Name/Title
Ku Klux Klan in St. Joseph AreaEntry/Object ID
9999.BHF.300Scope and Content
Ku Klux Klan
St. Joseph News-Press September 10, 1988 there is a picture of the Ku Klux Klan meeting in September 1923 at the St. Joseph City Auditorium. The secret meeting held a four-state meeting in St. Joseph. It included a picnic, a Downtown parade and a session at the old City Auditorium and had an airplane flying overhead bearing a lighted cross.
It was estimated that 20,000 persons thronged the Downtown streets for the procession which lasted until 11o'clock. The masked marchers carried various banners, with slogans, such as
100 percent American, Eliminate Petting Parties, One Flag, White Supremacy, Free Public Schools Books, One Man for One Woman, Bootleggers and Gamblers--We Don't Need You.
The Klan drew members from Missouri, Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska. The group was addressed by Past Imperial Klokard, Rev. William J. Mahoney Atlanta, GA. The only other speaker who was identified was Dr. W. W. Campbell, Exalted Cyclops, St. Joseph Klan No. 4. One large delegation of Klansmen came from Topeka, Kansas on a special train bringing along a brass band. They assembled at the Klan Hall, Third and Edmond.
Evidently the Klan reached its peak in membership about in the early 1020's and by 1925 had dwindled considerable, eventually falling apart in St. Joseph.Collection
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Black History, Ku Klux Klan, Ku Klux Klan in St. JosephRelationships
Related Person or Organization
Person or Organization
Dr. W. W. CampbellPerson or Organization
Rev. William J. Klokard