Ku Klux Klan in New Brunswick

an exhibit by Brenann Sutter

This exhibit highlights the activities of the Ku Klux Klan in New Brunswick in the 1920s during what’s known as the second era of the Klan.

The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) is an American white supremacist hate group. The first Klan emerged as a vigilante group in the South after the Civil War. During the first era of the Klan, the group actively terrorized and intimidated newly emancipated African Americans in the South from 1865 until it was suppressed in the early 1870s. Then in the 1910s, the Klan reemerged in Georgia. In the 1920s, this second manifestation of the Klan grew into a large national organization with thousands of members joining local chapters throughout the country including in New Jersey.

Throughout this exhibit, you will see images of newspaper headlines like this one. Click the image to learn more about the archival item and access the full text of the article.