The Ku Klux Klan has had a history in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

since the early part of the 1920s. The Klan was active in the areas of Trenton and Camden and it also had a presence in several of the state's northern counties in the 1920s. It had the most members in Monmouth County, and operated a resort in Wall Township.

History

Origins to the 1940s

The first local chapter of the KKK in New Jersey was organized in 1921, after units had started in New York and

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. Arthur Hornbui Bell was the state's first

Grand Dragon Ku Klux Klan (KKK) nomenclature has evolved over the order's nearly 160 years of existence. The titles and designations were first laid out in the original Klan's prescripts of 1867 and 1868, then revamped with William J. Simmons's '' Kloran'' of ...

, and continued serving in that post until the Ku Klux Klan was disbanded in 1944. As early as 1922, the New Jersey Klan protested Paterson, New Jersey's honored burial of the

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

priest

William N. McNulty William N. McNulty (1829–1922) was an American Catholic Church, Catholic priest and Dean (Christianity), dean, who arrived in New York City, New York from his native Ballyshannon, Ireland, in 1850, during the Great Famine (Ireland), Great Fam ...

, which closed schools during his funeral. They argued that it was a breach of the U.S. legal doctrine of separation of church and state. Mayor Frank J. Van Noort ordered the honors for the respected dean of a major church. In 1922 George W. Apgar was the King Kleagle, with state headquarters just outside

Newark Newark most commonly refers to: * Newark, New Jersey, city in the United States * Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey; a major air hub in the New York metropolitan area Newark may also refer to: Places Canada * Niagara-on-the ...

. In 1923, the Klan provided funding to the

Pillar of Fire Church The Pillar of Fire International, also known as the Pillar of Fire Church, is a Methodist Christian denomination with headquarters in Zarephath, New Jersey. The Pillar of Fire Church affirms the Methodist Articles of Religion and as of 1988, had ...

to found

Alma White College Alma White College was a Bible college in Zarephath, New Jersey from 1921 to 1978. It was an institution of the Pillar of Fire Church. The academic institution is now succeeded by Pillar College. History In June 1917 an elderly German professor ...

Zarephath, New Jersey Zarephath (, ) is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) and located in Franklin Township, in Somerset County, New Jersey, United States, about north of Princeton.Alma White Alma Bridwell White (June 16, 1862 – June 26, 1946) was the founder and a bishop of the Pillar of Fire Church. In 1918, she became the first woman bishop of Pillar of Fire in the United States. She was a proponent of feminism. She also ass ...

said that the Klan philosophy "will sweep through the intellectual student classes as through the masses of the people." At that time, the Pillar of Fire was publishing the pro-KKK monthly periodical ''

The Good Citizen ''The Good Citizen'' was a sixteen-page monthly political periodical edited by Bishop Alma White and illustrated by Reverend Branford Clarke. ''The Good Citizen'' was published from 1913 until 1933 by the Pillar of Fire Church at their hea ...

''. On May 3, 1923, around 12,000 people attended a Klan meeting in Bound Brook, New Jersey. The speakers held a meeting at the Pillar of Fire headquarters in nearby

Zarephath Zarephath may refer to the following : ; Places * Alternative name for Ancient Phoenician city Sarepta, now Sarafand, Lebanon * Zarephath, New Jersey in the United States ;Other * Raising of the son of the widow of Zarephath * Zarephath Wines ...

where a crowd of angry locals surrounded the church to let them know that they were not welcome. On May 10, 1923 the Klan assaulted a boy, accusing him of stealing $50 from his mother, Bessie Titus, in

West Belmar, New Jersey West Belmar is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) within Wall Township, in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States.Farmingdale, New Jersey Farmingdale is a borough in Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 1,329,Arthur Hornbui Bell opened the meeting before introducing the principal speaker, dubbed Colonel Sherman of Atlanta, Georgia. Several inductees from

Keyport, New Jersey Keyport is a borough in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. At the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 7,240,Alma White Alma Bridwell White (June 16, 1862 – June 26, 1946) was the founder and a bishop of the Pillar of Fire Church. In 1918, she became the first woman bishop of Pillar of Fire in the United States. She was a proponent of feminism. She also ass ...

published '' The Ku Klux Klan in Prophecy'' in

at the

printing press. She writes: "The unrepentant

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

is everywhere among us today as the strong ally of Roman Catholicism. ... To think of our Hebrew friends with their millions in gold and silver aiding the

Pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

in his aspirations for world supremacy, is almost beyond the grasp of ... The Jews in New York City openly boast that they have the money and Rome the power, and that if they decide to rule the city and state, ..." In 1926, Arthur Hornbui Bell headed a group that converted the former

Marconi Station A list of early wireless telegraphy radio stations of the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Co. Guglielmo Marconi developed the first practical radio transmitters and receivers between 1895 and 1901. His company, the Marconi Wireless Telegraph ...

in Wall Township into a Klan resort. (The property was subsequently acquired by The King's College, a divinity school, and later became

Camp Evans Camp Evans Historic District is an area of the Camp Evans Formerly Used Defense Site in Wall Township, New Jersey. The site of the military installation () is noted for a 1914 transatlantic radio receiver and various World War II/Cold War labo ...

.). The resort was open only to officials and members of the New Jersey Realm of the Klan. In May 1926, birth control advocate and Planned Parenthood progenitor Margaret Sanger once spoke to a meeting of the women's chapter of the Klan in Silver Lake, New Jersey. Sanger wrote in her 1938 autobiography that the speech was "one of the weirdest experiences I had in lecturing." The New Jersey Ku Klux Klan held a Fourth of July celebration from July 3–5, 1926, in Long Branch, New Jersey, that featured a "Miss 100% America" pageant. In 1926 Alma White published '' Klansmen: Guardians of Liberty''. She writes: "I believe in

white supremacy White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White s ...

." In 1928, Alma White published '' Heroes of the Fiery Cross''. She wrote: "The Jews are as unrelenting now as they were two thousand years ago." In 1940,

James A. Colescott James Arnold Colescott (January 11, 1897 – January 11, 1950) was an American white supremacist who was Imperial Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. Under financial pressure from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for back taxes, he di ...

had Bell removed as head of the Klan in New Jersey. Bell was also vice president of the

German American Bund The German American Bund, or the German American Federation (german: Amerikadeutscher Bund; Amerikadeutscher Volksbund, AV), was a German-American Nazi organization which was established in 1936 as a successor to the Friends of New Germany (FoN ...

. Bell's ouster was ordered after he arranged a joint meeting between the Klan and the

at the Bund's

Camp Nordlund Camp Nordland was a resort facility located in Andover Township, New Jersey. From 1937 to 1941, this site was owned and operated by the German American Bund, which sympathized with and propagandized for Nazi Germany in the United States. This re ...

, near

Andover, New Jersey Andover is a borough in Sussex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the borough's population was 595, down slightly from 606 in the 2010 census,Guardians of Liberty Guardians of Liberty is a three volume set of books published in 1943 by Bishop Alma Bridwell White, author of over 35 books and founder of the Pillar of Fire Church. Guardians of Liberty is primarily devoted to summarizing White's vehement anti- ...

''. By 1944, the national organization was closed by a

tax lien A tax lien is a lien which is imposed upon a property by law in order to secure the payment of taxes. A tax lien may be imposed for the purpose of collecting delinquent taxes which are owed on real property or personal property, or it may be ...

which was imposed by the Internal Revenue Service. Local chapters closed during the following years.

Attempts to Revive the KKK

As white supremacists responded to America’s 1960s civil rights movement, notably the Civil Rights Act of 1964, their backlash included an attempt by the New Jersey KKK to restore the group as a publicly visible organization. The New Jersey klan’s “king kleagle,” Frank W. Rotella, Jr, and other Klan leaders simultaneously headed a National States Rights Party that sought a political role in New Jersey and other states as a way of reviving the Klan. A 1967 study by Congress’ House Un-American Activities Committee included New Jersey among 18 states (seven of them in the Middle Atlantic or Great Lakes regions) where the

United Klans of America The United Klans of America Inc. (UKA), based in Alabama, is a Ku Klux Klan organization active in the United States. Led by Robert Shelton, the UKA peaked in membership in the late 1960s and 1970s,Abby Ferber. '' White Man Falling: Race, Gender, ...

maintained operations. Much of the Klan’s revival attempt focused on rural, southern New Jersey, in Salem and Cumberland counties. Police in Bridgeton arrested Rotella and five other men in 1966 as they burned a cross and sought to hold a Klan rally in defiance of a court injunction obtained by state authorities. In December 1966, white supremacists in adjacent

Salem County Salem County is the westernmost county in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Its western boundary is formed by the Delaware River and its eastern terminus is the Delaware Memorial Bridge, which connects the county with New Castle, Delaware. Its cou ...

began a campaign of 20 cross burnings, many of them targeting black churches and neighborhoods. In notes left at the crosses, and in fliers posted in Salem, the group claimed the actions in the name of the “White Crusaders,” the label used at the time by a prominent Mississippi KKK unit. In 1967, Rotella, having declared to news media his resignation from the KKK leadership, applied unsuccessfully to hold a rally and cross burning in Salem. The Salem County cross burnings prompted New Jersey’s legislature to pass a law banning cross burnings in the state—and the burnings subsided after protest marches by hundreds of black residents led local officials to arrest two local men. In 1980, the Klan began holding rallies in New Jersey once again. Emboldened by the 1980 Selma-to-Montgomery "cleansing march" in Alabama, they held rallies carrying out another recruiting drive.

People

* Arthur Hornbui Bell was the

. *

Alma White Alma Bridwell White (June 16, 1862 – June 26, 1946) was the founder and a bishop of the Pillar of Fire Church. In 1918, she became the first woman bishop of Pillar of Fire in the United States. She was a proponent of feminism. She also ass ...

was a local preacher who supported the Klan in her publications and sermons. *

Alton Milford Young Alton Milford Young (May 24, 1884 – July 16, 1950) was the Grand or Imperial Kaliff and the Imperial Kludd of the Ku Klux Klan in New Jersey. The Imperial Kludd is the chaplain of the Imperial Klonvokation and he performs "such other duties as ...

, a minister and ''Grand Kaliff''. *

George W. Apgar George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presiden ...

was the King Kleagle.

References and notes

External links

*https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/04/books/review/linda-gordon-the-second-coming-of-the-kkk.html *http://www.jhalpin.com/anonymous/mehs/MetuchenKlan.pdf *https://archive.centraljersey.com/2006/03/22/ku-klux-klan-was-active-in-boro-in-1920s/ {{Ku Klux Klan Ku Klux Klan Zarephath, New Jersey

Anti-Catholicism in the United States History of racism in New Jersey