Explore the Reasons for the Resurgence of the Klu Klux...

Explore the reasons for the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan movement in 1920s America and the political changes it caused. In the 1920s North America experienced a huge rise in immigrants from black, Hispanic and Jewish backgrounds. For the most part they settled in slums, took on poorly paid work and lived lives far removed from most white middle class families. Many traditional northern and southern white Americans were uneasy with this sudden influx and it helped create social tension, particularly in the southern states. The Ku Klux Klan had virtually disappeared for the last part of the 19th century, so the widespread and violent resurgence of the movement took many by surprise. In its earlier incarnation, it had been only†¦show more content†¦The film was banned in many states and the screenwriter, D. W. Griffith, was encouraged to make a follow-up film named ‘intolerance’ in response to the critics of the film, who deemed the film to be ‘unforgivingly racist’. Some critics thought the film deceitful propaganda. Yet the damage was already done and the film was responsible for a huge growth in membership of the Klan after its release in 1915. As friends and neighbours of those who signed up for membership followed suit, the film acted as a â€Å"slippery slope† mechanism. Tellingly, Woodrow Wilson was quoted as saying that it was ‘one of his favourites’. Unlike the earlier movement in the 1860s the so-called †2nd movement† was the first time there was real resentment towards the Catholic Church: a major plank of Klan ideology is patriotism and the movement emphasized that the US constitution was ‘built’ on the Protestant church, with Catholicism being a breach of that. In North America at the time there was an increasing number of Catholic schools. This fuelled religious intolerance which in turn increased KKK membership and therefore the overall rise of the Klan. The prohibition of alcohol at the time was an ideology of the Klan, as they believed alcohol was the work of the devil and did not fit in with traditional protestant thought. Therefore the use of bootleggers in everyday society was seen as sinful, and the question of non-Christians promoting alcohol provoked anger amongst