AMERICA FIRST: 100 Years Ago in 1923 Binghamton Was The State Kapital for the Ku Klux Klan in New York for 5 Years in the 1920's

PHOTO CREDIT BROOME COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY. AMERICA FIRST: Binghamton Was The State Kapital for the Ku Klux Klan in New York State for 5 Years. The Forgotten Kapital: The Ku Klux Klan in Binghamton, New York, 1923-1928 by Jay L. Rubin. Binghamton was home to the New York State headquarters of the Ku Klux Klan.

In the 1920s, membership in the KKK reached several million people — almost exclusively white, native-born, Protestant women and men like in Binghamton NY. And in communities where the KKK really took root, "this meant that a very sizable part of the eligible population was in the Klan." The KKK was even successful at "block recruiting" of whole clubs or congregations at one time.
     

PHOTO CREDIT BROOME COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY. AMERICA FIRST: During the 1920s, a resurgent KKK moved North with their white supremacist “100 percent American” message. Millions joined the Klan and rallied to its various causes, including suppression of Blacks, restricting immigration of Eastern and Southern Europeans, limiting the political influence of Catholics and Jews and strictly enforcing Prohibition. After an unceremonious forced retreat from New York City, the KKK moved their headquarters to Binghamton NY.

 

PHOTO CREDIT BROOME COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY. FBI REPORT: Contributing to criminal chaos of the 1920s was the sudden rise of the Ku Klux Klan, or KKK. In the early 1920s, membership in the KKK quickly escalated to six figures under the leadership of “Colonel” William Simmons and advertising guru Edward Young Clarke.
 

 PHOTO CREDIT BROOME COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY. On St. Patrick's Day in 1923, Binghamton city residents were shocked to discover pamphlets promoting the Klan had been left at their homes. The Klan's state headquarters were housed in a building near Henry and Wall streets.
 

PHOTO CREDIT BROOME COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY. The KKK was active in many areas of New York state, including Ithaca, Syracuse, Niagara Falls and New York City with Binghamton as the 'Kapital'. Parades of men and women members of the Klan marched in along Court Street in downtown Binghamton.
 

 PHOTO CREDIT BROOME COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY. Cross burnings and KKK rallies were held at Stow Flats in Binghamton and in the Union District of Endicott. Binghamton's past KKK activity sparked a new controversy in 1993 when civil rights activists called for the removal of a reference to the activity in a tourism brochure distributed by the Broome County Chamber of Commerce.
 

PHOTO CREDIT BROOME COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY. By the middle of the decade, 1920's, the KKK boasted several million members. The crimes committed in the name of its bigoted beliefs were despicable—hangings, floggings, mutilations, tarring and featherings, kidnappings, branding by acid, along with a new intimidation tactic, cross-burnings. The Klan had become a clear threat to public safety and order.


Bill Warner wbipi@verizon.net Bill Warner Private Investigator Sarasota 941-926-1926 - SEX, CRIME, CHEATERS & TERRORISM at www.wbipi.com