Participation Type
Paper
Session Title
Session 5.03 Ethnicity and Race
Presentation #1 Title
The White-Hooded Mountains: The Rise of the Ku Klux Klan in 1920s' Asheville
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
My paper examines in detail the early 1920s’ evolution and growth of an Asheville, North Carolina klavern of the newly resurrected Ku Klux Klan. Fueled in large part by a reactionary fear of “outsiders” who were moving to the mountains of Western North Carolina in search of work, the Asheville branch of the Klan was established in the fall of 1921. A recruiting agent commissioned by the national Klan headquarters in Atlanta was dispatched to Asheville, where he opened a branch office on Pack Square. Some of Asheville’s most prominent political leaders were affiliated with the Klan, and for several months, the Klan closely coordinated their activities with local law enforcement officials. Several Klansmen were deputized and given police powers to enforce racial segregation. The role of the Klan in Asheville would become a highly contentious issue, especially after some local white elites became the target of the Klan’s attempts to govern moral behavior. The events in Asheville exemplified the role of the Klan in many 1920s’ mountain communities, and the importance of the Asheville klavern within the national organization would be demonstrated in the summer of 1923, when the city hosted the first annual national convention of the Ku Klux Klan.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
Kevin. W. Young is a doctoral candidate in History at the University of Georgia. His work focuses on race relations in the Mountain South, both during the antebellum era and the early twentieth century.
The White-Hooded Mountains: The Rise of the Ku Klux Klan in 1920s' Asheville
My paper examines in detail the early 1920s’ evolution and growth of an Asheville, North Carolina klavern of the newly resurrected Ku Klux Klan. Fueled in large part by a reactionary fear of “outsiders” who were moving to the mountains of Western North Carolina in search of work, the Asheville branch of the Klan was established in the fall of 1921. A recruiting agent commissioned by the national Klan headquarters in Atlanta was dispatched to Asheville, where he opened a branch office on Pack Square. Some of Asheville’s most prominent political leaders were affiliated with the Klan, and for several months, the Klan closely coordinated their activities with local law enforcement officials. Several Klansmen were deputized and given police powers to enforce racial segregation. The role of the Klan in Asheville would become a highly contentious issue, especially after some local white elites became the target of the Klan’s attempts to govern moral behavior. The events in Asheville exemplified the role of the Klan in many 1920s’ mountain communities, and the importance of the Asheville klavern within the national organization would be demonstrated in the summer of 1923, when the city hosted the first annual national convention of the Ku Klux Klan.
