a great deal and
whose commitment to a better world continues to inspire, even,
where particular arguments no longer persuade. Finally, there are
the family members to whom this book is dedicated. Their years
of faithful support, their belief in me, and their love made it possi-
ble for me to do this work. For this, and much more, I am deeply
grateful.
Contents
Introduction xi
PART I: CONTEXT AND MOTIVE
1 Mobilizing the Invisible Army 3
2 "Where Money Rules and Morals Rot":
The Vise of Modernity 23
3 Men in the Middle: The Class Composition of
the Klan 52
PART II: CONTENT AND PURPOSE
4 Reactionary Populism: The Politics of Class 77
5 "Cleaning Up" Morality: The Politics of Sex and Age 98
6 The Approaching Apocalypse: The Politics of Race 125
7 Paramilitary Paternalism: The Politics of Terror 149
PART III: MEANINGS
8 Conclusion: The Second Klan in Larger Perspective 177
Appendices 189
Abbreviations Used in Notes 193
Notes 197
Bibliography 255
Index 283