8/10/2023 0 Comments Kkk victory march![]() This perception was largely formed as a result of the response by the Lincoln Klavern to Chancellor Avery. in the University is highly undesirable.” While it is not directly stated in Avery’s response, it is believed that this statement is based on a 1909 Student Senate rule against secret organizations. Chancellor Avery responded to the reports of the alleged University Klan by stating that “the organization of a K.K.K. If the reasons for the rumors were unclear, however, the response to those rumors was not. Spokesmen for the Klan adamantly denied claims that they sought a University Klan in other publications prior to and following this report. The visit is reported as taking place on September 12th, 1921, where Clarke “arrived in Omaha to instruct a class of organizers, who will work thruout Nebraska.” Despite Clarke’s visits, it remains unclear how the rumor that the Klan was starting a University branch was actually sparked. The rumors were apparently sparked by the visit of Edward Young Clarke to Omaha, a city about 60 miles from the University in Lincoln. One such instance of the Klan being denied institutional power was when rumors spread of an attempt to bring the KKK to the University of Nebraska in September of 1921. In Omaha, for instance, the Mayor and City Commissioners “admitted that they are keeping in close touch with the Ku Klux Klan, both locally and nationally,” according to a September 1921 edition of The Lincoln Journal Star.ĭespite the open activities and popularity of the Klan, their power was not entirely unchecked. Though the names of individual members were kept secret, the activities of the groups, called Klaverns or Units, were often out in the open, known to law officials and citizens alike. The Klan was a secret organization, but it was by no means underground. It had a small but quickly growing population in both rural and urban centers alike. The Klan was first documented in Nebraska in 1921. Drawing on World War One anti-immigration and anti-Catholic sentiments, the Klan flourished and took root in midwestern states, including Nebraska. While it remained temporarily rooted in the American South, Simmons eventually recruited Edward Young Clarke to launch a campaign that would bring the Klan into areas where it had not previously existed. Simmons, a Methodist preacher from Alabama, in 1915. Due to the failure of Reconstruction, however, it was revived by William J. After the Grant administration cracked down on KKK activities in 1871, the group was believed by most Midwesterners to be dead. In the 1920s, the Ku Klux Klan had a massive resurgence that brought it out of its birthplace of the American South and into Midwestern institutions. The actions of Chancellor Avery were enough to keep the Ku Klux Klan off of the University of Nebraska campus but not enough to reduce its power in Lincoln, therefore the University should acknowledge its past relationship to the white supremacy group. This absence from Avery’s legacy indicates a shame surrounding the associations between the KKK, the University, and its home city. On the surface, Avery’s interaction with the KKK seems to be successful in keeping the University from associating with the group, but despite the partial victory, the University rarely acknowledges its relationship to the group. If they recognize the name, it is likely from the chemistry building named in his honor, rather than his attempt to keep the Ku Klux Klan, or KKK, off of campus in 1921. Samuel Avery is not widely known to current students at the University of Nebraska. Ellie Russell, History 250: The Historian Craft, Spring 2022
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