Analysis: The Klansman’s Manual
"Analysis: The Klansman’s Manual" delves into a pivotal document published by the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) in 1924, which outlines the organization’s structure, guiding principles, and membership criteria. The KKK, initially formed as a social club after the Civil War, transformed into a secretive group focused on protecting white American interests and promoting a specific interpretation of patriotism. The manual presents the Klan as a military entity with a hierarchical structure comprising different ranks, all referred to as Knights.
The document emphasizes the Klan's purpose of fostering a nationwide brotherhood among white, Protestant men, whom it aimed to rally against perceived threats from various racial and ethnic groups. While framing its mission in terms of American and Christian values, the Klan also adopts a militaristic approach, calling for active mobilization among its members. The manual seeks to instill a sense of unity and purpose, asserting that only through a solid foundation can the organization endure. Overall, the text serves as both a constitution for the KKK and a tool for indoctrination, providing insight into the Klan’s objectives during a time of significant social and demographic change in the United States.
Analysis: The Klansman’s Manual
Date: 1924
Authors: Paul S. Etheridge
Genre: charter; constitution; political tract
Summary Overview
In 1924, the newly resurgent Ku Klux Klan (KKK) published a document that outlined the governing structure, guiding principles, and membership requirements of the organization. The manual described the KKK as a “military” organization, comprised of four levels of members called Knights. The Knights of the KKK would be dedicated to uniting and protecting the interests of white Americans. The document served as a constitution for the organization, establishing a nationwide fraternity of like-minded white, Protestant men who would promote American patriotism and protect their homes, women, and children from a wide range of threats.
Defining Moment
Originally established as a social club by a group of former Confederate soldiers in 1865, the Ku Klux Klan evolved into a secretive network aimed at terrorizing and repelling occupying federal troops across the Reconstruction-era South. With its name derived from the Greek term “kyklos” (meaning “circle”) and the English word “clan,” the KKK attacked and murdered freed slaves as well as white supporters of the federal government. The “Invisible Empire,” as it was dubbed by many, would spread across the South, as disgruntled Confederate loyalists joined the KKK in an effort to undermine unpopular Reconstruction policies.
Although the Klan surged in membership during this period, it would eventually disintegrate during the latter nineteenth century. The KKK’s dissolution was largely attributable to internal dissent, with competing factions breaking away to form their own organizations. Also contributing to the Klan’s decline were the acts of violence committed by its members—as attacks became more egregious, public support for the KKK waned. By the end of the nineteenth century, the Klan had largely gone underground, although it did not disappear entirely.
In 1915, filmmaker D. W. Griffiths debuted his silver-screen ode to the Reconstruction-era Klan, Birth of a Nation. The film, infamous for its racist depiction of blacks, inspired Georgia native William J. Simmons to revitalize the KKK. Simmons was a member of a number of local organizations, but had become disillusioned with their lack of long-term success. Simmons was a former minister and a veteran of the Spanish-American War, and his experience in both arenas gave him the ability to inspire others to follow him. Simmons and a group of like-minded individuals established a new set of guidelines, cryptic language, and infrastructure for the “modern” Klan.
Simmons’s KKK quickly gained popularity in the South, as the racist and patriotic themes it espoused were directly relevant to the steady influx of immigrants to the United States, the growing issue of segregation, and issues of social morality, such as premarital sex. The Klan’s membership grew at a fantastic rate during the 1920s (by 1921, it had already reached a membership of 100,000), as Simmons and his companions launched a broad membership drive. True to its earlier history, the KKK engaged in violence against blacks, Jews, and immigrants, but it also gained political influence during this period. Although KKK membership was strong, Simmons aspired to create greater stability within the group. The key to successfully reaching this goal was to give the KKK structure and focus. In 1917, Simmons authored a fifty-four-page guidebook, the Kloran, and in 1924, another adherent, Paul Etheridge, wrote the Klansman’s Manual; these documents would generate public awareness and indoctrinate new members as to the nature and agenda of the Ku Klux Klan.
Author Biography
Paul S. Etheridge was born in 1874 in Greensboro, Georgia. Etheridge attended Mercer University and, thereafter, was admitted to the Atlanta bar as an attorney. He was also a deacon at a Baptist Church in the Fulton County area. In 1918, Etheridge was elected to the Fulton County Board of Commissioners of Roads and Revenues. He would later serve as chair of that organization. One of the earliest members of the modern KKK, Etheridge also served as that organization’s Imperial Klonsel (“Supreme Attorney”). He would later become a superior court judge in Fulton County. He died in 1949.
Document Analysis
The Klansman’s Manual was designed to give structure and direction to the modern Ku Klux Klan. The document would serve as a constitution for the organization, defining the levels of membership, the KKK’s goals and objectives, and guiding principles. The Manual would help the uninitiated understand the nature of Simmons’s organization and its relevance to modern America.
The Klansman’s Manual first defines the structure and general nature of the new Ku Klux Klan. There would be four levels of membership within the organization, the document reads. Every member of the Klan, however—from the probationary to the most senior level—would be dubbed a Knight. This term was used because the Klan would, according to the Manual, be military in nature. Akin to the US military, the Klan’s leadership would be organized in a hierarchy, including Exalted Cyclops (regimental commanders), Great Titans (brigade commanders) and the Grand Dragons (divisional commanders). Atop the Klan’s structure was the Imperial Wizard, or supreme commander.
The Klan needs such structure, the document says, because only those organizations whose foundations are solid will survive over the long term (which speaks to the disappointment many Knights expressed over the failure of other fraternal organizations). The military structure of the KKK addresses the Klan’s purpose, which is to defend the ideal of patriotism in the United States as well as protect the interests and well-being of its members (white, Protestant males) from perceived threats to their way of life from foreigners; Jews; Catholics; and, of course, blacks.
The next major section of the Manual expounds on the purpose and goals of this new Ku Klux Klan. These goals and purposes entail nationwide brotherhood (fraternity), protection of people and their interests, and beneficence (relieving the suffering of the “injured and the oppressed”). At the same time, the document’s goals include the more militant notion of “mobilization”—calling its members to action, much in the way militiamen were recruited during the American Revolution.
The KKK, according to the document, is attempting to unify white males across the country in order to demonstrate “pure patriotism”—spreading the word about American values and principles among the country’s population. The Klan will also protect women and children from attack as well as safeguard the American home. This activity will be performed by combining the strength of a single race—“native-born white Protestant” men—in a nationwide fraternity that adhered to the US Constitution and the teachings of Jesus Christ.
The KKK’s Manual appears, on its surface, to espouse a combination of American and Christian values. At the same time, however, it also strikes a militaristic posture, seeking to draft white males into a single organization that will defend and aid the innocent. The source of the attacks against which the Knights will unite is undefined in this section of the document, although elsewhere, the group’s goal of maintaining white supremacy is made clear. Also, the repeated clarification of the KKK’s members—white, Protestant males who were born in the United States—suggests that external threats came from all other racial, ethnic, religious, and cultural groups and those who would support them.
Bibliography and Additional Reading
Chalmers, David M. Hooded Americanism: The History of the Ku Klux Klan, 3rd ed. Durham: Duke UP, 1987. Print.
Jackson, Kenneth. The Ku Klux Klan in the City, 1915–1930. New York: Oxford UP, 1967. Print.
Karen, Anthony S. The Invisible Empire: Ku Klux Klan. Brooklyn: PowerHouse, 2009. Print.
MacLean, Nancy. Behind the Mask of Chivalry: The Making of the Second Ku Klux Klan. New York: Oxford UP, 1995. Print
Pegram, Thomas R. One Hundred Percent American: The Rebirth and Decline of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s. Chicago: Dee, 2011. Print.