The Oregon of today is far different from the Oregon of the past; while today’s Oregon is progressive thinking and much more open to people of all kinds, it has definitely not always been that way. Prejudice and racism have been a steadfast piece of Oregonian culture since before Oregon was even a state; from the language used in the provisional legislature, which banned permanent residency of people of color, to the territorial draft constitution, it was obvious that, according to the residents, Oregon was meant to be a white man’s protestant state. The state’s feelings of animosity towards people of color and the aversion to anybody different were the precise reasons that the Ku Klux Klan was so easily able to find a foothold in Oregon during
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The first Oregon Klansman was sworn in by Kleagle Maj. Luther I. Powell in Medford and his fellow Kleagles recruited in Portland, Eugene, Salem, Astoria, Hood River, and Pendleton along with several other communities. They spread rapidly through the state, and in just three years it was claimed that there were around 35,000 members in the Oregon Klan in over sixty local chapters and provisional Klans throughout the state.
The Klan needed to be big if it wanted to have any kind of power in the state; the organization wanted as many members as possible which caused it to allow more than just men to join their ranks. Hundreds more Oregonians were able to join when the Klan created the Women of the Ku Klux Klan, the Junior Order of Klansmen for teenagers, and the Royal Riders of the Red Robe for foreign-born Protestants. Within a very short time, the Klan had been turned into a formidable and contentious political …show more content…
Some people agreed with the Klan 's agenda but did not wish to join and some people just declined to challenge it. While most people were either neutral or agreed with the Klan, some people actively went against it, including some religious denominations, social and fraternal organizations, minority groups and even a few politicians including Republican Governor Ben Olcott. A few newspapers and magazines like the Medford Tribune, the Salem Capital Journal, the Hood River News, and more even composed editorials against the Klan, but most remained neutral or supported
The first Oregon Klansman was sworn in by Kleagle Maj. Luther I. Powell in Medford and his fellow Kleagles recruited in Portland, Eugene, Salem, Astoria, Hood River, and Pendleton along with several other communities. They spread rapidly through the state, and in just three years it was claimed that there were around 35,000 members in the Oregon Klan in over sixty local chapters and provisional Klans throughout the state.
The Klan needed to be big if it wanted to have any kind of power in the state; the organization wanted as many members as possible which caused it to allow more than just men to join their ranks. Hundreds more Oregonians were able to join when the Klan created the Women of the Ku Klux Klan, the Junior Order of Klansmen for teenagers, and the Royal Riders of the Red Robe for foreign-born Protestants. Within a very short time, the Klan had been turned into a formidable and contentious political …show more content…
Some people agreed with the Klan 's agenda but did not wish to join and some people just declined to challenge it. While most people were either neutral or agreed with the Klan, some people actively went against it, including some religious denominations, social and fraternal organizations, minority groups and even a few politicians including Republican Governor Ben Olcott. A few newspapers and magazines like the Medford Tribune, the Salem Capital Journal, the Hood River News, and more even composed editorials against the Klan, but most remained neutral or supported