Web site exposes previously undocumented KKK activity in (state of) Washington

[struggle4progress]

... In Oregon, the KKK led a successful 1922 effort to outlaw private Catholic schools in the state. The following year the group brought its anti-Catholic, anti-Semitic and anti-immigrant message to Washington.

"They tried to make the Klan seem natural by having picnics, patriotic fireworks and reenactments of the battle of Bunker Hill. They appealed to people's Christianity, their fear of foreigners and their patriotism by marketing the Klan as an essential part of protecting the nation," said Griffey. "I find it remarkable that they were able to draw tens of thousands of people, and in some cases as many as 50,000, from all over Washington to watch Klan ceremonies in Renton, Issaquah, Yakima and Lynden."

Nationally, the high-water mark of the Klan came in 1924 when it helped push a highly restrictive immigration bill through Congress. In Washington it promoted legislation outlawing private Catholic schools, but the initiative was defeated. Failure of that measure, along with internal factional battles and scandals that involved high state KKK figures, sapped the organization's power and appeal. As its influence waned, Bellingham and Whatcom County became the KKK's last strongholds in the state.

By 1929, the organization, which had once boasted of having 4 million members nationally, had largely disappeared. But a few Klan figures including Luther Powell, who brought the Klan to Washington from Portland, Ore., briefly reappeared in the American fascist movement prior to World War II ...

http://7thspace.com/headlines/297461/web_site_exposes_previously_undocumented_kkk_activity_in_washington.html

<website:> http://depts.washington.edu/civilr/kkk_intro.htm