In Indiana County there are Black people who remembered attending KKK picnics.  I have a photo of my grandfather as a child and his brother holding banners.  It was marketed as pro-American to a lot of rural people who has little if any exposure to Blacks.  Which at that time meant anti-Catholic and anti-foreigner.  They burned a cross on my great grandfather's farm.  He was none of those things but a violent man (and probably someone who drank too much) who beat his wife and children.  It became a means of social control more than anything else in its heyday before it went underground.  All the important people at the courthouse were members.  More like a pro-American social club more than the visions we have of it from the South.  And the issues were mostly around labor - particularly mining in that area. --- On Tue, 11/8/11, Mary Hoffherr <[email protected]> wrote: From: Mary Hoffherr <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [PACAMBRI] KKK Stories To: [email protected], [email protected] Date: Tuesday, November 8, 2011, 12:21 PM If I may....the first KKK flourished originally to hassle the ex-slaves in TN. It died out in the early 1870's. In the mid 1920's it was directed at Catholics and Jews (or anyone who disagreed with them). The irony of it many blacks (in the north) became members of the KKK it was directed at Jews and Catholics. As for not teaching this in schools it is my belief this is a big problem of "selective" history in our schools. It is shameful that our younger generations have no idea of what their country history is about. i.e. The movie "The Gangs of New York" was a portion of our history that was "deleted" from the winning side of The War Between the States. When Lincoln "freed" the slaves there was a huge desertion of Union troops because they were fighting to save the union and not free the slaves. Thousands went home, so to fill the ranks of the union army many immigrants who came off the ships were offered money to fight a war they knew nothing about but it gave them money to support their families. -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of [email protected] Sent: Tuesday, November 08, 2011 10:08 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [PACAMBRI] KKK Stories I know that I can always depend on the Cambria list for help and info  concerning general genealogy and history questions and answers. So I can assume in the 1930 census, neg, nig, was in reference to  negro  when printed in the column for race? All the stories and info is very interesting. Thank you for sharing.  I am continuing to search for my friend to see if I can come up with any  newspaper articles about the KKK and cross burnings in the Lehigh County PA area.  Part of my family was Polish Catholic in Johnstown, and they survived  there.  I am sorry to hear that the KKK drove some people out of the  area. For me, I live in Chester County PA  and it was very active with  KKK.  In fact, the largest KKK clan on the East coast was located in  Chester County about 3 miles from where I live.  During the 20's and  30's there was a presence of KKK in a parade in our county seat just a few years ago.  so they are still out there and very active. Interesting fact not taught in school and most people do not know  this. The KKK originally organized due to its opposition to the Catholic  church. As time went on it included the discrimination towards blacks,  Jews, etc. I have copies of original KKK brochures that were printed in the 1930's and they talk about the opposition to the Catholic church.  A friend of mine  found them in the rafters of her house and I was able to make copies. Sharon - - - - - - - - - - Search for more Cambria County information on our webpage: http://www.camgenpa.com/ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message - - - - - - - - - - Search for more Cambria County information on our webpage: http://www.camgenpa.com/ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message