Masons, Klansmen and Kansas in the 1920s

What Can They Tell Us About Fraternity?

Abstract

Based on archive examination in the Grand Lodge of Topeka, this paper seeks to examine the connection between masonry and the Klan at the peak of the Klan’s expansion in the 1920s. What emerges is a tangled relationship. While the Klan recruited strongly from among masons in these years: while it got support from masons—financially, in the courts and in local politics—some leading masons were among the most outspoken and effective of anti-Klan activists in this and other States. In spite of these high profile exceptions, it appears that the relationship was essentially predicated on individual conscience. What it shows is that this is a fruitful area for further research in this divided decade in other regions of America.