The HUAC hearings relevant to Florida provided few dramatic revelations, though they shed light upon the inner workings and pecuniary foibles of the KKK. Bill Hendrix was the only Klansman from the Sunshine State who did not hide behind the Fifth Amendment, and his testimony, taken in a July 1965 executive session, remains sealed to this day except for brief excerpts contained in the committee’s final report.
The other Florida witnesses, questioned on February 21 and 22, 1966, included twelve members of the United Florida KKK, two officers of the United Knights, and one representative each from the United Klans, the Militant Knights, and the National States Rights party. All were represented by J. B. Stoner, who took his own advice and kept his mouth shut when his turn came to testify on February 24th.
With these last entries, Bill Hendrix is no longer cited after pages 177 and 1978. The book’s text is 216 pages, with 21 pages of note and footnotes, along with a six page bibligraphy and a 15 page index.
Paul, you are not from the South are you?
If you were you would be familiar with the history of the South with reference to that “Civil War”.
Maybe your education was sanitized by that time?
There is a lot lies being told about the original KKK.
This site explains the conditions in the South after that war and the reasons for the formation of the KKK.
Above: These are photos of 63 members of the reconstructed South Carolina legislature, 50 of whom were Negroes or mulattos and 13 White. Twenty two read and write (8 grammatically) the remainder (41) make their mark with the aid of an amanuensis. Nineteen are tax payers to an aggregate of $146.10, the rest (44) pay no taxes, and the body levies on the White people of the state $4,000,000.00 in taxes. After the Civil War, Carpetbag and Negro rule reduced South Carolina from third place per capita wealth in 1860 to thirtieth place in 1870.
Photo above: 1868, Blacks dominated the Louisiana Legislature during Reconstruction. The militarily conquered Whites of the South were denied all Constitutional Rights; they could not vote, run for public office, or hold Civil positions. They were denied redress of grievances, yet, were forced to pay excessive taxes to pay for the war.
The Freedmen’s Bureau was created by the Radical Republicans in Congress to give the newly freed Blacks political power over the conquered southern Whites.
A Brief History of the Original Ku Klux Klan: 1865 - 1869.
“Adventurers swarmed out of the North, as much the enemies of one race as of the other, to cozen, beguile and use the Negroes. The White men were aroused by a mere instinct of self preservation until at last there sprang into existence a great Ku Klux Klan, a veritable Empire of the South, to protect the Southern Country.” - Woodrow Wilson (of New Jersey) President of the United States, in his “History of the American People.”
In April 1865, the war of Southern secession came to its bitter end. For the last time the Confederate armies assembled themselves before the Union forces, not to do battle, but to stack arms, surrender, and go home. But what did they go home to? After four years of bitter conflict the South was devastated. Its economy was shattered. Its countryside was ravaged. Its cities lay in ruins and most bridges and ferries were destroyed or damaged.
With the collapse of the Confederate government, Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton, did not want to grant even a shadow of legality to Southern civil authority. He declared that all police power in the South had reverted to the United States Army. Individuals who held local civil positions had to report themselves to the military authorities. Anyone who violated these instructions was liable to trial before a military tribunal. Civil authority thus fell into a void. Lawlessness abounded. Millions of emancipated Negroes roamed about. They had no education, no work, no homes, and no money. To avoid starvation they raided and stole whatever they could. Poor whites who owned small family farms were defenseless against large roaming gangs of desperate hungry Negroes. Rape and murder became commonplace.
The collapse of the Confederate armies alone guaranteed an upsurge in crime as half starved veterans began their long march back to their homes. In desperation they scrambled for handouts and resorted to petty thievery. General Johnson noted he could do nothing as Lee’s veterans passed through the lines of his still intact army in late April, stealing mules and horses as well as clothes hung out to dry. A week earlier Thomasville, Georgia had been the scene of three days of disorder as disbanding soldiers passed through the town. On the night of May 6, more then fifty armed men stole eighty nine mules and seven horses from the loosely guarded Confederate depot. On May 8, four hundred former soldiers attacked the Confederate storehouses. At the commissary they broke into two warehouses and carried away 125,000 pounds of corn. They also destroyed all books, papers, and office furniture they could find. Such riots were widespread in the deep South following the war’s end.
When a group of paroled soldiers arrived in Houston, to find that the Confederate storehouse had already been looted, they threatened to burn the Texas town. Frightened citizens hastily provided food and accommodations for the ex-soldiers. The sanctity of private property had already been severely undermined by the wartime foraging practices of Union and Confederate forces. By war’s end bands of outlaws had deserters roamed from county to county plundering the scanty stores of the distressed and impoverished people.
More than a year after the end of the war one newspaper editor noted that it was impossible for Southerners to pick up a local newspaper without being horror stricken with the details of some terrible atrocity, robbery, rape, or murder. Before the war these were rare occurrences. Observers often differed as to which area of the South was most crime ridden. On top of all this, Southern Unionists shared a blood thirsty desire for revenge. Later, the Radical Republicans transformed vengeance into a state religion and exemplified the bitterness of Southern Unionists who had been persecuted during the war.
In the summer of 1865, Gov. Brownlow of Tennessee, declared that persecutors of Union men had forfeited all rights to protection and life. That same year one delegate to the Tennessee Constitutional Convention stated that the only right the Rebels had was to be hung. There is ample documentation of cases in which Unionists, seeking revenge for wartime harassment, used their new positions to jail their old enemies on trumped up charges. On the vaguest rumors and hearsay, cavalry units calmly put the torch to the homes of citizens. Vengeful Unionists formed the Loyal League, ostensibly to suppress crime, keep order, and maintain discipline among the Negro population. In fact the Loyal League acted to intimidate political opponents and ex-Confederates.
Worsening the post war situation were the infamous Carpetbaggers and Scalawags, who sought personal profit and political power by exploiting the plight of both the freed Negroes and conquered Whites. The Radical Republicans declared the Southern States would have to be re-constructed before they could be re-admitted into the Union. Until then, the ex-Confederates had no rights of citizenship. Southern whites were completely disenfranchised with no legal standing. They could not vote, hold public office, or petition for the redress of grievances. In an effort to stop the lawlessness, the South was divided into five military districts and martial law declared. Through out the South, freed Negroes formed the Union League and Black Militias and in most areas were given the task of enforcing marshal law. Led by corrupt officers and self serving politicians, the Union League became the most violent and murderous arm of the reconstruction to Blacks and Whites alike.
It was amid this atmosphere that John Lester, James Crowe, John Kennedy, Calvin Jones, Richard Reed, and Frank McCord met in a law office in Pulaski, TN., on Christmas Eve, 1865 and, innocently enough, decided to form a social club for the purpose of mutual entertainment. The club adopted the style of the college fraternities in vogue at the time. They would dress up in weird costumes and play practical jokes on unsuspecting people. To create an aura of mystery they invented an unusual name and called their social club: the Ku Klux Klan.
In 1866, the popularity of the Ku Klux Klan grew through out Tennessee and beyond. At the same time depredations committed by renegade Blacks and Whites, coupled with the absents of constitutional law and vengeance seeking Radical Republicans, made life in the South become all but unbearable. Quite by accident the nocturnal pranksters of the Ku Klux Klan discovered that their costumes and highjinks had a startling effect on the superstitious Negroes. The Negroes thought they were seeing ghosts whenever a group of Klansmen were seen going about at night. The Klan was quick to realize that their newly discovered ghostly image could be used to control bands of unruly Negroes. At first the night riders went out unarmed. Not intending to hurt anyone, they believed that anyone they met would be too frightened to try to harm them. Things were soon to change.
When the Carpetbagger and Scalawag politicians noticed that renegade Negroes were beginning to behave themselves and crime went drastically down in areas where a Den of the Klan had been established, they reacted swiftly. Carpetbaggers and Scalawags were manipulators. They thrived in the violent post Civil War period where they could take advantage of people’s fears to increase their own fortunes and political powers. The Loyal League and Union League made willing allies. The Klan was, for the most part, made up of ex-Confederates who were hated by the Loyal League and if crime and violence went down, no one could justify the expense of maintaining the Negro Militias. The Loyal League and Union League began night patrols in the name of protecting the terrified Negro population. These patrols did not hesitate to open fire on the Klansmen, who, up to that point, were guilty of nothing worse then Halloween tricks. The Klan responded in kind. Soon skirmishes broke out when night patrols of each side would chance encounter each other.
By early 1867, the Klan was spreading through out large sections of the South. It was still largely unstructured and unorganized. By the same token, the Reconstruction Acts of Congress were very organized and well structured . In short, the White South had no constitutional or legal rights at all. The freed Negroes, however, were given full rights. The end result was Negro rule through out most of the South, enforced by Union bayonets. To avoid chaos and to confront the oppression of reconstruction the Klan sought to organize itself. Spokesmen for the Klan first asked former general, Robert E. Lee, if he would head the organization. Lee declined citing his age and poor health. Lee suggested they ask the younger former general, Nathan Bedford Forrest. When the Klan spokesmen asked if they could count on Lee’s support, Lee said, yes, but only if his support for their growing empire remained absolutely invisible. This inspired the Klan to adopt the nickname, “Invisible Empire”. (Lee was never actually sworn into the KKK because he was not a “paroled” exConfederate and he thought that this could cause legal trouble for the fledgling organization.
continued…
However, he was an active advisor to the Klan’s leadership.) N.B. Forrest accepted the Klan’s offer to lead the organization and in April 1867, at a convention in Nashville, TN., Forrest became the first Grand Wizard of the Order of the Ku Klux Klan. The rules and regulations of the order, called the Prescripts, were written by former general, John B. Gordon, who became the Grand Dragon or state leader of the KKK in Georgia. Former general, Albert Pike, became the chief judicial officer for the Klan. Pike was also a major figure in Scottish Rite Masonry in America. A notable Klansman and Free Mason, Pike is buried in the Masonic Lodge in Washington, D.C., just a few blocks from the White House.
Once organized under Grand Wizard Forrest, the Klan became a force to be reckoned with. Disbanded Confederate units reunited to form Dens of the Klan. Ex-Confederate officers became the Grand Dragons, Giants, and Titans. Ex-Confederate common soldiers made up the rank and file of the Klan and were called Ghouls. As this was happening, other organizations independently began to form in the South to combat the depredations of outlaws, renegade Whites and Blacks, the Union and Loyal Leagues, Carpetbag rule, and the outrages allowed by the Reconstruction Acts of Congress. Some of these new organizations were: the Knights of the White Camellia, the White League, the White Brotherhood, and the Red Shirts to name a few. These organizations were independent from, yet just as secret as, the Ku Klux. Having no legal rights, members of these organizations could not afford to have their identities made known and solemn oaths of secrecy were taken by all. The secrecy was both a help and a hindrance to the Klan. While it protected the identity of its members, it became difficult to tell if an act had been committed by the Klan, one of the other ant-reconstruction organizations, or by outlaws impersonating the Klan. In the forty seven volumes that make up the Ku Klux Report to Congress, there is ample documentation to prove that most of the atrocities attributed to the Klan were, in fact, committed by the other anti-reconstruction organizations, outlaws impersonating the Klan, and in many cases Loyal Leaguers and Black Union Leaguers who would disguise themselves as Klansmen and raid Negro hamlets to instill anti-white sentiment for political purposes. The Reconstruction authorities soon declared the Ku Klux Klan and all other resistance groups as outlaws. The Negro militias were ordered to kill on sight anyone believed to be a Klansman.
During all this the Klan tried to keep its intentions on a high level. When the Klan “Ku Kluxed” someone it was only after the victim was given a trial and was allowed to choose someone to speak on their behalf and defend them. The Klan also gave large sums of money to war widows and orphans.
The victims of the Klan, who were White as well as Black, tended to be people proven to be guilty of serious crimes such as barn burnings, theft, rape, or murder. Corrupt politicians, Carpetbaggers and Scalawags were also Ku Kluxed. Usually the Klan left cryptic messages to warn minor offenders, but if these warnings were ignored, they too could be Ku Kluxed, which meant anything from a flogging to execution. These were barbaric times, but the Klan sought to restore law and order, not to destroy it. There was, in fact, no law and the Klan only used force when the forces of the Radical Republicans gave it no other choice.
Ignored by most modern historians is the fact that after the Civil War many ex-Union soldiers chose to settle in the South. Shocked by the outrageous conditions reconstruction imposed upon the White South, many of these ex-Union soldiers either joined or supported the Klan or the other resistance groups. Many Union soldiers and officers occupying parts of the conquered South co-operated with the Klan in fighting Carpetbag rule and outrages committed by Negro organizations.
The term “ku klux” became popular and was widely used. Any resistance to reconstruction was given the label “ku klux”. In their efforts to crush all resistance, the Radical Republicans labeled ALL white southerners as “Ku Klux” and the atrocities committed by outlaws, bandits, impersonators, and anyone else were all laid to the Klan’s blame. With the death penalty hanging over their heads, Klansmen were in no position to come forward and openly deny the charges and defend themselves. But the Klan did attempt to police the situation. The Klan issued public warnings that anyone caught committing a crime while disguised as a Klansman would be executed. It is documented that the Klan publicly posted warnings condemning the mistreatment of innocent Blacks and it is equally documented that on at least one occasion the KKK even hung one of its own members for beating up an unoffending Black man. (See the “Execution of Bill German” below.)”
****This is a lengthy article, but you can clearly see why they formed and how they got a bad rap.
You may also see the reason here that when the situation changed that the black became severly oppressed.
It continues...http://www.kkklan.com/briefhist.htm
This is another good site.
It seems to get into matters not discussed on the other.
From the chapter on black members of the Klan:
“So, you don’t believe there ever were Negro (Black, Colored, Afro-American - every twenty to thirty years or so they want a name change) members of the Ku Klux Klan??? Well read on! By the way, we have received a few e-mails concerning the previous few lines. So, from now on we will refer to the darker folks as AFROPEANS. That is an accurate racial description since nearly all of them in the USA are a mix and have both African and European ancestors.
One of the last things today’s biased media wants anyone to know is that there were Negro members of the Ku Klux Klan. No one has ever written a book about them to my knowledge though such a book would be of great historical interest. In fact, very little documentation has survived. What little does survive speaks volumes and proves that Americans do not know their own history. Here I will simply give my sources of information and quote from them. If anyone has further documentation about the Black membership of the KKK I’d be grateful to be referred to it. Should I come across more documentation I will list it here.
My first source of Negro Klan membership is the book, “The Ku Klux Spirit”, by J.A. Rogers, noted Negro historian of the 1920’s. The Ku Klux Spirit was first published in 1923, by Messenger Publishing Co. It was republished in 1980, by Black Classic Press. On page 34 of his book we find the amazing passage: “A fact not generally known is that there were thousands of Negro Klansmen. These were used as spies on other Negroes and on Northern Whites.”
Very interesting. In the 1920’s, there were plenty of original Klansmen still living as well as many other people of both races who lived during the Reconstruction Era. J.A. Rogers would have been able to interview many. Why would a Black historian make such a thing up? And if he did make it up there would have been plenty of people who would have objected. His book would not have survived to this day. Yet, it did. “
Tampa and St. Petersburg both had particularly active Klans based upon my extensive research on the matter.
I clearly remember the Colored Only water fountains, restroom, lunch counters, etc.
One of my uncles was a member of the KKK, John Birch Society, and either treasurer or secretary for the American Party of Florida. He did his best to convert me to his corrupt worldview. I dearly love my uncle—long since deceased. I would never have thought he was a member of a hate group like the KKK and the American Party of Florida as he did not present otherwise. I did not learn of his affiliations with the KKK and the American Party of Florida until after his death.
And I have read much about American history, and much more about the southern states as Florida is one of them.
In addition, one-third of my family is Irish-Catholic and from Atlanta. I saw a lot of racism in Atlanta too as we traveled to Atlanta regularly.
The original KKK was founded upon the oppression, suppression and terrorization of the newly freed slaves. That is the way the KKK began and that is the way of the KKK ever since.
Even though their “creed” includes preserving and protecting the honor of white women, the KKK certainly had no interest in preserving and protecting the honor of black women.
The KKK alleged then and since that they are a moral organization. Lynching, whipping, bombing, setting on fire, et al. people of color, union members, Jews, et al. is certainly not moral. It is immoral. Period. Right and wrong type stuff.
Down the road, the KKK picked up more hatreds: The Jews, Eastern and Southern Europeans, Catholics, etc.
Any other view of the KKK is revisionist history, prevarication history, non-history, self-deluded history and worse—being an actual member of the KKK, the skinheads, Neo-Nazis and Nazis....or a sympathizer.
Paul, tell me your version of the conditions in the South right after the war.
Were the now x-soldiers without their civil rights?
Could they vote?
Could they hold office?
Were the Carpetbaggers Jews?
Did they direct the voting?
Would you say that the voting was fair?
Did the Carpetbagger Jews guide the illiterate black men who were put into office?
As to The-Oh-Zone; tell me what is it there that troubles you?
Is this an educational thread, or a thread with a personal vendetta?
ghost
Given the quality and quantity of my labors devoted to this thread, this thread is definitely educational and in memory of those who were murdered by the Nazis and those who otherwise suffered due to the Nazis.
Paul, tell me your version of the conditions in the South right after the war.
Were the now x-soldiers without their civil rights?
Could they vote?
Could they hold office?
Were the Carpetbaggers Jews?
Did they direct the voting?
Would you say that the voting was fair?
Did the Carpetbagger Jews guide the illiterate black men who were put into office?
As to The-Oh-Zone; tell me what is it there that troubles you?
I’ve never said nor written that things were wonderful in the North nor in the South after the Civil War.
And thanks to the complete, eventual failure of Reconstruction, life got much worse for those of African origin as well as others.
You obviously are antisemetic given some of your questions above.
You have ceased even attempting to hide your hatred of the Jews.
So you think that the part the Jews played in the “reconstruction” was that of loving angels?
So you love those Jews for what they did?
Do you think I might be justified in hating them for their nefarious activities?
I don’t just hate those Jews for what they did, I hate everyone in the chain of command that brought the South to ruin after that war of Northern agression.
Ii was not necessary to burn Atlanta after they had surrendered.
Maybe you should learn History from other than government approved works.
So you think that the part the Jews played in the “reconstruction” was that of loving angels?
So you love those Jews for what they did?
Do you think I might be justified in hating them for their nefarious activities?
I don’t just hate those Jews for what they did, I hate everyone in the chain of command that brought the South to ruin after that war of Northern agression.
Ii was not necessary to burn Atlanta after they had surrendered.
Maybe you should learn History from other than government approved works.
Just admit it, Oh Zone, you hate Jews.
And you hate Jews of any time in history, not just reconstruction.
But why exactly do you hate Jews in all of history?
That is the real issue with you. Hatred of Jews.
The war of “Northern aggression”?
That says all that anyone needs to know about your views on the Civil War.
By the way, I haven’t asked you this: Do you support slavery?
The burning of Atlanta by General Sherman and his soldiers was before the surrender of the rebellion.
“Anti-semitism is nothing but the antagonistic attitude produced in the non-Jew by the Jewish group.
The Jewish group has thrived on oppression and on the antagonism it has forever met in the world…
the root cause is their use of enemies they create in order to keep their own solidarity..”
Albert Einstein, quoted in Collier’s Magazine, Novermber 26, 1938
I don’t really think they mind being hated. It has kept their group in tact for a very long time. hasn’t it?
That’s some strong language there Paul. Are you sure that you are reading me right.
I don’t really hate the people. I hate what some of them do.
Are you attempting to control what I think about things?
Do I need your permission to love or hate or simply dislike whomever I please?
Should I love all Jews?
Do you like what they have done to this country?
I have already showed you that they are in high places in government and that they control the media.
Do you like the influence that TV has on people?
Do you like the influence in clothing styles that they have brought?
LIke those hip hugger pants with the belly button exposed and maybe more.
How about those G-string bathing suits?
How about those really old-fashioned one piece bathing suits?
Like the one below?
Do you think that the morals of the younger generation are Ok, or was it better 40 years ago?
No, I do not support slavery.
Does hateing Jews equate to being in favor of Slavery?
THe Civil war was NOT over slavery. If you think so, you have been seriously misled.
Remember that Slavery was carried on under the Stars and Stripes.
