Klansmen: Guardians of Liberty

Klansmen: Guardians of Liberty was a book published by the Pillar of Fire Church in 1926 by Bishop Alma Bridwell White and illustrated by Branford Clarke.[1] She claims that the Founding Fathers of the United States were members of the Ku Klux Klan, and that Paul Revere made his legendary ride in Klan hood and robes.[2] She said: "Jews are everywhere a separate and distinct people, living apart from the great Gentile masses ... they are not home builders or tillers of the soil."[3][4] Her book, which contains many anti-Catholic themes, became popular during the United States presidential election of 1928 when Al Smith was the first Catholic presidential candidate from a major party.[5]

Klansmen: Guardians of Liberty
AuthorAlma Bridwell White
IllustratorBranford Clarke
SubjectAnti-Catholicism, antisemitism, nativism and white supremacy
PublisherPillar of Fire Church
Publication date
1926
Pages174
Preceded byThe Ku Klux Klan in Prophecy (1925) 
Followed byHeroes of the Fiery Cross (1928) 
Alternative cover

History

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White authored over 35 books and founded the Pillar of Fire Church, where she made herself a bishop.[6]

This book primarily espouses White's anti-Catholicism, while it also promotes antisemitism, racism, white supremacy and women's equality. Guardians is a compendium of essays and sermons by White and illustrations by Clarke that were originally published in her pro-KKK political periodical The Good Citizen, one of the numerous periodicals published by her Pillar of Fire Church at their communal headquarters in Zarephath, New Jersey.

The book contains an introduction by Arthur H. Bell, the Grand Dragon of the New Jersey Ku Klux Klan.[7] It is the second of three books White published to promote the KKK. The other two books were 1926's The Ku Klux Klan in Prophecy, and 1928's Heroes of the Fiery Cross. White republished her Klan books as a three volume set in 1943, three years before her death and 21 years after her initial association with the Klan, under the title Guardians of Liberty.[8]

The contents included essays entitled The Hebrew Rock, Klansmen of the Revolution, Rome's Idolatrous Shrines and Papal Prisons in America.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b Alma White (1926). Klansmen: Guardians of Liberty. Pillar of Fire Church. ISBN 9781425490003.
  2. ^ Mark Moran and Mark Sceurman (2003). Hate in the Garden State. Weird New Jersey. ISBN 9780760739792. Retrieved 2010-01-10. In Klansmen: Guardians of Liberty, she claimed that the founding fathers of the United States were full-fledged members of the KKK and that Paul Revere made ...
  3. ^ David Harry Bennett (1988). The party of fear: from nativist movements to the New Right in American history. University of North Carolina Press. p. 216. ISBN 0-8078-1772-4. 'Jews are everywhere a separate and distinct people, living apart from the great Gentile masses,' said the author of Klansmen: Guardians of Liberty. ...
  4. ^ Larry Madaras and James M. SoRelle (1993). Taking Sides: Reconstruction to the present. ISBN 1-56134-122-3. ... apart from the great Gentile masses," said the author of Klansmen: Guardians of Liberty. But these people are not "home builders or tillers of the soil. ...
  5. ^ Arnold S. Rice (1962). The Ku Klux Klan in American politics. Public Affairs Press. p. 88. In her book, Klansmen: Guardians of Liberty, which although written in 1926, enjoyed a wide circulation among Knights during the 1928 presidential race, ...
  6. ^ "Bishop Alma White, Preacher, Author; Founder Of Pillar Of Fire Dies at 84. Established Several Schools And Colleges". Associated Press in New York Times. June 27, 1946. Retrieved 2007-07-21. Bishop Alma White, founder of the Pillar of Fire Church and author of thirty-five religious tracts and some 200 hymns, died here today at the headquarters of the religious group at near-by Zarephath. Her age was 84.
  7. ^ Dorothy Marie Brown (1987). Setting a course: American women in the 1920s. Twayne. p. 185. ISBN 0-8057-9906-0. One year later her Klansmen: Guardians of Liberty began with an introduction by the Grand Dragon, Realm of New Jersey, and the assertion that she was ...
  8. ^ Susie Cunningham Stanley (1993). Feminist Pillar of Fire: The Life of Alma White. The Pilgrim Press. ISBN 0-8298-0950-3. Volume 2 of Guardians of Liberty consists of fifteen chapters, thirteen from Klansmen: Guardians of Liberty and one from The Ku Klux Klan in Prophecy. ...

Further reading

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