Hooded Knights on the Niagara: The Ku Klux Klan in Buffalo, New York

by Shawn Lay

Overview

They came in the dead of night, marking the homes and businesses of their enemies with crude symbols and dire warnings. They plotted against those of other religious faiths and circulated secret lists of alleged traitors to the community and nation. They mailed anonymous threats to those who refused to be intimidated into silence, all the while claiming that they were the true champions of American justice and freedom. The above may seem an accurate description of the sinister activities that distinguished the Ku Klux Klan in the early twentieth century, but in Buffalo, New York, and, in fact, throughout much of the northeastern United States, such activities were as characteristic of the Klan's opponents as of the hooded order itself. While the revived Klan of the 1920s— the largest and most influential manifestation of organized intolerance in American history—proceeded with relative impunity in many locales, it encountered a very different situation in Buffalo where powerful enemies opposed the organization at every turn.
Shawn Lay here provides a riveting portrayal of how the Klan established itself in Buffalo. Most chillingly, he explains how otherwise ordinary, well-established citizens, caught up in a complex set of circumstances, were persuaded to join a notorious secret society that pandered to the darkest impulses in American society.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780814751015
Publisher:	New York University Press
Publication date:	07/01/1995
Pages:	214
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

The award-winning author and editor of two previous books on the Ku Klux Klan, Shawn Lay teaches history at the University of Georgia.

What People are Saying About This

Larry R. Gerlach

Larry R. Gerlach, author of Blazing Crosses in Zion: The Ku Klux Klan in Utah
A welcome complement to recent work on the Klan in the South West and Midwest. Making full use of rare documentation…Lay's is the most detailed and comprehensive account to date of the operation of a local klavern and the socioeconomic composition of its rank and file. This beautifully written, exhaustively researched, and even-handed study of the KKK in Buffalo is a model for future Klan scholarship.

From the Publisher

"A welcome complement to recent work on the Klan in the South, West, and Midwest. This beautifully written, exhaustively researched, and even-handed study of the KKK in Buffalo is a model for future Klan scholarship."

-Larry R. Gerlach,author of Blazing Crosses in Zion: The Ku Klux Klan in Utah

"A first-rate study by one of the leading members of the new generation of scholars of the Ku Klux Klan. Lay offers the first look beneath the hood and robe of the Invisible Empire in a northeastern stronghold."

-Robert A. Goldberg,author of Hooded Empire: The Ku Klux Klan in Colorado

Dewey W. Grantham

Dewey W. Grantham, McTyeire Professor of History Emeritus, Vanderbilt University
A notable case study of the second Ku Klux Klan in a northern industrial city. Shawn Lay illuminates the origins and activities of the Buffalo Klan, the social and political context in which it operated, and the character of its membership. The book contributes to the current reevaluation of the KKK and to the scholarly literature on the 1920s.

Robert A. Goldberg

Robert A. Goldberg, author of Hooded Empire: The Ku Klux Klan in Colorado
A first-rate study by one of the leading members of the new generation of scholars of the Ku Klux Klan. Lay offers the first look beneath the hood and robe of the Invisible Empire in a Northeastern stronghold.

Editorial Reviews

"A first-rate study by one of the leading members of the new generation of scholars of the Ku Klux Klan. Lay offers the first look beneath the hood and robe of the Invisible Empire in a northeastern stronghold."

Robert A. Goldberg

"A welcome complement to recent work on the Klan in the South, West, and Midwest. This beautifully written, exhaustively researched, and even-handed study of the KKK in Buffalo is a model for future Klan scholarship."

Larry R. Gerlach

”A first-rate study by one of the leading members of the new generation of scholars of the Ku Klux Klan. Lay offers the first look beneath the hood and robe of the Invisible Empire in a northeastern stronghold.”

-Robert A. Goldberg,author of Hooded Empire: The Ku Klux Klan in Colorado

”A welcome complement to recent work on the Klan in the South, West, and Midwest. This beautifully written, exhaustively researched, and even-handed study of the KKK in Buffalo is a model for future Klan scholarship.”

-Larry R. Gerlach,author of Blazing Crosses in Zion: The Ku Klux Klan in Utah

From the Publisher