The Ku Klux Klan and its racist doctrine have a long history. In his work "Backfire. How the Ku Klux Klan Helped the Civil Rights Movement", David Chalmers calls the Klan as “America’s only enduring political terrorist movement”. The following paper will mainly focus on the presentation of the Klan in Thomas Dixon’s Southern Reconstruction novel "The Clansman" and D. W. Griffith’s movie "The Birth of a Nation", as well as in contemporary American literature and films. In that context, the Klan’s prejudices against African Americans will be discussed – in connection with Karen Hesse’s children book one also has to take prejudices against Jews into account.
The analysis of Ku Klux Klan literature and films will cover three important Klan-eras beginning in 1887 until the 1960s. Different types of texts and films will be set in context with different cultural aspects of that time.
All together, one cannot directly speak of an influence of Dixon’s work on later Klan literature and films. But the presence of some similar motives in all novels and films which will be taken into account, shows an important aspect that will be the main point of this paper: Regardless of a pro-Klan or a political neutral work of fiction, one can recognise either a conscious or an unconscious hero worship of the Klan, or, at least a representation of the Klan’s immense political and social power. One has to assume that different books and films indeed help to create a Klan myth. Throughout the paper, different motives will be compared to strengthen this thesis.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. History or Fiction: Thomas Dixon’s The Clansman in the Context of Reconstruction
2.1. The Development from a Slave into a Political Threat: The Image of African Americans in Dixon’s Novel
2.2. Glorifying the Aryan Race: Dixon’s Idea of White Supremacy
2.2.1. The Rising of the Ku Klux Klan
2.2.2. Dixon’s Version of the Klan as the Saviour of the White South
2.2.3. Dixon’s Idolisation of the Klan and the Study of the ‘Dunning School’
2.3. Women in the Shadow of the Ku Klux Klan
2.3.1. Women’s Struggle during Reconstruction
2.3.2. Devoted Klan Women and the Evil Female Radical
3. The Birth of a Modern Klan: Dixon’s and Griffith’s Propaganda as a “Midwife to the Rebirth of the Klan”
4. Dixon’s The Clansman and Contemporary Klan Literature and Film
4.1. Oppressed or Independent: Different Images of Female Characters and their Husbands in Witness, Fire in the Rock and Mississippi Burning
4.2. The Klan’s Function as God’s Right Hand and its Double Standard
4.3. Ignorance as a Small Town Phenomenon: People’s Conscious and Unconscious Support of the Ku Klux Klan
4.3.1. The Ku Klux Klan in Small Towns
4.3.2. Social Structures of a Small Town: Nelson Wikstrom’s Political Analysis
4.3.3. Small Town Characters in Contemporary Klan Literature and Film
4.4. The Klan Takes Over Politics
5. The Ku Klux Klan in Moving Pictures
5.1. The Birth of a Nation
5.2. Klan Power in Contemporary Movies: an Analysis of Mississippi Burning and a Short Look at The Chamber
6. Conclusion
7. Bibliography
Research Objectives and Key Topics
This thesis examines the representation of the Ku Klux Klan in American literature and film, tracing its depiction from Thomas Dixon’s foundational novel The Clansman to contemporary portrayals. The research aims to prove that these works, regardless of their political stance, collectively contribute to a "Klan myth" by presenting the organization as an exceptionally powerful and influential force in American society.
- The role of the Ku Klux Klan in Reconstruction-era literature versus modern narratives.
- The intersection of racial prejudice, white supremacy, and gender roles within Klan-centric stories.
- The analysis of small-town social structures and their contribution to Klan support.
- The influence of cinematic propaganda, particularly The Birth of a Nation, on Klan history and public perception.
- The examination of the "Klan myth" and the persistence of its imagery in modern media.
Excerpt from the Book
The Development from a Slave into a Political Threat: The Image of African Americans in Dixon’s Novel
By the beginning of the Reconstruction era, many white Southerners had lost their property. Bad investments and the loss of their slaves often meant a personal ruin of former wealthy Southern families, whereas the black population was trying to find a way to cope with their newly gained freedom.
For African Americans, this freedom did not only mean the end of slavery, but some rights and protection guaranteed by the law. Some Radical blacks were convinced that these rights could only be saved by dispossessing white farmers and giving land to former slaves. But others only fought for the “legal equality” of the races.
Dixon’s novel The Clansman focuses especially on the Radical Republicans and their African Americans supporters. Moreover, he describes two different types of African Americans: the naïve and devoted person, for example the black characters “John Stapler” and “Jake”, and, on the other hand, the opponents, the scheming and radical characters like the mulattos Lydia Brown and Silas Lynch, as well as the blacks Gus and Aleck, two former slaves involved in the Radical movement.
In the following quote, Dixon declares a friendship he feels for the “Negro”. Within the term friendship, Dixon combines the white Americans’ duty to watch and control the actions of African Americans, as well as the social support for those dependent creatures. In The Clansman and other novels, Dixon will not allow African Americans to develop a consciousness: I have for the Negro race only pity and sympathy, though every large convention of Negroes since the appearance of my first historical novel on the race problem has gone out of its way to denounce me and declare my books caricatures and libels on their people. Their mistake is a natural one. My books are hard reading for a Negro, and yet the Negroes, in denouncing them, are unwittingly denouncing one of their best friends.
Summary of Chapters
1. Introduction: The introduction outlines the research focus on the depiction of the Ku Klux Klan in literature and film, establishing the central thesis regarding the construction of a persistent "Klan myth."
2. History or Fiction: Thomas Dixon’s The Clansman in the Context of Reconstruction: This chapter analyzes Dixon's novel, detailing how it portrays African Americans as threats and justifies the rise of the Klan as a necessary savior of white Southern society.
3. The Birth of a Modern Klan: Dixon’s and Griffith’s Propaganda as a “Midwife to the Rebirth of the Klan”: This section investigates how the romanticized vision of the Klan in The Birth of a Nation acted as a catalyst for the organization's resurgence in the 1920s.
4. Dixon’s The Clansman and Contemporary Klan Literature and Film: This chapter explores how subsequent works, such as Witness and Fire in the Rock, interact with Dixon's original motives, particularly regarding gender roles, religious justification, and small-town dynamics.
5. The Ku Klux Klan in Moving Pictures: The focus here is on the cinematic portrayal of the Klan, comparing the propagandistic intent of early films with the aestheticized, yet arguably heroic, depictions in later works like Mississippi Burning.
6. Conclusion: The conclusion synthesizes the findings, confirming that the persistent "Klan myth" remains deeply embedded in American storytelling, regardless of whether these portrayals are intended to support or critique the organization.
7. Bibliography: This chapter provides a comprehensive list of all primary and secondary sources referenced throughout the thesis.
Keywords
Ku Klux Klan, Thomas Dixon, The Clansman, The Birth of a Nation, Reconstruction, White Supremacy, American Literature, American Film, Gender Roles, Small Town Society, Civil Rights, Propaganda, Racism, Mississippi Burning, Klan Myth.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core subject of this thesis?
The thesis investigates the evolution of the Ku Klux Klan's portrayal in American literature and film, starting from Thomas Dixon's The Clansman to works covering the 1960s.
What are the primary themes explored?
The work explores themes of white supremacy, the societal role of women, the influence of propaganda, and how small-town social structures facilitate or tolerate Klan activity.
What is the author's central research question?
The author asks whether these literary and cinematic works consciously or unconsciously contribute to a "Klan myth" that keeps the organization's perceived power alive in the American consciousness.
Which research methodology is applied?
The research utilizes a cultural and literary analysis, comparing recurring motives and character archetypes across various novels and films within their specific historical contexts.
What does the main body focus on?
The main body breaks down the portrayal of African Americans, the idolization of the Klan as a savior, the domestic restrictions on women, and the specific impact of propaganda on mass audiences.
Which keywords best describe this study?
Key terms include Ku Klux Klan, White Supremacy, Reconstruction, The Birth of a Nation, Propaganda, Small Town Society, and Gender Roles.
How does the author analyze the role of women in these narratives?
The study argues that these narratives often depict women as subservient to "male hegemony," where they are expected to maintain domestic morality and remain within the shadow of their Klan-affiliated husbands.
What conclusion does the author reach regarding the "Klan myth"?
The author concludes that even works intended to be anti-Klan or politically neutral often inadvertently reinforce the image of the Klan as a powerful, insurmountable organization, thereby sustaining the myth.
- Quote paper
- M. A. Alexandra Mohr (Author), 2005, The Ku Klux Klan in American literature and films: From Thomas Dixon’s "The Clansman" to contemporary KKK novels and movies, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/52201
