Badge

Ku Klux Klan Klonvocation Badge

This item highlights the way white supremacists deceptively claim to be patriotic.

This Ku Klux Klan badge from an official Klan gathering in Delaware features a red, white, and blue ribbon, along with a photograph of the white supremacist group's then imperial wizard Hiram W. Evans. Text on the ribbon reads "Autumn Klonvocation / Realms of Del. N.J. & L. Penna. / Wilmington, Del. Nov. 1, 1924." Klonvocations were seasonal gatherings of Klan members.

The Ku Klux Klan was founded in 1865 in Tennessee. Started by former Confederate soldiers, its main goal was to perpetuate white supremacy. The original organization was virtually destroyed by 1872 by federal intervention. In 1915, a second Klan was born out of broad efforts to oppose diversity (including anti-Catholic, anti-Jewish, and anti-immigrant positions, in addition to white supremacy). Over three million people in the 1920s claimed membership in the Klan, which reached well into Northern and Western states. This second iteration of the Klan originated the burning of the cross at their rallies. A third Klan emerged in the wake of World War II, fueled by fear of the civil rights movement. The Klan today is less centrally organized but is recognized by the federal government as a "domestic extremist group" and among the white supremacist groups which constitute the "deadliest terror threat" within the U.S.

1924

1900s

Wilmington, Delaware

Ku Klux Klan, White Supremacy, Racism

Ku Klux Klan

Physical dimensions: 1.25"Wx4"L

Physical dimensions: 241x600px

Tin; grosgrain silk ribbon

Delaware Historical Society

https://dehistory.pastperfectonline.com/webobject/383817DB-13CE-427E-8665-428013874030

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Department of Homeland Security 2020 Homeland Threat Assessment

Reasons for Resistance