Red Schoolhouse, Burning Cross: The Ku Klux Klan of the 1920s and Educational Reform

Autor/in	Laats, Adam
Titel	Red Schoolhouse, Burning Cross: The Ku Klux Klan of the 1920s and Educational Reform
Quelle	In: History of Education Quarterly, 52 (2012) 3, S.323-350 (28 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0018-2680
DOI	10.1111/j.1748-5959.2012.00402.x
Schlagwörter	Social Problems; School Restructuring; Educational Change; Historians; Educational History; Violence; Racial Bias; United States History; Activism; Political Attitudes; Educational Improvement; Organizations (Groups); Leadership + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Social problem; Soziales Problem; Schulreformplan; Schulumwandlung; Bildungsreform; Historian; Historiker; History of education; Bildungsgeschichte; Gewalt; Racial discrimination; Rassismus; Aktivismus; Politischer Protest; Political attitude; Politische Einstellung; Teaching improvement; Unterrichtsentwicklung; Führung; Führungsposition
Abstract	In this article, the author focuses on the Ku Klux Klan of the 1920s and educational reform. The Klan's meteoric rise to national prominence in the 1920s has attracted a great deal of attention from historians, yet the group and its popularity during this time frame remain poorly understood. This is due in part to the fact that Klan symbols such as the burning cross and hooded nightrider still provoke intense emotions among historians, as among the American public at large. Even more confounding, the secret nature of the organization has made research materials scarce. Another part of the difficulty results from the fact that the Klan was a national group with intensely local interests. In spite of decades of heated historical debate about the nature of the 1920s Klan, historians have not devoted sufficient analysis to the education reform activism of the organization. This essay argues that former Dallas dentist and national Ku Klux Klan leader Hiram Evans tried to use educational reform as the primary issue with which to cement the Klan's status as a mainstream political organization. Evans hoped to promote educational reform as the cure for the long list of social ills that exercised Klan members. A look at the ways the 1920s Klan prescribed school reform as the solution to a host of social problems will illuminate the ways reformers have seen improved schooling as the key to a healthy society. This paper examines the goals and extent of educational activism among national leaders and grassroots Klan organizations. (Contains 3 figures and 110 footnotes.) (ERIC).
Anmerkungen	Wiley-Blackwell. 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148. Tel: 800-835-6770; Tel: 781-388-8598; Fax: 781-388-8232; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10