This project demonstrates how two unique movements with national aspirations operated and gained support within a local context.The 1910s and 1920s are an important period of Political History to study because many issues of lasting impact such as the meaning of Americanization and a local community's relationship to Capitalism were further worked out.Two organizations that exhibited the traits of this period were the Non-Partisan League and the Ku Klux Klan. Many local studies have been done recently of the Ku Klux Klan but none about it in North Dakota. North Dakota is an important location to study the Klan because a movement with seemingly very different goals had risen to prominence within the state just a few years prior to the Klan's arrival. North Dakota also represented an area a considerable distance away from the Klan's traditional base that it was trying to expand into during the 1920s. Out of all of North Dakota, Fargo is an important community to study because it was the largest community in North Dakota at that time and almost all agribusinesses and industry had headquarters or offices there. Both the NPL and KKK published newspapers there and the NPL had its state headquarters there. Thus most of the sources used on this site will focus on Fargo and the surronding area.
Both the Non Partisan League and the Ku Klux Klan attempted to capitalize on grievances that many North Dakotans had. Both groups aspired to be more than just political movements but fraternal movements as well. The 1910s and 1920s were at the tail end of the Golden Age of Fraternal organizations in the United States which lasted from the late 19th Century to the Great Depression.Fraternal societies served many functions which other groups preform today such as providing charity for its members or selling life insurance. This project, by presenting documents, images, and maps of the NPL and KKK during the late 1910a and 1920s, is meant to allow readers to explore and learn about various characteristics of these organizations within North Dakota.The NPL and the KKK affected North Dakota life in many ways so many different media should be used to present their impacts on North Dakota. Maps showing where some of the major supporters of the NPL and KKK lived and where their major meeting places were provide a spatial analysis of the relationship between the two organizations and that both organizations had their own support bases that met in the lower middle class. This analysis will be further detailed in the Argument section. The About tab contains some background information on the situation in North Dakota leading up to the NPL and KKK.Images from the publications of the two groups are displayed to show the appeals and issues used to gain popular support. Newspaper articles, diaries, and publications of the two organizations are provided for readers to explore.