Klansville U.S.A. Documentary

 Klansville U.S.A.

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In class, we had watched the PBS documentary "Klansville U.S.A." on the Monday before Thanksgiving Break had begun. The documentary was about how the third wave of the Ku Klux Klan had spread from North Carolina to the rest of the south, and eventually, the entire country.

The History of the Ku Klux Klan

The word "Kuklos" is the Greek word for circle. This word is where the title for the Ku Klux Klan had originated.

The KKK had started around the time of the Civil War. It was a sort of social club organized by a group of white, confederate soldiers. They had initially started out by participating in pranks on black slaves. Eventually, those pranks turned into real, violent actions that resulted in lynching and the murdering of black people.

After the Klan had almost completely disappeared in the 1800s, they hadn't risen again until the 1920s. And eventually, they would rise again for the final time during the civil rights era.

Bob Jones

The film's strong point was how it talked about the third Klan's leader, Bob Jones. A white supremacist who was a significant part of the revised third Klan. From North Carolina, and born on July 26th, 1929, he was a high school dropout who left school in 10th (or maybe even 11th) grade. Not long after dropping out, he joined the United States navy. Not long after joining, he was discharged for not saluting a black soldier. Leading to him becoming a lightning rod salesman.

Eventually, Bob Jones had grown his reestablished Klan from a group of friends to over 10,000 members. Which was a big reason why he was rewarded the position of Grand Dragon. He had even tried to solidify his position as Grand Dragon by saying that his father was a KKK leader in the 1920s during the Klans second wave. Continuing that statement, he added that his mother had marched in the events that the Klan had had, while being pregnant with him.

Image of Bob Jones as the KKK's Grand Dragon

Bob Jones had also brought in 2,000 people during his first Klan rally. The majority of the attendees primary concern was thinking that black people would take away their rights. This was the hook that Bob Jones and other Klan leaders took to establish their system of hate. They convinced the members that the Klan would prevent this from happening as an opposing group of the NAACP and other Civil Rights groups.

Bob Jones had spoken as the leader of the Klan for years. Convincing the group that violence was not the answer during Klan events and activities. Doing this helped him perfect a balancing act as the leader for those years. By doing so, he was able to keep up Klan activities as the government had threatened the group with the possibility of their rights and ability to protest being taken away. Eventually, it was discovered that Bob Jones had been embezzling money from the Klans donations. Leading up to his eventual sentencing of one year in federal prison in 1969. The primary reason for this sentence was his failure to produce Klan documents.

The Activities of the KKK

Often during Klan rallies, there was a symbolic burning of a huge cross at the end. It was a cross that was draped in Burlap and drenched in gasoline to be set on fire. This was done as a fill-in for violence. Instead of violence, members turned to this symbolic representation, as majority of the Klans members were religious.

When members of the KKK had found out about the misdeeds their Grand Dragon Bob Jones had done, they relinquished their memberships by ceremoniously setting a similar cross ablaze with their Klan membership attached.

Source:

"American Experience" Klansville U.S.A. (TV Episode 2015) - IMDb