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| News-Gazette Obituary Photo 10/30/1945 |
James Franklin Hollingsworth has appeared in previous Klan posts here, but his advocacy for the Klan throughout the area deserves special mention. Reverend Hollingsworth replaced O. K. Doney at the Villa Grove church over the winter of 1922-1923. Reverend Doney would also go on to become an outspoken supporter and even open member of the Klan. From the Urbana Daily Courier on 12/19/1922 and Villa Grove News coverage on 1/4/1923 and 1/18/1923:
The Villa Grove and Tuscola (where Hollingsworth had just moved from) Klans had fairly well known and spectacular ceremonies announcing their charters a few months later. From the 5/24/1923 News:
One of the first public appearances recorded of the Klan in Villa Grove came in July of that same year at the Christian church Hollingsworth now led. From the Villa Grove News on 7/19/1923:
The News had taken a positive view of "mob law" and the necessity of lynching a few months earlier. So it probably shouldn't surprise anyone that soon after the Klan established itself and was chartered as the Villa Grove Klan No. 58 of the Ku Klux Klan Realm of Illinois, they published Klan warnings on the front page. From the 5/17/1923, 7/19/1923 and 7/26/1923 editions of the News:
By the next month, the infamous Klan minister, Reverend McMahan was recruiting in Villa Grove with one of his pro-Klan lectures. From the 8/11/1923 Courier and the 8/9/1923 News:
The Villa Grove News included the Klan's "Creed" for more mainstream audiences and recruiting with its coverage of that event in the following 8/16/1923 edition of the News:
In 1924 Reverend Hollingsworth was openly speaking in support of the Klan around Champaign County. Some examples I found:
At a Fisher Klan meeting. From the Courier on 7/11/1924:
At a Rantoul Klan meeting. From the Champaign News-Gazette on 8/14/1924:
And in Villa Grove itself, including officiating a Klan wedding there. From the Courier on 9/11/1924:
He also visited St. Joseph and gave a pro-Klan lecture. In the advertising announcing the event he is described as "noted Klan lecturer." From the 10/3 and 10/10/1924 St. Joseph Record:
His Klan activities continued into at least 1925. An example from the Courier where he was a part of the Women's Klan auxiliary events listed on 8/11/1925:
Hollingsworth died on 10/29/1945 and there is a large gap in what I know of his later Klan activities and his life after the Klan. More research is needed on that transition and what ramifications (if any) he may have faced afterward. His local obituaries fill in some of the gaps. He had moved on to the Webber Street Christian Church of Christ in Urbana covering most of the years from 1928 to 1936. His support of and activities with the Klan across the Area did not receive any mention, however. From the Courier and News-Gazette on 10/30/1945 and the Daily Illini on 10/31/1945:
His wife's obituary in 1963 also didn't make reference to his Klan activities or indicate they impacted her continued relationship with the Church into the Civil Rights Era. From the 9/30/1963 News-Gazette:
More information on the Villa Grove Klan and its activities here on the Area Klan page.
More information on area Churches and the Klan, including local Klan ministers here.
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