Urban Legend or True The Black Klansman Author : Darlene Dancy Tagged as : Are There Black Kkk Members, Black Kkk Member Chappelle, Black Klansmen, Black Members Of The Kkk, First Black Kkk Member, kkk, Kkk Black Member, Ku Ku Klux, Negro Klansmen, The Black Klansman Date : January 12, 2014 Were There REALLY Black Klansman? [wpsharely id="1445"]this is a hard pill to swallow. I'm actually sitting here dumb-founded in utter dis-belief "NO WAY IN HELL " is this true. Before I go any further I must warn you this is a very sensitive topic...this is my disclaimer We are not responsible for the content displayed on this page. We are simply passing on information we thought would be of interest to you. For the sake of this article we will address them as the ( darker Klan folks ) as AFROPEANS, or NEGROPEANS. No one has ever written a book about them to my knowledge though such a book would be of great historical interest. In fact, very little documentation has survived. Here I will simply give my sources of information and quote from them. If anyone has further documentation about the Black membership of the KKK, I'd be grateful to be referred to it. Should I come across more documentation I will list it here. 1 / 11
My first source of Negro Klan membership is the book, "The Ku Klux Spirit", by J.A. Rogers, noted Negro historian of the 1920's. The Ku Klux Spirit was first published in 1923, by Messenger Publishing Co. It was republished in 1980, by Black Classic Press. On page 34 of his book we find the amazing passage: "A fact not generally known is that there were thousands of Negro Klansmen. These were used as spies on other Negroes and on Northern Whites." Very interesting. In the 1920's, there were plenty of original Klansmen still living as well as many other people of both races who lived during the Reconstruction Era. J.A. Rogers would have been able to interview many. Why would a Black historian make such a thing up? And if he did make it up there would have been plenty of people who would have objected. His book would not have survived to this day. Yet, it did. My second source is a book written by a Carpetbagger, Albion Winegar Tourgee (1838-1905). In 1880 he published his book, "A Fool's Errand", (New York: Fords, Howard and Hubert). 2 / 11
It was republished in 1989 by Louisiana State University Press as, "The Invisible Empire". On page 79 of his book we find the passage: "There were no Colored men in the band (of Klansmen) that night. Their hands were not covered. I could see their boots and pants, and I could judge from their hands and feet. Most of them were genteel people, besides being white people. I could also have told by their language if there had been any Colored people among them. Their language was that of white men, and cultivated men." OK, why claim that no Colored men were riding with the Klan that night unless the witness had seen Colored men with the Klan on another occasion? The men were in their robes since the witness had to look at their uncovered hands to see that no Colored men were among them. If he's not telling the truth, why would a Carpetbagger, of all people, ever make such a thing up? 3 / 11
My third source is, "Ku Klux Klan, It's Origins, Growth, and Disbandment", by J.C. Lester (one of the six original founders of the first Ku Klux Klan) and D.L. Wilson (another early Klansman). The book was first published in 1884. Reprints of this book are available from us for $7.00. The book was re-printed in 1905. In that edition, Walter L. Fleming, Ph.D., added an introduction. Again in 1905, there were still plenty of original Klansmen and others who had lived during the Reconstruction Era. In the introduction we find Fleming's statement: "Many of the genuine Unionists later joined in the movement (the KKK), and there were some few Negro members, I have been told." Now here we are told that there were "some few Negro members". Above we were told that there "were thousands of Negro Klansmen." But that is relative. When one considers that the original KKK had over 400,000 members "some few Negro members" could have totaled several thousand! 4 / 11
My fourth source is an more modern book, "Nathan Bedford Forrest: A Biography", by Jack Hurst. On page 305 we find this interesting quote: "...(the Klan was) reorganized to oppose radical proponents (the Radical Republicans) of what it perceived to be Black domination, NOT to scourge Blacks themselves. Although it has been written that Ku Klux Klan ranks were open only to the more than 100,000 honorably discharged ex-confederate veterans, the hierarchy in some areas and some instances seems to have accepted and even recruited Blacks, provided they went along with Conservative-Democratic political philosophy. In Memphis of late 1868, sixty-five Blacks organized a "Colored Democratic Club" under the watchful eye of Klansman-editor Gallaway - - who according to an account in the Appeal, "made a motion on behalf of the White men present, that they give employment and protection to Colored democrats." 5 / 11
So, the Klan not only accepted and recruited Blacks in some areas, but a Klan leader made a motion that White men give employment and protection to Colored democrats. That in itself speaks volumes. Yes, volumes of ignored facts of Klan, Negro, and American history. My fifth source is the book: "Jesse James and the Lost Cause" by Jesse Lee James, Pageant Press, N.Y., 1961. Jesse James and the Lost Cause" by Jesse Lee James, Pageant Press, N.Y., 1961. 6 / 11
My sixth source is the book: "Jesse James was one of His Names" by Del Schrader with Jesse James III, Arcadia, CA, Santa Anna Press, 1975. That is all I have for documentation that there were Negro members of the original Ku Klux Klan. But, that in itself, is enough to prove their existence! The only thing to do now is to discover more documentation of what may very well be the least known chapter in Black American history. I said before that Americans do not know their own history. How many of you know that there were millions of White slaves (not bonded servants, but true slaves for life) in this country? That there were free Negroes who owned slaves? That there were free Negroes who fought gallantly for the Confederate States? That the Confederate Army did not discriminate against, or pay unequally its Negro soldiers? 7 / 11
When the Klan was revived in 1915 it was originally just for Protestant White men. In time the Klan added the Women of the Ku Klux Klan, teenager and children's groups, groups for the foreign born and Colored men. Concerning the Colored Klansmen of the 20th century my first source is, "Women of the Klan, Racism and Gender in the 1920's", by Kathleen M. Blee. (1991, University of California Press). On page 169, we find the passage, " Even more strangely, the Klan tried to organize an order of Black Protestants, a Klan "Colored division" in Indiana and other states. 8 / 11
Despite promises that the new order would have "all the rights of membership" of the White Klan, much preparation went into ensuring that the values of white supremacy would be preserved as the Klan expanded its racial base. The group was to wear red robes, white capes, and blue masks and was prohibited from being seen in public with White Klansmen or handling any membership funds." 9 / 11
What The F#@k? This Is Some Idiotic Sh#t!!! It is presently unknown just how far the Colored Man's Klan went or how long they lasted. When the mens Klan had to disband in 1944, the separate Women of the Ku Klux Klan organization did not. They changed their name to the Women's Christian Patriotic Association and continued up to the 1960's. Could this order of Black Protestants have changed its name and still be with us to this day with its origins unknown to historians as well as its own present members? Now to further add to this my next source of information is from the KKK, itself. In their book, "K.K.K. Friend or Foe: Which?", by attorney Blaine Mast and published in 1924 a chapter is dedicated to discussing the KKK and its relationship to the Black population. 10 / 11
Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org) Black History Facts 365 OH HELL NO! This is all I can take. This is some SICK S#!T! Is it Urban Legend or could this be true? Please I need someone to help me work through this. Please Help A Sista Out![/wpsharely] 11 / 11