The first public rumblings of the Klan emerging in St. Joseph were anti-Klan sentiments printed as editorials in the St. Joseph Record newspaper. The first noted the recent large Klan event near Mahomet along with some mixed criticism of the Klan itself and the reported involvement of the clergy. It hinted at local Klan organizing going on behind the scenes. From the 8/18 and 8/25/1922 Record:
It's worth nothing that Reverend Bream suggests that he will likely become a Klan member ("a Knight in the Invisible Empire") after this letter. Ray Cunningham of the Homer Historical Society shared this transcription of a February 9, 1923 Homer Enterprise newspaper article where the Reverend defended the Klan and publicly announced his membership:
Ku Klux Klan Defended From the Pulpit Sunday
Friday, February 9, 1923, page 1 Homer Enterprise
Rev. Harvey C. Bream, pastor of the Church of Christ at St. Joseph, preached Sunday night, January 28th to a large audience in defense of the Klan. Among other things, he said:
“The Ku Klux Klan is out for the truth and justice and the great battle will be waged in Chicago, a stronghold of Bolshevism, Communism and Catholicism. Chicago has been a seat of crime and corrupt politics. I am a klansman and am not ashamed of it. We have the ablest and keenest lawyers and thinkers in America and the best doctors in the world, in and backing up this organization. The time has come when we are not going to sit quietly back, trembling with fear, twitching our thumbs and see injustice meted out to hones men.
“The Fiery Cross is the true guide to true Americanism. We have too, many organizations already. While I recognize the good in Masonry as a Mason, and I believe that all the other orders are doing good work, as a klansman also I feel it spells salvation for America, yet I am convinced that if all their energy were put into a united church of the living Christ, we would have a perfect cure for all our ills. The church of Jesus Christ is the most powerful organization in the world and we should as protestants, put into it our very resource.
“There are organizations for Catholics only; the same is true of the Jews; the Negroes have organizations to which no white person can belong. Therefore, it stands to reason that a time was coming when there would be a strictly protestant organization and 100 per cent American. And it has come.
“I do not believe that we ought to close our doors to the immigrant. History tells us, that when Rome was at her height, she stopt the incoming of the foreigner. With what result Her people became stagnant and corrupt. Rome lost her power and fell. I believe that we need the constant in flow of the immigrant. But, immigration should be restricted and no one should be allowed to enter who is not willing to become an American and live for America, body, soul and spirit.
“We have heard it said that America is, “the melting pot of the world.” That time was, but it is no more. I still believe that American can be the melting pot but some one has put in poison. America is not melting the differences of men and nationalities as she once did. There have come in to many people who have not had the welfare of America at heart. Their aims have been selfish to the extreme. Their ideals have been too foreign to the American institute and principles which we love. The hour has struck when we can no longer be republican or democrat. We must pick out the man and then stick to him, like glue. We have one common flag, Old Glory, and we must be 100 per cent American.
“Now, since this foreign element is not going thru the melting pot, we must do something to save America and preserve the English language. There are more Germans in New York city than in Berlin; there are more Russians in New York city than in Moscow; there are more Jews in New York city than in Jerusalem and there are more Italians than in Rome; more Irish than in Dublin. The element is doing its dead level best to annul the 18th amendment and corrupt the soul of our American and American institutions. Talk about cleaning our house! Why friends, we haven’t started. We have deported a few radicals and there are thousands of others all about us who have no sympathy for America, or the institutions we love, who ought to be put out at once. We can’t do it too soon.
“The Ku Klux Klan is the salvation of America. It has not come into existence to annihilate the negro but to prevent his inter-marriage; to teach him to respect our institutions; to educate him and to make of him a 100 per cent American citizen. We are not here to eradicate the Jew, but we want him to work just as hard for America and the American institution as he does for himself. Why should American stuff a man’s pockets with wealth, who takes no interest in the church, the schools, the municipal affairs and civic righteousness? The klan is not against the Catholic church as far as its American principles go but when its leaders state from time to time, that the American government can go to hell if it interferes with its rights, we cannot feel that there is some fire here there is dense smoke. America should come before Rome every time, especially here in America.
:The cap and the robe are a means of preservation. I would rather wear a white robe and cap at night, than to see my country in a shroud. It is better to wear a physical mask than to incase the heart and soul in the shroud of murder, hatred and jealously Our Masonic lodges have been assailed as un-American; the Y. M. C. A. has been cursed as unpatriotic and the Ku Klux Klan indited as a menace to American principles all by the Catholic church.
“Will the papers print this. Will they print the facts about Bastrop? No. Why? You know why. If all were true that the papers printed about those honest men there would have been enough evidence to convict them a dozen times, but listen the case was dismissed for lack of evidence.
“Yes, Ku Kluxers, the Fiery Cross leads on and good old United States will yet be cleaned of its dress. May the Christ who suffered, bled and died upon this sacred emblem control your every impulse and may you not only make America 100 per cent pure American, but may every American be Christian. And lastly may our schools in which you are so deeply interested be the best in the world and may the Bible not only be placed in every public school, but may it be read at every session, as a fulfillment of your heartfelt desire and plan.”
Shortly after the original editorials critical of the Klan (that were also printed around the same time in the nearby Ogden Courier also edited and published by J. A. Rohan) the Klan paid a visit to Reverend Bream's church in full regalia. The accounts varied from welcoming to alarming. The Champaign News-Gazette had a short blurb on 8/28/1922:
The Urbana Daily Courier printed two conflicting accounts the same day:
The next day, Trustees and other leaders of the St. Joseph Church of Christ had their denials of frightened children or "indignation meetings" afterwards in both the News-Gazette and the Courier. From the 8/29/1922 Courier:
By the time the St. Joseph Record, a weekly paper at the time, got to the controversy it was the main headline and took up a good portion of the front page. From the 9/1/1922 Record:
That same edition of the Record also printed the Courier's "Another View" and the church's denials of any upset. Reverend Bream put his own spin on it in the Church updates section of the same day's paper:
As pointed out in previous posts, the Klan proliferated through local churches and church leaders before and after Reverend Bream in the Champaign County area. The initial public controversy in St. Joseph, however, helps illuminate the opposition and support it could have when it came to area towns and villages. Often the criticism was tepid or tempered at best. The support was generally expressed through zealous nationalism and the purity of white people (physical, ideological and moral). As always there were denials of the racial and religious hatred, while appearing to rationalize that very thing to contemporary and modern critics.
The intentions of the real people behind these Klan robes and anti-Klan criticisms were often complicated. The same anti-Klan paper would also print editorials in favor of eugenic principles and policies. From the 11/24/1922 Record:
At a time when eugenics and racial purity issues were in textbooks, there were many proposed policies around this time about isolating "defectives" in camps, sterilization, and euthanasia to prevent contamination to the racial hygiene through uncontrolled breeding. Marriage restrictions for the "fit" were generally deemed one of the least heavy handed methods at the time.
Reverend Bream was being honored in the same time period for his work towards bettering the community by other religious leaders. From the 10/13/1922 Record:
Mrs. Bream was a leader of the local Woman's Christian Temperance Union, as we'll also see with many other Klan wives. Sometimes with Klan ministers helping with the meetings and prayers. From the 9/8/1922 Record:
By January of 1923 Reverend Bream was doing public lectures in support of the Klan and, as noted above, unashamedly announcing himself as a Klan member. Here's the 1/26/1923 Courier announcement for that 1/28 lecture:
By July the Klan was marching through St. Joseph and Ogden on the way to a larger meeting in Homer. From the 7/21/1923 Courier:
A month later in August, the Klan had a large cross burning event in St. Joseph and invited the town out for a Klan picnic the following month: From the Record on 8/31/1923 which had some coverage and also another long editorial on the Klan:
Once again the criticism is tempered by praise for some of the Klan's intentions and supposed principles. There is once again an extreme detachment from the intimidation and fear the organization implicitly and explicitly has on those targeted by its rhetoric and obvious historical symbolism.
By early September the Klan was advertising for the large picnic meeting in St. Joseph. The Record's editor reaffirmed its anti-Klan stance in spite of allowing Klan advertising in the paper. From the Record on 9/7/1923:
There was further coverage of the picnic meeting in the 9/14/1923 Record, describing it as "mammoth" and the largest ever in St. Joseph so far:
That was also followed up by a Klan visit to the Church of Christ that same month. From coverage in the Courier on 9/19 and the Record on 9/21/1923 (including the Church's own notes on the visit and details of their donation):
In that same edition of the St. Joseph Record it was announced that the paper had been sold. The generally anti-Klan editor and publisher Jack A. Rohan was moving on to new opportunities in Springfield, IL and handing the paper over to the new owner Charles W. Dale:
Within a few weeks, the paper would be publishing the entire Klan Creed without further comment on its editorial page. From the 10/12/1923 Record:
Around this time there were reports of St. Joseph attendees at Klan meetings throughout more of the area. These include some of the regular mentions of the St. Joseph Girls' quartet performing at area Klan meetings. In these examples from the 9/26 and 9/29/1923 Courier (click to enlarge), it lists members of the quartet at the time as "Mida and Hilda McCarty, Gladys Wooley and Ruby Swearingen" at a Seymore Klan meeting:
There were also St. Joseph attendees at a Rantoul Klan meeting reported in the 10/4 Courier, at a Fisher Klan meeting reported in the 10/3 Courier and Record on 10/12, and at a Champaign Klan meeting as reported in the Courier on 10/16/1923:
The St. Joseph Girls' quartet would also perform at the Klan Christmas party that year in Urbana. From the 12/24/1923 Courier:
The St. Joseph Klan advertised its first public meeting of 1924 in the paper, promising a speaker of "national fame." The meeting coverage of the event held in town at the Franklin Theater (described as "overflowing – standing room was at a premium") noted that Reverend Burres out of Pekin spoke and Mrs O. W. Conden of Danville did outreach to Klan ladies. From the and 2/1/1924 Record:
The Courier noted some St. Joseph attendees, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Weaver and Mrs. Lois Marlowe, at the Klan headquarters in the Illinois Theater for a Klan meeting there in February. From the 2/6/1924 Courier:
In June of 1924, another public Klan meeting was announced. This time in the aftermath of the drownings at Homer Lake that interrupted the large Klan gathering there. The announcement includes a parade, a "blowout" meeting with representatives from Klans across the County, and a speaker, Dr. Oldecker. The coverage of the event notes that the parade went down the principle streets and took place at the ballpark as planned, with aerial bombs and refreshments. There appears to have been a scuffle over patriotic etiquette, but otherwise no other interruptions. Announcements from the 6/20 Record and 6/24 Courier. Coverage from the 7/4/1924 Record:
Earlier that month, the Record had Decoration Day (later better known as Memorial Day) coverage that included some signs of the time. Remembering the service of Confederate soldiers along with Yankees and those who fought in more recent wars. It notes the ongoing work at Stone Mountain to build a Confederate monument. Stone Mountain was the birthplace of the second Klan movement. The original monument designer was Gutzon Borglum, who was active in the second Klan organization and who would later go on to design the Mount Rushmore monument. The article includes an earlier design by Borglum prior to the dispute that ended his involvement in the project:
To see and read the full page article click on the thumbnails below to enlarge:
In August, the Klan visited the other local Church of Christ in St. Joseph. The former pastor, Reverend A. J. McLaughlin gave a pro-Klan sermon and accepted a donation by a Klan delegation there. From the 8/15/1924 Record:
St. Joseph attendees at area Klan events were reported over the next few months. Mr. and Mrs. Foster McCarty and Mr. and Mrs. Bruce McCarty attended a Klan meeting in Mahomet. From the 8/7/1924 Courier:
The 8/15/1924 Record noted many participated in the massive Klan event in Danville that month:
Attendees at an Urbana Klan meeting in the 9/5/1924 Record:
In October Klan minister Reverend Hollingsworth 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 Record:
There were mentions of this event in the 10/7 Courier and the 10/10/1924 News-Gazette as well.
The St. Joseph Girls' quartet had been involved with Rev. Hollingsworth and other Klan events at this time as well. One spectacular Klan meeting in Fisher featured his lecture, their music, and a 75 foot high burning cross. From the 7/17/1924 Courier:
At one Klan wedding with Hollingsworth in Villa Grove the coverage noted one of the Klan songs that the St. Joseph Girls' quartet played for Klan events, such as "The Ku Klux Klan Blues." From the Courier on 9/11/1924:
Klan activity in St. Joseph continued into at least early 1925, but I don't have much documentation after that point. A Klan meeting and lecture at the Franklin theater was announced in the 1/9 Record and 1/13/1925 Courier:
There may be a great deal of additional Klan activity documented, especially in local newspaper archives. This is the material I found while researching related topics. I encourage anyone interested in the Klan activity of St. Joseph to continue this research in primary sources. My work generally only reached as late as 1924 for St. Joseph in particular. [Update below with a couple more examples of Klan activity in 1925 - Jump To Link.]
Reverend Harvey Cleveland Bream moved into Champaign roughly in the Spring of 1923. The St. Joseph Church of Christ was led by Reverend George M. Anderson after that. I don't have any further details on Rev. Anderson's involvement in the Klan, beyond the visit he apparently condoned in his own church updates noted above. Like Rev. Bream he was also the local Scoutmaster. From the 3/30 and 4/5/1923 Courier:
Bream returned back East to Ohio some time after living in Champaign. He and later his son Harvey Jr. (born about the time the family moved to Champaign) popped up at church revivals and church events in Ohio and West Virginia for many years later. Here's an example from 11/30/1950 edition of "The Journal" in Caldwell, OH in 1950:
He and his wife would die in Cincinnati in 1977 and 1978 respectively. I did not find any mention of his open Klan activities mentioned in these later years. Their grave marker is listed online with a picture here:
Update 10/2/2021:
I wanted to add a couple later accounts of Klan activity in St. Joseph I stumbled across in related local research. There was a Klan visit to the Methodist Church reported and described in the Church news section as well. There was also a Klan lecturer mentioned by a former resident in a letter discussing local coverage. I haven't yet found the coverage of the Klan lecturer itself. From the 3/6 and 4/3/1925 Record:
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