Did You Know?

Did you know nearly twenty percent of Mainers were members of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) in the mid-1920s?

According to C. Stewart Doty, professor emeritus of history at the University of Maine, the KKK reached its membership peak (150,141 members) in Maine in 1925, while the U.S. Census Bureau reports from 1920 indicate there were 768,041 residents living in the Pine Tree State. Also, in his essay "How Many Frenchmen Does It Take To...," Doty writes about the KKK's membership base and targets in the northeast:

In New England, the Klan appealed to Protestant
clergy, businessmen, members of the Masons and Odd Fellows, and farmers.
Unlike in the American South, the Klan's target in New England was French
Catholics and Jews.

- John C.L. Morgan

P.S. The Maine Historical Society has an online collection of KKK paraphernalia, including photos of the KKK marching on the streets of various Maine towns and cities.