THE KU KLUX KLAN IN OREGON: 1920-1923

Ku Klux Klan Parade Albany, Oregon

Source: Oregon Historical Society Neg. #52782 OHS

ABOUT THE FILM:

PORTLAND - Frame by Frame Productions is proud to announce a new documentary from Producer/Director Thomas Coulter titled, The Ku Klux Klan in Oregon: 1920-1923. The film, debuting at the Astoria International Film Festival in October 2009, covers the brief period when the Klan influenced politics in the State as their membership grew to more than 5,000 members from Tillamook to La Grande.

The documentary covers the history of the Klan from its start after the Civil War to their activities in the early 20th Century. For instance, in the early 1920s certain members of the Klan, called Kleagles, were dispatched to all states in the Union to drum up support for their organization outside of their stronghold in the south. What the Klan organizers found when the Kleagles arrived in Oregon and the Pacific Northwest were near perfect social conditions to recruit new members, especially during an atmosphere of nativist feelings was engulfing the nation after World War I.

The Ku Klux Klan in Oregon: 1920-1923 covers the eventual demise of the Klan, its aftermath and explains the reasons why the group could not maintain their organizational leadership and power over local businesses and politics.

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