The Ku Klux Klan experienced a dramatic revival in the early 1920s. (a) What methods did the Ku Klux Klan use to intimidate its targets in the 1920s? [4] (b...

The Ku Klux Klan's revival in the 1920s reveals the deep tensions beneath the surface of the 'Roaring Twenties' and challenges any simple narrative of American progress during the decade.

(a) Methods the Klan used to intimidate its targets [4 marks]

• The Klan conducted cross-burnings (lighting large wooden crosses at night), organised parades of hooded and robed members through towns, and used physical violence including beatings, tarring and feathering, and lynchings.
• They organised economic boycotts of businesses owned by African Americans, Catholics, Jews, and immigrants, pressuring communities to conform to white Protestant norms.
• Klan members infiltrated local government, police forces, school boards and the judiciary, using their positions to enforce discrimination and protect Klan activities from prosecution.
• They threatened witnesses, voters and opponents to maintain white Protestant dominance across communities in the South, Midwest and parts of the North.

(b) Why Klan membership grew rapidly after 1920 [6 marks]

• Cultural influence of film: D.W. Griffith's film The Birth of a Nation (1915) glorified the original Reconstruction-era Klan and inspired its modern revival under William J. Simmons, who re-founded the Klan at Stone Mountain, Georgia, in 1915.
• Fear of immigration: Mass immigration, particularly from southern and eastern Europe, threatened the cultural dominance of white Anglo-Saxon Protestants (WASPs). The Klan channelled fears about changing demographics.
• Broader target base: Unlike the original Klan, which focused primarily on African Americans, the 1920s Klan expanded its targets to include Catholics, Jews, immigrants, and anyone seen as threatening 'traditional' American values.
• Urbanisation anxieties: Rural and small-town Americans felt threatened by the rapid growth of cities, modernisation, and changing social values. The Klan offered a defence of traditional, conservative, Protestant America.
• Professional recruitment: Skilled organisers like Edward Clarke and Elizabeth Tyler used modern marketing techniques, including commissioned recruiters (Kleagles) who earned a share of membership fees, building membership to an estimated 4-5 million by 1925.
• Community identity: The Klan offered parades, picnics, social events and a sense of belonging to white Protestants who felt economically or culturally marginalised by rapid social change.

(c) How important was racial discrimination in limiting social change? [10 marks]

Racial discrimination severely limited progress:

• In the South, Jim Crow laws enforced rigid racial segregation in schools, public transport, restaurants, theatres and all public facilities. The Supreme Court's 'separate but equal' doctrine (Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896) provided legal justification.
• Lynching continued with little legal consequence. Between 1920 and 1930, over 300 African Americans were lynched. Federal anti-lynching legislation was repeatedly blocked in the Senate by southern Democrats.
• The Great Migration brought over a million African Americans to northern cities, but they often encountered overcrowded ghettos, job discrimination and violent hostility. The Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921 destroyed the prosperous Greenwood district, killing an estimated 100-300 people.
• The Klan's political influence, particularly in states like Indiana, Oregon and Oklahoma, blocked civil rights legislation and reinforced discrimination at local and state level.

Some progress occurred despite discrimination:

• The Harlem Renaissance in New York produced important writers (Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston), musicians (Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong) and artists who challenged racial stereotypes and celebrated African American culture.
• Marcus Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) promoted black pride, economic self-sufficiency and pan-African solidarity, attracting millions of supporters.
• African American newspapers, notably the Chicago Defender, grew in circulation and influence, providing a voice for civil rights concerns.
• Jazz and blues, created by African American musicians, became the dominant popular music in America, crossing racial boundaries and influencing white culture profoundly.

Conclusion: Racial discrimination remained deeply entrenched and severely limited social progress for African Americans in the 1920s. However, the cultural achievements of the Harlem Renaissance and the growth of black institutions laid important foundations for the civil rights movement of later decades. The 1920s saw both the high point of Klan influence and the emergence of cultural forces that would eventually challenge it.