Ku Klux Klan Files Papers in Indiana

In its issue of August 19, 1921, the Gazette noted the spread of the revived Ku Klux Klan into Indiana:


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In this brief article we find some of the foundation blocks, as it were, of the structure that the KKK built in Indiana in the 1920s: the lofty language of the Klan's purported goals (teaching greater patriotism, supporting law and order); the strong presence of fraternal orders (such as the Masons) in the everyday lives of Hoosiers; and the ingrained and institutionalized racism — yes, the Masons were segregated, as was every other fraternal organization I know of — that allowed white, Protestant members of Indiana communities to join the Klan without jarring their conscience or harming their reputation. Not evident from this article is the strong anti-Catholic/anti-immigration slant that would be particularly characteristic of the Indiana Klan during the next few years.