Cities In Illinois With The Most Historic KKK Members

Historical KKK locations in Illinois research summary. We analyzed research using Saturday Night Science from the Virginia Commonwealth University that mapped Klaverns by city from 1915-1940. This report analyzes the locations of historic KKK organizations to see where they were the most prevalent in Illinois.

• The city in Illinois with the most number of Klaverns was Chicago with 28 Klaverns.
• The city in Illinois with the most number of Klaverns per capita was Stanford with 0.0017 Klaverns.
• There were historically 94 Klaverns in Illinois.
• There were a total of 57 places in Illinois with at least 1 Klavern during the period of reference.

Hate groups can be hard to measure because, typically, there’s no record of where they exist. But there is data on where there were distinct Klaverns of the Ku Klux Klan in each state. These cities have historically been the most racist in Illinois based on the number of KKK Klaverns.

This report does not speak to the current people who live there or the current state of the KKK in the same towns or areas.

Table Of Contents: Top Ten | Methodology | Summary | Table

A quick history lesson on the KKK

What is the KKK? In a nutshell, the KKK was formed back in 1865, and there have been three separate movements, all three of which were supposedly ‘purification movements’ in America. The 1865-1870s movement sought to overthrow Republican state governments.

The second movement (1915 – 1944) saw millions of members of the KKK form, which was opposed to immigration into America, especially against Catholics and Jews.

The most memorable movement of the KKK started in the 1950s, which was involved in the Civil Rights movement and targeted the black population in America.

The number of active members of the KKK is much smaller these days.

The cities below are the places where there were Klans back in the day and where the number of Klans per the current population is high. This means the number of racist members of the community has historically been the highest, according to the math.

This report is an analysis of the locations of historic KKK organizations divided by the number of people who currently live there.

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Methodology: How We Measured The Most Historically Racist Places In The Prairie State

While there are surveys and public polls on what places might be the most racist, we didn’t want to rely on speculation and opinion. Instead, we looked at the hard numbers from where KKK organizations have existed.

Specifically, we analyzed research out of Virginia Commonwealth University that mapped the Klans in each area and gave a history of their recruitment from 1915-1940.

Using Saturday Night Science, we analyzed the locations of historic KKK organizations per capita using current population data.

There You Have It – The Most Historically Racist Cities In Illinois

When you’re looking at the places in Illinois with the highest number of historical KKK Klaverns per capita, this is an accurate list.

Below is a chart that lists all cities in Illinois with at least one KKK organization from 1915-1940.

The cities with the largest number of KKK klaverns per capita were Stanford, Shabbona, Mount Pulaski, Assumption, Erie, Winchester, Venice, Farmer City, Lexington, and Nokomis.

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Cities With Hisoritcally High KKK Membership In Illinois