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The Rise and Fall of the Civil Rights-Era Ku Klux Klan
Oxford University Press
November 2012
On Sale: November 14, 2012
360 pages
ISBN: 0199752028
EAN: 9780199752027
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
In the 1960s, on the heels of the Brown vs. Board of
Education decision and in the midst of the growing Civil
Rights Movement, Ku Klux Klan activity boomed, reaching an
intensity not seen since the 1920s, when the KKK boasted
over 4 million members. Most surprisingly, the state with
the largest Klan membership-more than the rest of the South
combined-was North Carolina, a supposed bastion of
southern-style progressivism. Klansville, U.S.A. is the first substantial history of the
civil rights-era KKK's astounding rise and fall, focusing on
the under-explored case of the United Klans of America (UKA)
in North Carolina. Why the UKA flourished in the Tar Heel
state presents a fascinating puzzle and a window into the
complex appeal of the Klan as a whole. Drawing on a range of
new archival sources and interviews with Klan members,
including state and national leaders, the book uncovers the
complex logic of KKK activity. David Cunningham demonstrates
that the Klan organized most successfully where whites
perceived civil rights reforms to be a significant threat to
their status, where mainstream outlets for segregationist
resistance were lacking, and where the policing of the
Klan's activities was lax. Moreover, by connecting the Klan
to the more mainstream segregationist and anti-communist
groups across the South, Cunningham provides valuable
insight into southern conservatism, its resistance to civil
rights, and the region's subsequent dramatic shift to the
Republican Party. Klansville, U.S.A. illuminates a period of Klan history that
has been largely ignored, shedding new light on organized
racism and on how political extremism can intersect with
mainstream institutions and ideals.
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