Exalted Cyclops

The man who would become the Exalted Cyclops of the local Ku Klux Klan probably wouldn't be who most people would expect. Political parties, ideologies, and terminology like "progressive" all meant something very different back then. Like today, there were different factions and disagreements complicating that too. From the 1918 "History of Champaign County" on John J. Reynolds:

Pictures of the J.J. Reynolds grocery store are available in the Urbana Free Library's digital collection here, including this one showing a younger Jay (his familiar name) Reynolds in 1907:

J.J. Reynolds owned the Zenith Amusement Company that would purchase the Illinois Theater in 1923 and make it the Klan's official headquarters. From the 11/8/1923 Mahomet Sucker State newspaper:

The theater and the Reynolds family itself publicly celebrated and dedicated both the new headquarters and a wedding of his daughter Helen Reynolds with a two day event including the then national leader of the Ku Klux Klan, Imperial Wizard Hiram Evans. From the 11/15, 11/20, 11/24/1923 Urbana Daily Courier:

  

From the bride's wedding book, as discovered by David Early in his research on the local Klan: "The ceremony was performed in the new home of Zenith Klan No. 56 Realm of Illinois KKK. The Klavern was arranged with three monster K's in rear, a large cross on either side, lighted, and the altar duly prepared in center and a semi-circle of Klansman and Klanswomen in full regalia as a background for the wedding. The contracting parties, in full regalia, stood in front of the altar, facing the east. The curtain raised at 8:25 and Rev. McMahon offered a beautiful opening prayer, then joined the ranks of Klansmen two paces to rear of Groom; O.K. Doney then bound Helen (Reynolds) and Harry (Lee) together by a beautiful Klan ceremony prayer. Prayer: McMahon. Bride & Groom introduced to Klansmen & Klanswomen, & received sign of greeting; introduced to throng of 1500 - hearty cheer of greeting...."

The marriage would last nearly five years, until Hellen Lee died of pneumonia in late 1928. Harry Lee would go on to remarry with the child of his first marriage residing with her grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. J.J. Reynolds. From the Courier 10/26/1928 and 1/7/1930:

 

By this time, however, the Illinois Theater had burned down. From the 4/4/1927 News-Gazette:

J.J. Reynolds was described as helping go through the burnt out rubble in the Daily Illini on 4/6/1927. The Klan itself moved its offices to the Burres Building at 315 West Main street according the News-Gazette on 4/5/1927:

 

By this point in time the number of gatherings and other Klan events appeared to be dwindling. The last of the annual Klan Christmas events for local children was held at the Illinois Theater the previous December according to the News-Gazette on 12/15/1926:

 

The Christmas events had become a pretty big to-do over the previous few years, with Ray Dvorak, the famous assistant band director of the University (who wrote parts of the Three in One and is credited with the idea for the Chief Illiniwek halftime performance) even did the music for the 1925 event. Coverage of the Christmas events in the 12/24/1923 Courier, the 12/23/1924 and 12/21/1925 News-Gazette:

 

J.J. Reynolds would go on to become a local Justice of the Peace with an office at 121 S. Broadway in Urbana next to the police court. He quickly got the reputation as being the "Marryin' Judge" and had a large role in marrying local couples over the next several years. From the 12/2/1931 Courier:

He'd also be remembered as "Urbana's Santa" as he continued to play the role long after the Klan as a member of the Urbana Association of Commerce. From the News-Gazette coverage of his funeral 7/28/1935 with a picture of him dressed as Santa Clause:

No mention of his years as the public face and leader of the local Ku Klux Klan as the Exalted Cyclops of Zenith Klan No. 56 of the Realm of Illinois. The Courier and Daily Illini also highlighted his role as prominent citizen, local sports hero, and of course the Mayor, States Attorney and other prominent organizations and law enforcement honoring him at his funeral. From the Courier 7/27, 7/31, and the DI on 7/28/1935:

 

There is, of course, a lot more information on J.J. Reynolds and his role in the local Klan, the community, and regional / national Klan activities. This introduction, however, is a start to understanding the local Klan over its rise and fall in Champaign County during the 1920s.

Campus Klan

The Ku Klux Klan organization on campus likely predates the second national organization started in 1915 by William Joseph Simmons, perhaps by several years. The University has a Frequently Asked Questions page on their website that covers some of the basics here. Local news coverage from WAND when one of the year book photos of the college organization received attention a couple years ago here. From the University's FAQ:

The first apparent Ku Klux Klan references in the University of Illinois yearbook occurred in The Illio 1909, with "Ku Klux" being listed as student activity/organization for several senior (class of 1908) students; the 1909 yearbook, however, did not include a group photo page or a statement of its purpose.[2] From early on, a defining characteristic of the group seemed to have been a penchant for extreme secrecy.

The archive of Illio yearbooks is available from the University here. The FAQ also notes that group became more official and started appearing in the yearbooks earlier in the year of 1915:

On January 27, 1915, the Council of Administration approved a petition (submitted by Harold Pogue) to "perfect" the organization of the group. According to the minutes of the Council, membership in the group was limited to "one junior representative from each of the national fraternities at the University of Illinois."[4] The campus Klan was listed in subsequent yearbooks until 1925, by which point its name had been changed to Tu–Mas.

The various 1906 to 1909 claims of establishment may put the campus Klan's formation after the publication of the book that later inspired the film "Birth of a Nation," titled "The Clansman" (publish in 1905). The more public and official status as a campus organization began earlier in the year than the national organization's formation. As noted in a previous post, the timing may be more coincidental as northern history books and local newspapers suggested there was already widespread sympathy with the goals of the original Klan. A future post on revisionist history of Reconstruction that led to this, including local contributions, is forthcoming.

With the more official status came more coverage in the Daily Illini. It is more of what you'd expect from a fraternal organization, with informal dance announcements and various group membership lists. The group played a role in organizing campus events. In at least one known example they provided an unofficial enforcement role. From the 11/1/1919 Daily Illini:

Typically their roles were described as far more mundane, however. From the DI coverage of a "cap burning" tradition on 5/18 and 5/20/1921:

 

They also played a leadership role in campus institutions and their membership in the Ku Klux Klan was listed among other memberships. The Daily Illini's editor for example was a member until he enlisted in World War I: 

 

Many campus Klan members served in the military during the first World War. Their membership was often noted in coverage of their military news (deployment, return, war stories, etc). From the 2/1/1919 Daily Illini:

The campus Klan helped raised money for Memorial Stadium, including donations towards a column. From the 3/24/1921 paper: 

Other members were mentioned as Illio yearbook editors or Football captains. Examples from the 5/6/1921 and 11/30/1915 Daily Illini:

 

The University's FAQ also suggests a possible reason for the campus organization's decision to distance itself from the local chapter of the national Klan organization:

The University of Illinois Ku Klux Klan became embroiled in controversy at this same time. According to the Daily Illini, "on the evening of a recent Ku Klux Klan . . . dance, the hooded and gowned members of the organization overstepped the bounds of propriety at a number of organized houses." The student newspaper elaborated on the incident, reporting that the campus Ku Klux Klan members had "disguised themselves in the red-crossed robes and hoods and loudly proclaimed their presence." Maintaining that the incident was prompted by "simple idiocy," the Daily Illini editorialist called on the university group to change its name in order to distinguish it from the national Ku Klux Klan:

The campus group is in no way connected with the older group that is now spreading so rapidly throughout the country; its aims and its ideals are of a different nature, its personnel different; the campus Ku Klux Klan is purely a social organization.

The Daily Illini deemed it "unfortunate that the juniors should have the same name as the band of 100 percent Americans who have aroused such a storm of protest from coast to coast." 

The public announcement of the name change was printed in the Champaign News-Gazette on 4/12/1923:

I haven't been able to find any information on the meaning of "Tu-mas" either real or, as was often the case at the time, simply made up. Leading up to this March decision, the local chapter of the national Klan ("Zenith Klan No. 56" as it was known) had made its presence impossible to ignore. From the 1/31/1923 News-Gazette and Urbana Daily Courier respectively:

As usual, the mainstream message of the Klan often argued that they held no racial or religious enmity, in spite of all the evidence to the contrary. It's often argued that "everyone was racist back then" or that "nobody knew any better," but many of the arguments and mainstream marketing approaches mirror groups today that also preach overt white nationalism in their closed groups.

In the days before the local campus decided to implement the name change (agreed upon the month before), the local chapter of the national Klan put on a massive 40 foot tall burning cross display in southwest Champaign: 

Prior to this, most of the Daily Illini articles on the activities of the campus Klan involved informal dances and recent pledges. From the 1/15/1921 and 4/22/1920 Daily Illini:

and

A separate page of newspaper clippings and other resources on the campus Klan organization will be made available soon. There will also be some Klan financial records posted that will allow people to cross reference members of the campus organization and those who were listed in the local chapter of the national organization.

Birth of a Nation

The Ku Klux Klan's revival in the 1920s is often associated with the film "Birth of a Nation." The founder of what became the national organization in 1915 is alleged to have done so after viewing the film. The second Klan exploded across the United States a few years after the film made the rounds of theaters across the country.  It could be argued that it gave new life to the "Lost Cause" historical revisionism of the original terrorist organization as heroes of white women's virtue. It could also be argued that such views had already been popularized across the country. An example from a popular northern textbook published in 1905 and in common use across the country at the time:

It took a while for one of the four traveling shows to make it here to Champaign-Urbana with its own traveling orchestra. But when it did it packed the local Orpheum theater every night and for an extra showing. Here is one of the larger advertisements in the Urbana Daily Courier:

The reception was cheers, the loudest for the Klan heroes of the film. Local papers reported the packed house and loud applause and appreciation of the historical accuracy. Government officials, mayors and aldermen were part of the crowds. Their loud and enthusiastic appreciation was noted in the Champaign Daily News: 

The Daily Illini also noted local politicians stating that they didn't see anything objectional about the film:

The Urbana Daily Courier, in noting the demand justifying an extra Saturday showing of the film, joined other newspapers in describing the film as both accurate and educational. Local school children were being given an opportunity to see, what is now considered, an extremely racist piece of revisionist propaganda.

The Champaign Daily News and the Urbana Daily Courier both printed a couple opinion items after the show's run critical of the accuracy of the film. The Champaign paper printed a criticism from a local pastor:

The Courier re-printed a critical National Tribune editorial (click to enlarge):

There may be no good way to measure the impact and significance the film had on the rise of the local Klan here in Champaign County. It may have merely reinforced views and historical revisionism that had already become popularly accepted in the North (as difficult as it may be to believe today). When the Klan appeared in large numbers in Illinois and appeared to be rising across the Midwest, the Courier printed an 8/18/1921 editorial reflecting these beliefs. They argued in the "highest motives" and "ample justification" of the original Klan and the decent men they believed were in it. They blamed most of the controversy on outrages done by "outsiders" in their name.

Their harshest critique seemed to be focused on optics and encouraging a name change to distance itself from bad actors who could use their secrecy to undermine their reputation.

For more information on the "Birth of a Nation" film and its role in inspiring and influencing the rise of the second Klan I recommend Linda Gordon's "The Second Coming of the KKK: The Ku Klux Klan of the 1920s and the American Political Tradition." 

Introduction to the C-U Klan

This webpage highlights a mostly forgotten part of our local history in Champaign-Urbana and Champaign County generally. The information within was acquired from local newspaper archives, local historical archives, local research and local historians. The content may be disturbing and use archaic and offensive language of the time.

The history of the second Klan nationally and locally is often far more complicated and messy than most people realize. Simple narratives, especially politically motivated ones, can be hard to mesh with the depictions in primary sources. Below is a brief overview of the local Klan during this time. We will be expounding on these and other topics in future posts and pages on this website.

This project is to make this information freely available to the public in a non-partisan and objective way. It is being done with the help of volunteers, library and archive staff, and other assistance for free. There is no funding or advertising (other than some from the 1920s newspaper clippings).

The Local Klavern:

The second Ku Klux Klan movement generally arose in 1915 around the same time that the film "Birth of a Nation" glamorizing the original Klan began to spread across theaters in the United States. That film came to Champaign-Urbana in February of 1916 to the approval and applause of local audiences (including local political leaders).

The first significant Klan gathering in Champaign County was 8/5/1922 and reported by local papers as involving 4,000 to 6,000 attendees, "high officials from a number of states," and a number of religious leaders. The Urbana Daily Courier noted that event was held on the Richmond farm  between Mahomet and Fisher, included an automobile procession, a band, and hundreds of initiations.

By at least early 1923, this would evolve into the Zenith Klan No. 56 of the Realm of Illinois Ku Klux Klan. Soon they would be visiting local churches in full regalia, getting support from local religious leaders and sometimes have open gatherings with and without masks at local parks:

There was also a campus Ku Klux Klan inter-fraternity organization variously described as having been established in 1906 or 1908. This society changed its name to distinguish itself from the national Klan organization in April of 1923. More information on this organization is available here.

The headquarters of the local Klan in Champaign County was the Illinois Theater in Urbana, IL. Picture with description in the 2/13/1925 issue of "The Fiery Cross" Klan newspaper of the giant electric "fiery cross" on the roof:

A great modern overview of the history of the second Ku Klux Klan movement itself is available in Linda Gordon's "The Second Coming of the KKK: The Ku Klux Klan of the 1920s and the American Political Tradition." For a great book on the original Klan with a lot of primary sources and direct accounts of both perpetrators, victims and bystanders, I strongly recommend "White Terror: The Ku Klux Klan Conspiracy and Southern Reconstruction" by Allen W. Trelease.