The Ku Klux Klan, commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is the name of several historical and current American white supremacist, far-right terrorist organizations and hate groups. Various commentators, including Fergus Bordewich, have characterized the Klan as America's first terrorist group. Their primary targets, at various times and places, have been African Americans, Jews, and Catholics.
Tazewell County is located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2020 census, it had a population of 131,343. Its county seat and largest city is Pekin. It is pronounced with a short "a", to rhyme with "razz" rather than "raze."
Pekin is a city in and the county seat of Tazewell County in the U.S. state of Illinois. Located on the Illinois River, Pekin is the largest city of Tazewell County and the second most populous municipality of the Peoria metropolitan area, after Peoria itself. As of the 2020 census, its population is 31,731. A small portion of the city limits extend into Peoria County. It is a suburb of Peoria and is part of the Peoria Metropolitan Statistical Area.
East Peoria is a city in Tazewell County, Illinois, United States. The population was 22,484 at the 2020 census. East Peoria is part of the Peoria, Illinois Metropolitan Statistical Area, located across the Illinois River from downtown Peoria. It is home to many Caterpillar Inc. facilities.
South Pekin is a village in Tazewell County, Illinois, United States. The population was 996 at the 2020 census and is part of the Peoria, Illinois Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Tremont is a village in Tazewell County, Illinois, United States. The population was 2,277 at the 2020 census. Tremont is located 14 miles southeast of Peoria.
David Curtis "Steve" Stephenson was an American Ku Klux Klan leader, convicted rapist and murderer. In 1923 he was appointed Grand Dragon of the Indiana Klan and head of Klan recruiting for seven other states. Later that year, he led those groups to independence from the national KKK organization. Amassing wealth and political power in Indiana politics, he was one of the most prominent national Klan leaders. He had close relationships with numerous Indiana politicians, especially Governor Edward L. Jackson.
This is a partial list of notable historical figures in U.S. national politics who were members of the Ku Klux Klan before taking office. Membership of the Klan is secret. Political opponents sometimes allege that a person was a member of the Klan, or was supported at the polls by Klan members.
Peoria Lake, sometimes called Lower Peoria Lake, is a section of the Illinois River between Peoria in Peoria County, Illinois and East Peoria in Tazewell County, Illinois. The oldest section of Peoria, the largest city on the river, lies at its shores. From a modern perspective, the lake runs from just south of the McClugage Bridge to the Murray Baker Bridge. The larger Upper Peoria Lake flows into the lake on its north side, at approximately river mile 166.5.
The history of Peoria, Illinois began when French explorers constructed Fort Crevecoeur in 1680. The County of Peoria was organized in 1825, the town in 1835, and Peoria was incorporated as a city in 1845. During the Industrial Revolution, coal mining, steamboat, and railroad businesses flourished in Peoria. Until Prohibition took effect in 1920, Peoria was known as the “Whiskey Capital of the World” and produced more rye whiskey than anywhere else in the world at the time. The "whiskey barons" contributed to the infrastructure of Peoria, building mansions, parks, churches, schools, and other historic buildings. Manufacturing has been a key industry in Peoria for over 150 years, including bicycles, automobiles, Caterpillar machines, washing machines, and barbed wire. During World War II, Peoria's USDA lab made strides in the commercial production of penicillin. Today Peoria is a mid-sized city supported by industries such manufacturing and healthcare, as well as small businesses and a growing arts and culture scene.
Although the Ku Klux Klan is most often associated with white supremacy, the revived Klan of the 1920s was also anti-Catholic. In the U.S. state of Maine, with a small African-American population but a burgeoning number of Acadian, French-Canadian and Irish immigrants, the Klan revival of the 1920s was a Protestant nativist movement directed against the Catholic minority as well as African-Americans. For a period in the mid-1920s, the Klan captured elements of the Maine Republican Party, even helping to elect a governor, Ralph Owen Brewster.
The Columbia, sometimes called the Steamer Columbia, was a paddle steamer excursion boat on which 87 people died, on the Illinois River on July 5, 1918, across from Creve Coeur, between Peoria and Pekin, Illinois.
The Old Post Office, also known as the former Pekin Federal Building, is a historic building in Pekin, Illinois. Built in 1906, the building held Pekin's U.S. government offices; the first floor served as the city's main post office, while the second floor held various offices, including a Department of the Treasury office and an Army recruitment office. Supervising Architect James Knox Taylor designed the building in the Renaissance Revival style, in keeping with the tradition of using classical styles for federal buildings. The building's design features a red brick exterior with a limestone base and quoins; fanlights and keystones above the first-floor windows; and a limestone cornice with a parapet wall and a cartouche above the main entrance.
Pekin Community High School District 303 is a public school district in Pekin, Illinois, that operates one high school, Pekin Community High School (PCHS). District 303 serves students living in Pekin and surrounding areas such as South Pekin, North Pekin, Marquette Heights, Creve Coeur, and Groveland. As of 2020 the school has 1,780 students.
The Democrat-Reporter is a local weekly newspaper in Linden, Alabama, United States. It was established in 1911 from the merger of the Linden Reporter and the Marengo Democrat. The newspaper was published by the Sutton family for over a century, with Goodloe Sutton running it from 1985 to 2019. The newspaper won national acclaim in the 1990s for its investigation of a corrupt county sheriff, but was met with criticism in early 2019 over an editorial from Sutton calling for the return of the Ku Klux Klan.
Mark A. Luft is an American politician who served as the mayor of Pekin, Illinois and as a Republican member of the Illinois House of Representatives from the 91st district. The 91st district, located in the Peoria metropolitan area, included all or parts of Banner, Bartonville, Bryant, Canton, Creve Coeur, Cuba, Dunfermline, East Peoria, Fairview, Farmington, Glasford, Hanna City, Kingston Mines, Lake Camelot, Lewistown, Liverpool, Mapleton, Marquette Heights, Morton, Norris, North Pekin, Norwood, Pekin, South Pekin, and St. David.
Roy Elonzo Davis was an American preacher, white supremacist, and con artist who co-founded the second iteration of the Ku Klux Klan in 1915. Davis was Second Degree of the KKK under William J. Simmons and later became National Imperial Wizard (leader) of the Original Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. He worked closely with Simmons, and was a co-author of the 1921 KKK constitution, bylaws and rituals. Davis spent decades as a KKK recruiter, at one point being named "Royal Ambassador" and an "Official Spokesperson" of the KKK by Simmons. Davis and Simmons were both expelled from the KKK in 1923 by Hiram Wesley Evans, who had ousted Simmons as leader. Simmons started the Knights of the Flaming Sword branch of the KKK and with Davis's help retained the loyalty of many KKK members. Davis was later reappointed second in command of the national KKK organization by Imperial Wizard Eldon Edwards, a position he held until being elected national leader by 1959.
The Ku Klux Klan in Southern Illinois operated between 1867 and 1875 in seven counties—Franklin, Williamson, Jackson, Saline, Johnson, Union, and Pope. The "worst Klan years" were in 1874 and 1875.
Block & Kuhl was a chain of department stores based in Peoria, Illinois that was bought by Carson Pirie Scott in 1961. Block & Kuhl stores were converted to the Carson Pirie Scott name.
Ku Klux Klan honor society, also known as Ku Klux and later, Tu–Mas, was an American interfraternity honor society formed at the University of Illinois in 1906. After its name change the group grew to thirteen chapters. It went defunct in 1939. It was not affiliated with the national Ku Klux Klan organization but its original name reflected broader societal attitudes and the prevalence of systemic racism during that period.
