The Ku Klux Klan in Western Pennsylvania, 19211928 [Hardcover]

Craig provides an in-depth analysis of the rise and fall of the 1920s Ku Klux Klan in western Pennsylvania. Supported by an exhaustive list of sources, the author persuasively shows that the Klan was extremely active in the area. Relying heavily on newspaper accounts and trial records, he explains that the Klans early emphasis on almost theatrical gestures (going masked to churches or civic meetings to present checks, burning crosses on hills, holding large parades) allowed it to rapidly attract members, especially a surprisingly high percentage of young men. Similarly, Craig shows how violent confrontations with Klan opponents (sometimes resulting in the deaths of innocent bystanders) and the resulting criminal trials of Klan members (combined with the scandals plaguing the organizations national leaders) explain the Klans rapid decline in the region. He also provides a glimpse of the women of the Ku Klux Klan and their agreements and conflicts with their male counterparts. . . .Anyone studying the 1920s Klan or Pennsylvania history will find the work indispensable. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above.This book details extensive Klan activism in western Pennsylvania, 1921-1928, a region where two hundred thousand residents joined the KKK. The racist, nativist organization would be responsible for numerous acts of violence, including two large-scale deadly riots.Relying primarily on a narrative, chronological approach, this study examines Ku Klux Klan activities in Pennsylvanias twenty-five western-most counties, where the state organization enjoyed greatest numerical strength. The work covers the period between the Klans initial appearance in the state in 1921 and its virtual disappearance by 1928, particularly the heyday of the Invisible Empire, 19231925. This book examines a wide variety of KKK activities, but devotes special attention to the two large and deadly Klan riots in Carnegie and Lilly, as well as vigilantism aslSÜ