By Ron Brown
 
April 27, 2009
 
MEDFORD, Ore. - The Ku Klux Klan arrived in Southern Oregon in 1922, at a time when the orchard boom was going bust, drought was producing a water war, and many people were suspicious of government and big business.
 
It appears Medford had one of the first klaverns in the state. While the Klan is usually viewed as a white power organization with a strong anti-Black, anti-Jewish agenda, in Medford, the Klan focused it's attention on fighting crime, alcohol, and the Catholic influence.
 
"It presented itself as an organization of moral reform in some areas. And a lotta' people joined because of that," says Historian Jeff LeLande.
 
"It was the feeling that Catholics owed their loyalty to Rome and not to the Constitution of the United States, and other negative stereotypes like that. And so, it would have outlawed, not just Catholic schools, but any private school," says LeLande.
 
While Klan members hid their identity under white hoods and robes, they marched boldly by the hundreds through Ashland in the fall of 1924, at a time when other communities were losing patience with Klan rhetoric and intimidation.
 
"People were taken out at night. They were kidnapped by masked men and taken out to remote areas and strung up over trees with a rope around their neck. Their feet were lifted off the ground for a few moments. It was a terrifying experience for those individuals," says LeLande.
 
Klamath Falls and Grants Pass also hosted daylight marches by Klan members. Former Gold Hill Resident Wilmer Bailey can remember when the Klan was also active in Gold Hill, with many businessmen secretly joining. Their cross-burnings were a little different than the others.
 
"They just took a plow and made a big cross, and filled it full of sawdust. And they'd go over there, and ever so often, they'd light that up. And that cross would burn," says Bailey.
 
It wasn't long, though, before the Klan wore out its welcome. Medford city officials banned masked parades and scandal among Klan officials at the state and national level led to its demise, until after World War II. However, the Klan in Southern Oregon never did make a comeback.
 
According to 'The Oxford Companion to American History', Ku Klux Klan stems from the Greek word, 'kuklos', from which 'Ku Klux' comes, meaning circle or band. 'Klan' refers to family or tribe, hence, a circle or band tribe or family.