Ku Klux Klan

====Urbanization====
[[File:theendkkk.jpg|thumb|"The End" referring to the end of Catholic influence in the US. ''[[Klansmen: Guardians of Liberty]]'' 1926]]
A significant characteristic of the second Klan was that it was an organization based in urban areas, reflecting the major shifts of population to cities in the North, West, and the South. In Michigan, for instance, 40,000 members lived in [[Detroit]], where they made up more than half of the state's membership. Most Klansmen were lower- to middle-class whites who feared the waves of newcomers to the industrial cities: immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe, who were mostly Catholic or Jewish; and Black and white migrants from the South. As new populations poured into cities, rapidly changing neighborhoods created social tensions. Because of the rapid pace of population growth in industrializing cities such as Detroit and Chicago, the Klan grew rapidly in the Midwest. The Klan also grew in booming Southern cities such as Dallas and Houston.{{sfn|Jackson|1967}}

In the medium-size industrial city of [[Worcester, Massachusetts]], in the 1920s, the Klan ascended to power quickly but declined as a result of opposition from the Catholic Church. There was no violence and the local newspaper ridiculed Klansmen as "night-shirt knights". Half of the members were [[Swedish Americans]], including some first-generation immigrants. The [[Ethnic violence|ethnic]] and religious conflicts among more recent immigrants contributed to the rise of the Klan in the city. Swedish Protestants were struggling against Irish Catholics, who had been entrenched longer, for political and ideological control of the city.<ref>Emily Parker (Fall 2009). {{"'}}Night-Shirt Knights' in the City: The Ku Klux Klan in 1920s Worcester, Massachusetts", ''New England Journal of History'', Vol. 66 Issue 1, pp. 62–78.</ref>

In some states, historians have obtained membership rosters of some local units and matched the names against city directory and local records to create statistical profiles of the membership. Big city newspapers were often hostile and ridiculed Klansmen as ignorant farmers. Detailed analysis from Indiana showed that the rural stereotype was false for that state:

<blockquote>Indiana's Klansmen represented a wide cross section of society: they were not disproportionately urban or rural, nor were they significantly more or less likely than other members of society to be from the working class, middle class, or professional ranks. Klansmen were [[Protestantism|Protestants]], of course, but they cannot be described exclusively or even predominantly as [[fundamentalism|fundamentalists]]. In reality, their religious affiliations mirrored the whole of white Protestant society, including those who did not belong to any church.{{sfn|Moore|1991|p=9}}</blockquote>

The Klan attracted people but most of them did not remain in the organization for long. Membership in the Klan turned over rapidly as people found out that it was not the group which they had wanted. Millions joined and at its peak in the 1920s the organization claimed numbers that amounted to 15% of the nation's eligible population. The lessening of social tensions contributed to the Klan's decline.