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Conservative Reaction in the 1920s
Women of the Klan Marching in Front of the Broome County Court House
Historical Context: The Twenties
What comes to mind when you think about the 1920s?
 Changing Gender Roles
 New Styles & Behaviors
 Rapid Economic Expansion
 Cultural Renaissance
 Political Corruption
The “Roaring Twenties”
Conservative Reactions to Rapid Change
Nativism
Political Intolerance
Temperance
Christian Fundamentalism
Racial Tensions
A Temperance Poster
The Twenties Were Also an “Age of Conservatism”
Nativism
• Nativism: Anti-immigrant feeling
• Quota Acts (National Origins
Act)… set strict limits on
immigration, especially from
Eastern & Southern Europe
• Based on scientific racism
• Reflected growing nativist & antiradical sentiment by groups like
the KKK
The Second Ku Klux Klan
•Founded at Stone Mountain, GA
1915 by former minister William
Simmons
•Release of film “Birth of a
Nation” in 1915 popularized &
glamorized the KKK
•Targeted not just AfricanAmericans but also Jews, Catholics
and immigrants in general
•By mid-1920s national
membership reportedly reached
4.5 million
The Klan Arrives Broome County
•Klan activity in Broome County first
noted on St. Patrick’s Day 1923 when
KKK pamphlets were left on
doorsteps
•20,000 workers (many of whom
were immigrants) in the Triple Cities
during the 1920s, including 12 E-J
factories
•Local KKK was partly a reaction to
this immigration
Binghamton as State Klan Headquarters
•1923 Binghamton chosen as
NYS headquarters for the KKK
•State-wide conventions held,
including cross-burnings and
rallies in Endicott & Whitney
Point
•In 1924 George F. Johnson
received anonymous letter from
a Klan member threatening a
boycott of EJ Shoes unless he
fired foreign workers
New York State Klan Headquarters
Henry & Wall Streets, Binghamton
Klan Rally at Stow Flats Fairgrounds
July, 1924
Local Klan Meetings
Religious Revival
• 1920s Marked a Rise in
Religious Fervor
• Rise of Fundamentalists
• “Sister” Aimee, Billy
Sunday, and Other Radio
Evangelists Reached Mass
Audiences
“Sister” Aimee McPherson
The Scopes “Monkey” Trial
-High School teacher John
Scopes is tried for teaching
evolution in Tennessee
-Became a debate on
evolution & religious
fundamentalism
Clarence Darrow & William Jennings Bryan
-First major trial to reach a
mass audience as it was
broadcast live on the radio
The Women’s Christian Temperance
Union (WCTU)
-Groups like the Women’s
Christian Temperance
Union (WCTU) fought to
outlaw alcohol, prostitution,
and other vices
-Also pushed for some
liberal reforms like
Women’s Suffrage
-In Broome County,
appeared to ally with the
local KKK
Prohibition
-Despite ratification of 18th
Amendment, “bootlegging”
remained common
-“Speakeasies” like P.J.
Clarke’s in New York City
continued to sell alcohol
Detectives Posing in Front
of a Confiscated Distillery
during Prohibition in
Broome County
Race Riots
• WWI sparked the
“Great Migration”
of AfricanAmericans to
northern cities
• This led to conflicts
with whites over
jobs and housing,
esp. as white
soldiers returned
Chicago, 1919
The Red Scare
A. Mitchell Palmer,
U.S. Attorney General
-Response to Russian Rev. &
Bombs Sent Palmer & Other
Gov. Officials
-10,000 Suspected Communists
& Anarchists Arrested
-249 Deported to Soviet Union
-Labor Unions like IWW
targeted
Sacco & Vanzetti Trial
-Italian Immigrants & Anarchists
-Convicted of Murder w/out Much
Evidence
-Reflects both Nativism & AntiRadicalism
-Controversial Execution
Sacco & Vanzetti