Rise Of The Ku Klux Klan example essay topic

The first decade of the 1920's is often characterized as a period of American prosperity and optimism. It was the "Roaring Twenties", the decade of bath tub gin, the model T, the $5 work day, the first transatlantic flight, and the movie. It is often seen as a period of great advance as the nation became urban and commercial (Calvin Coolidge declared that America's business was business). The decade is also seen as a period of rising intolerance and isolation: chastened by the first world war, historians often point out that Americans retreated into a provincialism evidenced by the rise of the Ku Klux Klan, the anti radical hysteria of the Palmer raids, restrictive immigration laws, and prohibition. Overall, the decade is often seen as a period of great contradiction: of rising optimism and deadening cynicism, of increasing and decreasing faith, of great hope and great despair. Put differently, historians usually see the 1920's as a decade of serious cultural conflict.

The Ku Klux Klan was most powerful during the 1920's when membership rose to nearly three million members. The klan aimed to alienate non-whites and other religious groups from the rest of American society. The klan was a hate group and displayed their hatred by killing thousands of people and destroying the lives of many others The klan was based in the South, but spread their hate across America. The 1920's witnessed the coming of the "Second Wave" of immigrants to the United States. These immigrants differed from the "First Wave" of European immigrants to the United States in that the majority of them were from Southern or Eastern Europe, whereas in the past the majority had been from Western European nations such as Great Britain, France, and Germany.

The immigrants came to the U.S. seeking better economic opportunities for their families, but very often they came across strong feelings of prejudice and nativism from the Americans. The Italians and Irish-Catholics provide good examples of the experiences faced by many of the immigrants in the 1920's. They were victims of discrimination in the work place, were targets of the Ku Klux Klan, and faced various other problems. Below are four links to papers that further discuss the tribulations of Italian and Irish-Catholic Immigrants. There are many ways the media influences society, but in the 1920's the main source was newspapers. The New York Times was one of the most popular and prestigious papers of this time and also one of the most influential.

Many people had fate in what they read and never second guessed it to be anything but fact. What really was there was a capitalistic defense and advocator.