Not a Catholic nation
Subtitle: the Ku Klux Klan confronts New England in the 1920s
By: Mark Paul Richard
Publisher: University of Massachusetts Press
Published: 2015
Place of publication: Amherst
Language: eng
Number of pages: 259
ISBN-13: 9781625341884; 9781625341891
Subjects: Anti-Catholicism; Ku Klux Klan (1915- ); History; French-Canadians; Borderlands
Description: "During the 1920s the Ku Klux Klan experienced a remarkable resurgence, drawing millions of American men and women into its ranks. In 'Not a Catholic Nation', Mark Paul Richard examines the KKK's largely ignored growth in the six states of New England {u2212}Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont{u2212} and details the reactions of the region's Catholic population, the Klan's primary targets. Drawing on a wide range of previously untapped sources {u2212}French-language newspapers in the New England-Canadian borderlands; KKK documents scattered in local, university, and Catholic repositories; and previously undiscovered copies of the 'Maine Klansmen'{u2212} Richard challenges the increasingly prevalent view that the Ku Klux Klan became a mass movement during this period largely because it functioned as social, fraternal, or civic organization for many Protestants. He shows thet the politics of ethnicity and labor played a significant role in the Klan's growth in the region"-- from back cover.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Acknowledgments; title: Introduction; title: Arrival in New England; title: Invasion of the pine tree state; title: Confronting franco-americans in maine; title: Expansion in the granite state; title: Rebuff in the Green Mountain state; title: Confronting Irish Catholic politicians in the bay state; title: Counterattack by commonwealth Catholics; title: Attempt to americanize the ocean state; title: Infiltrating the rhode island militia and implication in the sentinelle affair; title: Encountering secession in the constitution state; title: Reappearance in the late twentieth century; title: Conclusion; title: Notes; title: Index.