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NEW ULM - Dr. Anita Talsma Gaul's exploration into the Ku Klux Klan's presence in Southwest Minnesota began with a catchy headline in a 1924 newspaper during research for another historical project.
During the Brown County Historical Society's 96th annual meeting, Gaul, who is a professor at Minnesota West Community and Technical College, took the stage to present "The (Not So) Invisible Empire: The KKK in southwest Minnesota in the 1920s."
While doing research for a Murray County Historical Museum WWI exhibit, Gaul came across a Lake Wilson Pilot newspaper headline, "Ku Klux Klan burns cross in Chandler."
She was shocked because of the common belief that the KKK was a southern organization that existed following the Civil War. The location of the cross burning in Chandler was significant to Gaul because she is from Chandler.
"Chandler? We're a bunch of pasty white Dutchmen. Were there African Americans who lived in Chandler?" Gaul said.
To make sense of the matter, Gaul traced the KKK's origins.
Founded in Tennessee in 1866, the KKK was created by former Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest as a means to harm and revoke the rights of Black people who were recently emancipated.
They acted at night to conceal their identities while taking part in burning homes, schools and churches that were connected to Black people.
"It's really a terrorist organization because they would lynch and murder Black Americans who are simply trying to exercise their new rights," Gaul said.
Once former Union General and President Ulysses Grant caught wind of Klan's actions, the Ku Klux Klan Act was enacted to make it illegal for rights to be denied through force, intimidation and threat.
"History has a way of coming back around," Gaul said. "It was under this law that people who participated in the insurrection of January 6, 2021 were tried and prosecuted."
Following the Act, participation in the Klan decreased. That is, until it made its return in the 1920s.
Following World War I, a feeling of Nationalism spread throughout the United States. Nationalism, along with increased immigration of non-protistants, social changes regarding gender roles and the Great Migration (which brought Black Americans North seeking factory work) brought about a second wave of the Klan.
Gaul cited the Red Summer, which refers to the large amount of race riots in northern cities during summer of 1919, as proof of racial tension.
These factors, combined with the release of "Birth of a Nation," a blockbuster film that painted the Ku Klux Klan and pre Civil-War South in a positive light, brought William J. Simmons to revive the Klan.
Bringing in a PR team, Simmons publicly promoted the Klan as a group that will restore America to law and order. He expanded the Klan to challenge not only Black Americans, but Catholics, immigrants, gamblers, bootleggers, flappers and anyone else who is seen as a threat to white, protestant America. Moving away from direct harm to targets, the Klan instead focused on intimidation, primarily burning crosses.
Gaul said that Jim Crow laws in the South led the Klan to focus on northerners who feared loss of jobs and changes to their way of life.
By 1925, Klan membership grew to approximately 5 million across the United States. In Minnesota, the Klan reported 100,000 active members in Minnesota. Gaul said to take the number with a grain of salt, as the Klan would likely inflate their numbers. With that being said, Gaul's research showed an active Klan presence across Minnesota.
In Saint Paul, The KKK had their own official newspaper, "The Call of the North."
Cities such as Fairmont, Pipestone and Montevideo had KKK chapters, as well as Chippewa, Renville and Yellow Medicine counties.
In Martin County, a population of 21,000 at the time, there were 3,000 active KKK members.
Across southwest Minnesota, Klan members sought to make their presence known. In Albert Lea, Minnesota's first Klan parade was held. Gaul said that in Tracy, Minnesota a cross was constructed out of baseball field benches and burned in the middle of the field.
The last Klan Grand Dragon (Midwest Klan leader) was Saint James' mayor Clyde McNaught.
Despite the strong KKK presence nearby, they were unable to gain traction in Brown County.
Gaul said that the strong Catholic population and first-generation German immigrants kept the Klan from growing.
Klan activity declined in the mid-1920s due to internal power struggles, scandals and profiteering of leaders. What was once an organization of millions declined to 350,000 by 1927.
Gaul said that despite the decline, the 1920s KKK revival has lasting impacts.
Acts such as the Johnson-Reed Act, which created the Southern Border Patrol, and the 1924 Immigration Act, which put a quota on immigrants, were created during this time because of tension created by the Klan.
Although the 1920s Ku Klux Klan presence in the North took no measures to hide itself, it had begun to fade to the history pages. Thanks to a newspaper headline that caught Gaul's eye, attendees were able to understand the KKK's presence in southwest Minnesota.