Guardians of Liberty

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Guardians of Liberty
Guardianscover.jpg
Author Alma Bridwell White
Illustrator Branford Clarke
Subject Anti-Catholicism, Ku Klux Klan, White Supremacy, Antisemitism
Publisher Pillar of Fire Church
Publication date
1943
Pages139, 139, ukn.

Guardians of Liberty is a three volume set of books published in 1943 by Bishop Alma Bridwell White, author of over 35 books and founder of the Pillar of Fire Church. Guardians of Liberty is primarily devoted to summarizing White's vehement anti-Catholicism under the guise of patriotism. White also defends her historical support of and association with the Ku Klux Klan while significantly but not completely distancing herself from the Klan. Each of the three volumes corresponds to one of the three books White published in the 1920s promoting the Ku Klux Klan and her political views which in addition to anti-Catholicism also included nativism, anti-Semitism and white supremacy. In Guardians of Liberty, White removed most, but not all of the direct references to the Klan that had existed in her three 1920s books, both in the text and in the illustrations. In Volumes I and II, she removed most of the nativist, anti-Semitic and white supremacist ideology that had appeared in her predecessor books. However, in Guardians Volume III, she did retain edited versions of chapters promoting nativism, anti-Semitism and white supremacy.

Contents

Like their predecessor books, each of the volumes is primarily a compendium of essays and sermons written by White and of illustrations by Reverend Branford Clarke. Most of the text and illustrations had originally been published in the pro-Ku Klux Klan political periodical The Good Citizen , one of the numerous periodicals published by the Pillar of Fire Church at their communal headquarters in Zarephath, New Jersey. The Pillar of Fire ceased publication of The Good Citizen in 1933. Guardians was published when White was 81 years old, three years before her death, and one year before the second Ku Klux Klan declared bankruptcy.

Volume I

Volume one of Guardians of Liberty was an edited reprint of White's 1925 book The Ku Klux Klan in Prophecy. Of the 13 chapters in Guardians Vol. I, 7 are edited chapters from KKK in Prophecy, and one chapter is from Heroes of the Fiery Cross (1928). [1]

An additional chapter, Rome’s Political Defeat defends the Pillar of Fire Church and its members' role in two violent incidents that occurred near Zarephath, New Jersey, the church's headquarters.

It is devoted nearly entirely to promoting White's deeply held fears and hatred of the Roman Catholic Church and of Roman Catholic individuals. Most of the material promoting anti-Semitism, racism, and white supremacy that had originally been published in KKK in Prophecy was omitted in Guardians Vol. I, although some more-subtle reference were still included. Furthermore, most but not all of the references to the Ku Klux Klan were either removed or substituted with the following euphemisms: Patriots, Patriots in White Robes, Our Patriots, Our American Patriots, 100-Per Cent Americans, A Great Patriotic Organization, Invisible Empire, Freedom, Liberty, The Star of Hope, and Our Guardians of Liberty. Two illustrations with Klan images were retained and included in Guardians Vol. 1.

Volume II

Volume two of Guardians of Liberty contains fifteen chapters, thirteen are from Klansmen: Guardians of Liberty and one from The Ku Klux Klan in Prophecy . [1]

Further reading

See also

Related Research Articles

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The Ku Klux Klan, commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and Catholics, as well as immigrants, leftists, homosexuals, Muslims, atheists, and abortion providers.

Ku Klux Klan auxiliaries are organized groups that supplement, but do not directly integrate with the Ku Klux Klan. These auxiliaries include: Women of the Ku Klux Klan, The Jr. Ku Klux Klan, The Tri-K Girls, the American Crusaders, The Royal Riders of the Red Robe, The Ku Klux balla, and the Klan's Colored Man auxiliary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zarephath, New Jersey</span> Census-designated place in New Jersey, United States

Zarephath is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) and located in Franklin Township, in Somerset County, New Jersey, United States, about 15 mi (24 km) north of Princeton. As of the 2010 United States Census, Zarephath's population was 37.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alma Bridwell White</span> Founder of the Pillar of Fire Church

Alma Bridwell White was the founder and a bishop of the Pillar of Fire Church. In 1918, she became the first woman bishop of Pillar of Fire in the United States. She was a proponent of feminism. She also associated herself with the Ku Klux Klan and was involved in anti-Catholicism, antisemitism, anti-Pentecostalism, racism, and hostility to immigrants. By the time of her death at age 84, she had expanded the sect to "4,000 followers, 61 churches, seven schools, ten periodicals and two broadcasting stations."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arthur Kent White</span>

Arthur Kent White was a bishop, and the general superintendent of the Pillar of Fire Church in Zarephath, New Jersey, and the president of Belleview College. The church was started by his mother, Alma Bridwell White, in Denver, Colorado.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pillar of Fire International</span>

The Pillar of Fire International, also known as the Pillar of Fire Church, is a Methodist Christian denomination with headquarters in Zarephath, New Jersey. The Pillar of Fire Church affirms the Methodist Articles of Religion and as of 1988, had 76 congregations around the world, including the United States, as well as "Great Britain, India, Liberia, Malawi, Nigeria, the Philippines, Spain, and former Yugoslavia."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alma White College</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women of the Ku Klux Klan</span> Branch of the US Ku Klux Klan

Women of the Ku Klux Klan (WKKK), also known as Women's Ku Klux Klan, and Ladies of the Invisible Empire, held to many of the same political and social ideas of the KKK but functioned as a separate branch of the national organization with their own actions and ideas. While most women focused on the moral, civic, and educational agendas of the Klan, they also had considerable involvement in issues of race, class, ethnicity, gender, and religion. The women of the WKKK fought for educational and social reforms like other Progressive reformers but with extreme racism and intolerance. Particularly prominent in the 1920s, the WKKK existed in every state, but their strongest chapters were in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, and Arkansas. White, native-born, Protestant women over age 18 were allowed to join the Klan. Women of the Klan differed from Klansmen primarily in their political agenda to incorporate racism, nationalism, traditional morality, and religious intolerance into everyday life through mostly non-violent tactics.

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<i>Heroes of the Fiery Cross</i> 1928 nonfiction book by white supremacist Alma Bridwell White

Heroes of the Fiery Cross is a book in praise of the Ku Klux Klan, published in 1928 by Protestant Bishop Alma Bridwell White, in which she "sounds the alarm about imagined threats to Protestant Americans from Catholics and Jews", according to author Peter Knight. In the book she asks rhetorically, "Who are the enemies of the Klan? They are the bootleggers, law-breakers, corrupt politicians, weak-kneed Protestant church members, white slavers, toe-kissers, wafer-worshippers, and every spineless character who takes the path of least resistance." She also argues that Catholics are removing the Bible from public schools. Another topic is her anti-Catholic stance towards the United States presidential election of 1928, in which Catholic Al Smith was running for president.

<i>The Good Citizen</i> Monthly anti-Catholic political periodical

The Good Citizen was a sixteen-page monthly political periodical edited by Bishop Alma White and illustrated by Reverend Branford Clarke. The Good Citizen was published from 1913 until 1933 by the Pillar of Fire Church at their headquarters in Zarephath, New Jersey in the United States. White used the publication to expose "political Romanism in its efforts to gain the ascendancy in the U.S."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samuel Green (Klansman)</span> American Ku Klux Klan member

Samuel Green was a Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in the late 1940s, organizing its third and final reformation in 1946.

<i>The Ku Klux Klan in Prophecy</i> Book by Alma Bridwell White

The Ku Klux Klan in Prophecy is a 144-page book written by Bishop Alma Bridwell White in 1925 and illustrated by Reverend Branford Clarke. In the book she uses scripture to rationalize that the Ku Klux Klan is sanctioned by God "through divine illumination and prophetic vision". She also believed that the Apostles and the Good Samaritan were members of the Klan. The book was published by the Pillar of Fire Church, which she founded, at their press in Zarephath, New Jersey. The book sold over 45,000 copies.

<i>Klansmen: Guardians of Liberty</i> Book by Alma Bridwell White

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. 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. 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." 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Branford Clarke</span> American evangelical preacher

Branford Edward Clarke was an Evangelical preacher, poet and artist who promoted the Ku Klux Klan through his art which was drawn for the Pillar of Fire Church and their publications.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the Ku Klux Klan in New Jersey</span>

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Known as the Crann Tara in Gaelic, the burning cross represented a signal fire, a method of communication among the clans and the rallying symbol of ancient Scotland and of the Highlanders in times of war.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ku Klux Klan in Canada</span> Canadian extension of American white supremacist group

The Ku Klux Klan is an organization that expanded operations into Canada, based on the second Ku Klux Klan established in the United States in 1915. It operated as a fraternity, with chapters established in parts of Canada throughout the 1920s and early 1930s. The first registered provincial chapter was registered in Toronto in 1925 by two Americans and a Torontonian. The organization was most successful in Saskatchewan, where it briefly influenced political activity and whose membership included a member of Parliament, Walter Davy Cowan.

Clansman, clansmen, Klansman, klansmen, or variations, may refer to:

References

  1. 1 2 Susie Cunningham Stanley (1993). Feminist Pillar of Fire: The Life of Alma White. The Pilgrim Press. ISBN   0-8298-0950-3. Seven chapters from The Ku Klux Klan in Prophecy and one from Heroes of the Fiery Cross are reprinted in volume 1 of Guardians of Liberty. ... 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. ...