So, i first want to to thank everyone for putting this together. It takes quite a bit of labor and i appreciate it. And so, the ku klux klan emerged as a formal institution of slavery. Ofnned violence was one several new methods that white people developed to push back on black slaves and for a larger share of property, jobs, rights, and dignity. In a there is a whole landscape orways in way and white southerners you are figuring out how to restore their mechanisms of control. The clan is one of them, a particularly effective 100 certainly exist and are vast violence,ive and state violence. The control different kinds of mechanism of control. To understand any planning and is important to understand the white suppression of lack grace and was not inevitable and to visualize a possibility that this might not of having to extend it did. With surprising speed, competence leaders that emerged after the war. In you have is surprising and of an recently slaved people to start to organize. And to start to pull on organizations that had existed for had not existed before war and were relevant to the post world war in order. You certainly racist, but certainly sympathetic northern public. In the south that was to run and in occupation. The people of the north believed themselves obligated to support in theirpeople freedom. I have a couple images here so we can have a visualization of i ands ultimately in and white black empowerment started to look like during the reconstruction. My first images from the 1880s because i was not able to get a picture from earlier but i it would be extremely similar. This was the capital city in montgomery, alabama, in the canadian hotspot. 1880s. E this family at and locally who groups or black people marching, doing military drills, sometimes without arms. In many different communities they are claiming in power and doing so visibly in a way that can be disconcerting to some in. E people another image here. You guys have probably seen this, it appears that many history books. This is an image of the first black congressman elected to congress in the two elections that africanamericans were allowed to vote in. Andou have a black senator representative and that took power immediately after the end thehe war and this is just tip of the iceberg of black office holding. Black men successfully were in positions locally throughout these out and in some cases at the end allls sorts of roles, sometimes even as share. Possibilitys true of black empowerment that they could be a wanted for a share of the public. The ku klux klan violence was at nothing. P on one level, clans and attacks vigilante violence that already existed. Initially small groups of white men and attacked black men and in their white allies, who posed a particular threat and they to white control. They whipped them, brought them, and shot them. Usually at their homes. Usually at night. Sometimes they killed them through shooting them or handing. Hem most normally how youwill inging t zyngah ande equally as hem. Place in fact iright afte language was ahe civil war theyre in the ilot of is anguerilla violenc rightlye after the. Civil war there was a lot of in morning andb we as partueirl et al. Rate willla w ar. And through these special language and history and seamen as though the violence had some larger meaning. You aybe violence tell larger story and because it was telling it torry fascinated people. Telling a story, if you are. They tried to figure out, what was the meaning of the violence and conveyed by lease symbols. An political leaders and newspapers, as well as people in their homes cap discussing the clans and circulating the ideas just threw that are process of you interested in curious about the glam, the clan came to seem even larger and more dangerous. So costumes became an extra layer of performance wrapped around waiting violence. It turned violence into terrorism by causing it to proliferate so rapidly. And lets talk about where the performative aspect of the ku klux klan came from. It came from a place in tennessee. In 1856. Men right,young probably in men right here. Came together to form a group of came to be in her ku klux klan. These were confederate veterans. Plantation owners of not in particularly part the gland economy. Instead they were younger and professionals. Lawyers, a future insurance salesman. Editors. They were interested in trying foret up a group entertainment. Some people are skeptical about that. That the ku klux klan could have been started for entertainment. As the reason we believe them generally when they make that claim they did is that there was no indication that an any and klan violence was committed during that year. And there were plenty of people noticed. D have he, if you ask in the government in polaski when they first found out about the glam they will say early 1868. The klan, for the first year or more than a year was simply a group that was a social group. Developedl group they rituals. Elaborate, mystical rituals that came from fraternities, from masonic rituals. They were borrowing it would those ideas. They put it together in a particular way. Grotesque language. Hierarchy of the officers within the klan and they gave them creepy names like the grand dragon. Grand wizard. The grand tiding. Titan. Grand an and in a they developed a special way of writing. The k isd recognize hkn instead of a c or q. Developed a set of costumes. That is important to realize the first costumes were just bizarre costumes. And we have some descriptions. Basically they were colorful robes. And they were tall, pointed hat of different sizes and colors. So they developed this sort of fanciful, it elaborate ritual structure. Why do they have musical they also played music. In that little hair that guy is holding, that black it only is probably the most important one in creating the rituals of the klan. In her here we have been prescreened this is a constitution that with the help of other people they created about a year in. In this constitution does not mention race. It does not mention violence. But it set up a very elaborate bureaucratic structure. And what happens is that at some point in 1857 and or the beginning of 1868, people start to think that you could usefully combined this will ritual, cultural thing that has been produced with the structure of white on black violence. You put those two things together, you can make something that was powerful. Ok . And in polaski klan seems to have made violence in as early as 1860 8 p. M. The media starts and this really interesting news story. And was a lot of white on black violence happening every day in the south. Particular type and is very interesting to the northern precedent the big northern newspapers start to tell stories about what is going on in polaski and starts to amplify that down to the south where southerners now hear about this strange and ritual. At the same time, southern leaders and i have to get that guy in there southern and start to and see what is happening at the end appreciate the potential utility area where these, mysterious costumes and performance of the klan and ok . T to promote until, and start to spread it themselves. So you have to powerful groups. The northern republican media and the thunder and political elites. Theyll have reason to to promote the klan cant help but to spread because they find it fascinating what lincoln will be useful. Friends said he klan starts to spread through the newspapers and 1868. Are start to rename their existing plant groups and start rituals as these well. One thing that is important to realize is that he klan, there is no Central Organization to the klan where people are cards. Klan membership there is very little of that. It is spread largely through the media and individuals who emerge and start calling themselves the klan. Lets talk a little bit costumes lookn like. Because the klan was so decentralized, there was not some sort of uniform klan costume. And were many different kinds of largelytumes that very very detailed region. We will talk about some of the forms they took. All, it is important to realize, ian davis is why they picture is particularly interesting, is that people had to use the resources on hand. This was a time in which white southerners and were suffering from economic deprivation. Right . In closing it was not cheap like it was today. Clothing was a big part of their budget so part of what they had to do unless they were very wealthy was really think about what they had in hand when they worked on their klan costumes. So theyre obviously seems to be military uniforms and they have the added some sort of feed to their heads. They have drawn on those cutouts some eyeholes and drawn on something facial hair, things like that to make them look spooky. The other thing that is interesting about this costumes if you look down at their knees, what is that . Of when one guy has a sort on his kneeshen and the other guy has a heart. And that was not the only incidence of those parts. They carried a big heart of the on a manner. What are they doing when they put together these costumes . One thing and that these costumes are doing is they are indicating that they are bizarre. Look like something normal like a military uniform, and they are taking them. They are saying, this is not an ordinary military uniform. There is something off about . His military uniform, ok ok. Other kind of costumes start to look for light what we are expecting. , theis early tennessee previous was mississippi. This is the earliest image of a. Ostume we have from 1868 mardilooks very much like gras in some in the weight for at and some of the customs this time were mardi gras classic zone and purpose and his by an. We are in a red costume. It has some stars up there. That looks hat almost like a catholic bishops hat. This was mardi gras tradition. Have this mask year that is an animal mask. To look like in have animal elements to it with these hordes. Words were very element were very common in elements. Horns. Olorful this very long, jagged tooth. Long pointy nose. Facial hair. It was meant to invoke terror and not look human. Often klansman would go out during this time and claim to be animals. They would make animal noises. They would run at somebody with their foreign stirring and attack. This attempt to make themselves look like animals was deliberate. Up as well. Bring this is a later harpers and graving but this image, you can see the animal wants but it is combined with the gowns you see earlier. Here, one thing you should notice, you can see how shiny the material is. It is probably sat in. Some sort of sat like material. Satinlook material. They used modern fabric including calico. They specified, this is a dolly parton calico if they could afford it. Own,u could make your custommade custom like that that would mean you were pretty wealthy. Ok. Didother things this custom was, so they evoked there are people there saying that they were like animals. They were bizarre. They were carnivalesque or mardi gras costumes. The other things they were meant to look like is chaotic. You know, not orderly. That is why this mask which is currently held by the Tennessee StateHistorical Society is particularly interesting because you can tell it has that mardi gras sort of carnival element at also, if you look at the stitching and the case, the way things are drawn, it is just really dirty, right . You think maybe it got dirty overtime because it was worn on a lot of attacks, but when you look at it you can see it is made to appear dirty and disorganized. The stitching is all jagged if you look at it. The stitching is done with a ron kind of thread, right . The wrong color of thread. It is meant to look out of control. Disorderly. Right . Not like some normal piece of material. Normal costume. Bottom of that, which was very similar to some of the other costumes you have seen, right, so the tennessee costumes. Ok. Other klan costumes were made, and a lot of them were made to look like women, ok . Women, a lot of times, people who saw klansman and had to describe them later to congress said, well, they were wearing womens dresses. I thought they were a band of women. You know, part of it could be making fun of them, right . People testify to congress are largely people who are antiklan, right . But in many cases, klansman arc deliberately wearing womens dresses. In some cases, the victims recognize them because they are wearing their wives dresses. That aside no, i am familiar with that apron, right . This may have been a klan costume aliment here. This is currently at the Schomburg Center in new york. But it may have also been a northerner who was inspired by klan costumes and coming up with his own costume. We cannot be sure about the probe amounts of this. We do note that a lot of people at the time were trying to look like women in the understood they were taken to look like women in these attacks. Not theform and this is this perhaps but klansman often claimed upon their attacks that they were ghosts, right . That they were wearing shrouds. So they attempted to make their costumes look ghostlike. You know, shroud like. Tothey wore white muslin look like soldiers arising from the dead, you know, to finish the job they did not successfully finish during the war. There is one kind of claim caused them do not have any examples of but people reported on this kind of custom of the time and that was some klansman who went to attack black people and their white allies did so while wearing blackface, ok . That happened. Wearing blackface or wearing red face. Dressing as native americans. They would look like indians, right . Or they would claim to be a band of negroes. Part of where blackface and andn face comes than another piece of evidence we have is the pulaski newspaper edited by one of the first klansman has an article right at that time, right at the beginning of the klan on how to black in your face. You know, it was sort of this at the time minstrel thing. The minstrel theater was a huge part of Popular Culture indian wearing blackface or brown face heart of what you are doing is evoking minstrel culture. Those were the kinds of costumes they wore and i talked a little bit about the sort of designs they did around their costumes. Ok. I want to talk a little bit about what i think was going on. What the meaning of this costume was. I say this violence, these wrapped a layer of meaning around these acts of violence and they ended up, you know, the costumes interpreted what the violence meant to and helped the violence tell a story. I want to think about what that story was before i get to these gentlemen. Weregoing to say there four main things that these different kinds of costumes did. Sentkinds of messages they about the violence they were committing. That thismessage was areence, these attacks it bizarre. It is something you are unable to understand. Outside of your level of confidence and control. All you can do is what just to see how it enfolds, right . To those being attacked, being attacked by bizarre people who are also telling jokes or acting like animals or moving like indians. It said that message to the victims of the attack that they were utterly helpless even to predict what might happen next, right . But it also sent that message to northern and southern people who work watching the klan. And said, you know, the government is not going to be able to intervene in this. This is working on a different level, right . Doare doing something you not have a comprehension up. It will not fit into your comprehension plans. These second messages sent wasnt said, and this will be very i think, you guys here in virginia well understand this. It sent the message that attackers are not gentlemen, ok . All the time and at first i was confused by this, but klan members used to go out in approach somebody from time to time, that person would say, gentlemen would you want from me . And they would say, were not gentlemen. Right . We are not gentlemen, were ghosts. We are animals. We are women. You know we are, black or nonwhite people. Right . We are monsters. Right . So part of what they are doing as they are sending the message that theyre not planning to be fighting by normal rules of conduct. They are planning to pull on this sort of desperate, savage power of the disempowered. Right . Message number two. Message number three that all of was thattumes sent white southerners are organized. They are working together. So often when there is a plan attack, when you start looking wast what caused it or who involved in it, it is often property have a dispute. My black neighbors pig keeps getting into my lord. You know, and then the black neighbor gets a ku klux klan attack. The ku klux klan is like, keep your pigs under control. These are sort of very local explanations for the attack. Is noty is showing showing deference to white people in the area. Some has a nice carriage and they are black and people are jealous of their carriage and you know, you should not be driving around in a nice carriage, right . Somebody, a black man got a job or a lease for land that a white man wouldve liked to have had, right . Is trying to drive him out, right . So often, there is really a pretty obvious, simple explanation for what is going on with this violence. Very easy to become a klansman at this time. All you have to do is put on something and say, i am a klansman. Right . There is a low bar to entry. People can use klan attacks for any purpose, right . When you attack somebody and you do it as a klansman youre making a claim you are doing something other than just competing with a black person. You know, you are standing up for all of the white race. You are doing something political, something virtuous. In your mind, right . So part of what happens when you dress up as a klansman as you take your sort of sick lowlevel ,elfish competition or violence oppressive violence against your neighbors and you turn it into something that is otherdirect it. Something that has a big meaning to it and by doing that you might even get support from other people in the community. You might get out lies because you are willing to frame the problem in that way. So klan attacks first of all our bizarre. They are claiming the violence they are predicating is bizarre, there is nothing more bizarre than white on black violence in the south. A completely pervasive art of the landscape but it is being framed here is a bizarre. People committing it are framing themselves is not gentlemen but this empowered people using the , right . Of the week they are claiming to be doing it on behalf of all white people. Sort of a collective class identity. Racial identity. In the fourth thing, possibly even the hardest to get at, the fourth thing is that these kind of costumes are doing is they are representing white on black violence as modern. Ok . Modern, au courant. Having a hard time understanding up his we do not understand what seems modern to people in that time but part of what these costumes are is they look like costumes from fancy urban the at turks of the day. And i have an image. I am going to skip these guys, ill come back to them. Im going to skip them, too, ok. In 1860 four, a couple years before the klan minstrel show. A high production minstrel show in unionoccupied new orleans. You can see the premise here is that a monster with horns and a ghost are attacking terrified black people, right . It is a trope. Culture. Om popular from urban theater, which often takes the form of minstrel shows. You also have the beginning of burlesque performance. In 1866, you had the first take burlesque show in new york city which is called the black croc, which is not particularly related to race and any simple way but it does have really elaborate costuming and pyrotechnics, right . And the klan. And it has costuming that looks very much like what the klan costumes look like and in fact Southern Newspapers comment on this out the time and say klansman not to be paying money to the producers of the the black crook because they are using their costumes. To havelture seems died, potentially. Right . They feel like the things they value are situated in the past, right . And they want to represent themselves as people who have a future. Forward. O are pushing said the klan costumes, to them, cosmopolitan, urban, modern, nor northern in a bizarre way. Ok, costumes. Klan costumes sent all of these messages. Attacks are bizarre. Attackers are not gentlemen. They are a suppressed class who tol use any means necessary meet. White southerners are organized and working together to recreate themselves as a nation or an invisible empire, right . And white on black violence is of the future. It is the direction the future is going. So thinking about this and thinking about, it is the klan is telling a story about violence through their costumes, what is that story . The story they are telling is a aster stale tail trickster tale, right . They are flaming and as they are framing it as weak. Later you have the brewer rabbit stories. There are plenty of stories going back into european culture weak figure uses guile my end willingness to break the the big,overcome strong, seemingly more powerful figure, right . Through these costumes, tells the story of white on black violence as a trickster story. Trickster stories only have one ending, right . Win,rickster is going to right question mark is going to win in the end. May not win every time but the trickster is ultimately going to triumph, right . So the klan, he and wrapping its everyday acts of violence in these kind of letters of costumed meaning is telling a story of its inevitable triumph. So this works. This is very effective. It gets peoples attention. And part of what happens then is that i have mentioned, the people in the north are fascinated by this culture and this story. So one thing that they do is they start forming their own sort of klan appreciation groups, right . They start the klan becomes very popular in advertising in the north. They write songs about the klan. They write poems about the klan. At a cost of party, they doesnt the klan, right . The klan become sort of trendy up in the north. This is a watertown new york is, i do not know how clearly you can see the hats, but it says kkk on their hats and out in front of them is a skull and cross bones. It is in watertown, new york, in 1870. You have no reason to think they ever committed violence, they are probably not even democrats. [laughter] elaine well, they probably arent. But they think it is pretty full. This is from the Yale University yearbook. Represent inhey the yearbook their class of 1871 and initiation committee. Ok . They dress up as clam. At least they may not have actually have dressed up as klan there and initiation but they represent their new station in the year is that they had just up as klansman to initiate the incoming class, ok . Eating clubo an that is formed that year at yale that is called the two clocks, ok . Klux. E ku up theseou look people, they are not democrats, right . They are republicans. They are just circulating the idea because it has become interesting and popular. And in doing it, they are participating in spreading the violence on the ground of the klan. One more thing i want to say about virginia because i was asked to if to the question probably on everybodys mind about why it is we did not have much of a klan at all in virginia at this time and that is true. Right . People did try to spread the klan and virginia. In 1860 eight, there are several newspaper articles about how they klan is popping up everywhere in virginia which usually means there is somebody at the newspaper trying to get everywhere inp up virginia, right . The richmond dispatch and may of 1868 has a lengthy article written in this kind of klan. Anguage the letter ks alled upon to. And it goes on along that vein from long time. People attempt to get some sort klan going in for junior. In virginia, however, there is no real radical reconstruction. The conservative managed to get our within the government very quickly, right . For that reason, klan violence is not as useful pragmatically and suppressing black claims to power and resources as it is in other places where there are not legitimate means of power so there are simply better, more efficient ways to suppress black claims to power in virginia and the klan does not take off. There are a number of examples of klan in virginia, a series of countyin Prince William circulated in the press and lee countyty in there is something, but generally virginia has very, very little violence. The last thing i want to mention werel of you probably surprised, almost everybody is surprised to see these costumes looking like a dead and the reason we are surprised as we have another idea about customs in our head, right . I want to reflect and conclusion about why it is we have this other idea about costumes in our head and what it means. Idea of the klan have in our head comes from the 1915 film, right, the original birth of a nation. To havemodate films, something that would look good in black and white films, he made several changes to klan costumes. He emphasized the white costumes. Right . He made the more uniform to look more like uniforms in a calvary film, which was a very common trope at the time. He created the burning crosses. Things like that because they worked really well in the genre of film. The klan disappeared or really was suppressed in 1872 but it was going to come back again after the film birth of a nation, particularly in the 1920s. The idea of the klan is very flexible. One that has been revitalized at different times in our history and it is able to draw on the Popular Culture of the day. We are more familiar now with the dw griffith film costume because that was much bigger than the clear were talking about after the war. That klan, too, would win the mid1920s. And appeared again in the 1960s and 1970s but they are generally going to switch do they are going to wear some of these costumes but they are generally going to be switching to blue jeans. More casual wear that reflects the sort of culture and ideas of the day. The klan that is attempting to revive itself today is similarly changing itself to appeal to 21st century, young racist and better fit into a culture dominated by social media. The more we are aware of the crucial work of cultural framing , the more we can avoid helping terrorism along by allowing ourselves to remain fascinated that they wrape very old to acts of normal violence. Right . Thank you. [applause] elaine i am happy to take questions if people have them. s purpose of the first klan . The document that you show up on the screen looked like it heads stipulated a preamble of the organization. Did that documentation have written what the purpose of the klan once. I mean, what was the original intent of getting together . Is there any research . Elaine this is the prescript. Constitution the of the klan, right . It does not mention race. It does not mention violence. That what it does do is set itthe purpose of actually almost as a patriotic nationalist purpose, interestingly. It sort of sets itself forward as a law and order organization. If you look at the top, there are these latin quotes throughout. These are often about resisting the documentt . Itself gives the sense of it is an organization that is meant to bring about law and order and resist tyranny. Thank you. I have two questions about the costumes and particular. The first is when you say they are drawing on a mass grade for mardi gras or urban or less, i wonder if there is another commentary going on because you said these groups are largely rural and what they think about this urban mainly they are not part of and what they may see us out of touch with their own reality. I wondered if you would talk a little bit more about what you think of the gender dimension of dressing up as women, particularly since some much of white on black violence was framed as protecting white women from black men, why then they would dresses women to attack these men . Is fascinating that there really would be this sort of ambiguous relationship that they have with herb vanity urbanity, right . That is certainly the case and i will have to dig about that and that is really fascinating. I think that they are definitely interested in representing themselves as cosmopolitan. Well read. S sort of as like for instance here, using the latin and scripture ins and things like that, they want to represent themselves as sort of like, we are part of the new world that is emerging but youre probably right that they cannot have an unambiguously, positive feeling about these big northern cities which is where they are getting this from but i will have to think more of that. As women, and sometimes they will actually say, you know, i am the woman of the party. In one of the cases the attacker says, i am the women of the party. Everything happens at least once, so surely one woman was dressed as a klansman and went out and attack people but there is no evidence that any woman was ever caught being a klansman. So all of these were men who dressed as women. The way im taking it is as a another reference to the minstrel stage. You know, on the minstrel stage, all of the actors work white men dressed as white and black men and women, right . So i am taking this is yet another reflection on that. Is animportant that there idea of protecting white women against black men and that was present at this time so actually that trope of these lack rapists rapist is going to be stronger in the age of lynching, right . So that comes out but it is not a major reason that klan groups give when they are justifying attacking someone. So those are really good questions. Thank you. Interested to hear the early klan was so shortlived. How is it suppressed when the issues were still there and 1872, right . Elaine right. Answer,e two ways to one is more depressing and one is more hopeful. The more depressing expiration is that through the reconstruction time, white democrats who were the party at the time were interested in suppressing black claims to political power, right . Republicans were the party of lincoln at this moment, right . White democrats are getting legitimate power increasingly. It will take a few years to totally consolidated at the more they have legitimate power, klancularly in 1872, the to drive out a lot of the republican and black officeholders said they are now the office holders, right . So once that happens, the people that have those positions do not want a Vigilante Group of young people going out and deciding who to attack and why. Said the depressing explanation as once you win, you do not need Vigilante Group anymore, right . The other explanation, which is also true in this way, though it seems to be the opposite, right, government federal is still present. They do in fact declare martial that are thearts worst klanhit, right . There is special klan enforcement legislation passed so there are troops sent out to suppress the klan. To occupy the areas with terrible klan violence and those troops are really interested in disrupting the networks. The local networks. So the less depressing way of saying it is that the local networks are effectively disrupted i this state government. It really those two things are kind of working together. They are disrupting the terrorist networks but at the same time, the white people who would politically agree with the positions of the klan are getting mark political power locally. I asked have any ideas where the came who clocks ku from . Elaine there are so many different reasons. I talked about their love of performance, right . One thing they very much loved was tall tale telling. So they lied all the time and one thing they loved to lie about was how they came up with the klan. So they all go out after they founded the klan and give different stories about how the name came about and they are all very competently goofy. It comes from the mexican god. Or it comes from the sound of a shotgun being cocked. Stories. Of different i found a story when i was getting ready for this story from a richmond paper that it was from the opium trade. But there is one story which is generally accepted which seems to be most generally accepted by sources closest that it comes for the greek word from circle. They did their little changes to andnd made it into ku klux that is probably the explanation because it fits with their desire to present themselves at and as sort of minstrel also as sort of learned. I am curious about definitely the grand wizard was a horrible person but horrible, nos question about that for me, i tell people that is even randomly outside of this there were murders he committed there to plenty of reasons for me feel as negatively as possible however, i do not think he had an Important Role in the klan. I know he promoted the klan. He was all over the newspapers. Right . You was attempting to present himself as the klan leader. He wanted people to think he was the klan leader. He believed in everything they stood for, right . I just, my understanding of how the klan was organized, there was no central leader. There was nothing really for him to lead. I have no doubt he wouldve done it if he could, right . But it was a very decentralized organization. [applause] announcer interested in American History tv . Visit our website, cspan. Org\history. You can look up programs or see recent programs. And more. F history at cspan. Org\history. Greg 50 years ago, on january 1967 aht he and 67 flash fire killed astronauts gus christian, Roger Chaffee and edge right. Up next on American History tvs railamerica, a halfhour cbs report originally broadcast 11 00 p. M. Eastern a few hours after the disaster. An investigation determined the astronauts died in seconds from a six nation a six nation. Determined the capsule door design made rescue difficult. Crew escape had not been adequately considered. A cbs news0 special report. Wallace. Ace mrs. Mike this is mike wallace. Three apollost astronauts were trapped in a fire early tonight during a launchpad test at cape kennedy in florida