October 10th at 4:30 in Harugari 229
In 1923, the Memphis Ku Klux Klan chapter fielded candidates for every major office in the city’s fall election. In the midst of a national revival, estimates put the Klan at around 10,000 members locally, giving them a significant chance of victory on election day. Ultimately, their political ambitions were thwarted by fierce resistance from local media and the city’s political machine. Yet such resistance had little to do with rejecting the organization’s belief in white supremacy and everything to do with how it publicly performed those beliefs. In Jim Crow Memphis, white supremacy was the law of the land, however it was first and foremost an unspoken law, enforced covertly through intimidation and coercion. The Klan, it was feared, threatened to disrupt Memphis’ discreet system of racial controls. This presentation will show how the election that year ultimately exposed the ways in which racial authority would operate in Memphis for years to come.
