The Ku Klux Klan in Monmouth County during the 1920s · 2016. 9. 11. · The Ku Klux Klan in Monmouth County during the 1920s Donna Troppoli Rally of the Ku Klux Klan in Long Branch,

The Ku Klux Klanin MonmouthCounty duringthe 1920s

Donna Troppoli

Rally of the Ku Klux Klan in LongBranch, New Jersey, April 7th 1924

Photo by Imagno/Getty Images

The Invisible Boardwalk Empire Donna Troppoli | www.GardenStateLegacy.com Issue 28 June 2015

Ah, New Jersey—a reliably Democratic ‘blue state’ innational elections, predictably walking in step with itsprogressive Northeastern and New England neighbors.

Well, not always.History shows us that the political sentiments and beliefs of

New Jersey’s citizens may not be as uniformly liberal as onemight assume; a reactionary countercurrent has been presentfor much of the state’s history. A good example is the 1860

Presidential Election, where three electoralvotes and 51% of the popular vote went toStephen A. Douglas who had also won theslave state of Missouri, leaving Lincoln with theremaining four electoral votes. All states northof New Jersey as well as the mid-west had castall of their electoral votes for Lincoln.

Additionally, slavery was permanentlyabolished by the New Jersey Legislature onlyin 1846, making it the last in state in the Northto do so. This legislation caused some formerslaves to be classified as “indentured servantsfor life” which did not markedly improve theirlegal status. An argument can be made that

New Jersey was not officially slave free until passage ofThirteenth Amendment in 1865. In contrast, New Jersey wasthe first northern state to apologize for slavery on January 3,2008 (New Jersey Appropriations Committee Resolution 270).

New Jersey may claim Thomas Woodrow Wilson, America’s28th President (1913–1921), as its own, based largely on hisappointment to the presidency of Princeton University in 1902.However, Wilson was born in Staunton, Virginia in 1856, andremembers having seen Confederate General Robert E. Lee inperson as a boy. Although often perceived as a Progressive,there were instances where his administration suspended civilliberties during the First World War. The Sedition Act of 1918made all radical criticism of the US government a criminaloffense, and the infamous Palmer Raids were responsible fordeporting over 10,000 individuals who held extreme leftist


Men arrested in Palmer Actraids awaiting deportationhearings on Ellis Island,January 13, 1920.

political beliefs. Wilson also generally found first generationimmigrants to be distasteful, referring to them as “hyphenatedAmericans.” At the time of the Allied victory in 1918, miasma ofsuspicion and discontent had settled over the country.

Re-Birth of a Nation?The social and political issues facing American society in

the beginning of the last century were such that the Ku KluxKlan’s goals and objectives struck a responsive chord withmany native-born Americans. Prohibition, the result of a long-standing political and social struggle, would become the law ofthe land in 1919. The fallout from Russia’s Revolutions and theresulting “Red Scare” would not abate until Senator JosephMcCarthy’s fall in 1954. Woodrow Wilson’s xenophobicpropaganda, designed to convince the U.S. to enter Word War Ion the side of the Allies, reinforced preexisting enmity againstrecent immigrants (20% of New Jersey’s population wasforeign-born in 1920). The previous social norms were beingupset with women being granted the right to vote in 1920 andthe new social freedoms of the ‘Jazz Age’ and the ‘RoaringTwenties’ all contributed to an embracing by many socialconservatives of the Nativist, dry, traditional, and Protestantvalues espoused by the Klan. In addition, a postwar recessioncaused economic uncertainty throughout the world; in the USeconomic conditions did not begin to improve until 1922.

Today, the Klan’s image in the popular culture is primarilythat of an onerous, anti-black organization. However, the Klanwere always equal opportunity haters, and their “enemies list”was a long one. It included anti-prohibitionists (“wets”),Communists, members of the labor union movement, allpeople of color, Catholics, Jews, and immigrants in general.

The Ku Klux Klan was founded in 1865 by six defeatedConfederacy veterans during the Reconstruction Periodfollowing the American Civil War. It had mixed results but wasseen as enough of a threat to inspire the Force Acts of 1870and 1871. These criminal codes were designed to protectAfrican-Americans’ right to vote, to hold office, to serve on


A strong anti-Germansentiment during the FirstWorld War fit into a generalanti-immigrant and nativistfeeling in America that the KuKlux Klan was able to exploitin the postwar years.

juries, and receive equal protection of laws—all guaranteed bythe Fourteenth Amendment of 1868. The laws also allowed thefederal government to intervene when states did not act andthe KKK was a primary target of prosecution efforts. Theinfluences of this first incarnation of the Klan faded as a result.

The U.S. Supreme Court decision in Plessy v. Ferguson,however, made segregation legal in 1896 despite theReconstruction Amendments, thus fostering racialdiscrimination that helped the Klan to emerge anew in thecentury to come. The so-called Second Klan was revived inGeorgia in 1915 by William J. Simmons, a defrocked Methodistpreacher, who declared himself “Imperial Wizard” of an“Invisible Empire.” Styled as a fraternal organization, thisrevived Klan adopted a more structured business-likeorganizational model that proved highly successful in growingits membership throughout the United States.

The cultural influence of this renewed Klan could be seen inthe first real “blockbuster” movie from Hollywood. The Birth of aNation (formerly titled The Clansman) was released in 1915 andgrossed $18-million. This work could be consideredHollywood’s valentine to the Klan, and featured white actors inblack-face menacing white actresses. It also popularized theimage of a burning cross as the Klan’s symbol. When askedabout the historical accuracy of D.W. Griffith’s film, PresidentWilson found it to be “terribly true.” Ironically, Thomas Dixon,the author of the book on which the film was based, declinedan offer to join the organization and called the Klan “a menaceto American Democracy.”

The Klan spread throughout the U.S. thanks in part tomodern public relations techniques that worked to make theirmessage acceptable to non-southern audiences. In 1919,Simmons hired Edward Young Clark and Elizabeth Tyler whodid business as the Southern Publicity Association, promotingsuch Klan values as “100% Americanism”—a concept tough todefine at any stage of our nation’s history. Clark and Tylerreceived liberal financial compensation from the Klan—apercentage of paid dues as well as other emoluments.


The popularity of the KKKwas helped by the Hollywoodhit, “The Birth of a Nation,”where they were presentedas hooded heroes protecting“white America.”

Starting on September 6, 1921, the New York World’s exposeon the Klan’s growing influence in America featured twenty-oneconsecutive daily articles which were also printed in fifteenother major American newspapers. This masterful piece ofinvestigative journalism exposed the organization’s marketingand recruitment strategies, finances, rituals (including Klan“baptisms” and blood oaths), secret documents (the “Kloran”),and terrorist activities. The series prompted a Congressionalinvestigation; Simmons was called to testify. The presscoverage may have had the opposite effect of what Congressintended, however, and resulted in providing the Klan withadditional free publicity. In 1924 it had 4.5-million members,both men and women, across America. There were 60,000members in the Garden State alone—more than Alabama orLouisiana, and only slightly less than Georgia.

Arthur Hornbui Bell, the New Jersey Grand Dragon (alsolisted as a “District Kleagle”), saw much potential for Klangrowth in Monmouth County. Born in New York City, he hadspent the Great War entertaining the troops in Europe asmember of Bell and Bell, a vaudeville act he had formed with hiswife, Leah. Although a resident of Bloomfield, Bell initiated aKlavern (local Klan chapter) in Asbury Park in 1921, the year theKlan was first noted in the press as having a presence in NewJersey. Part of his duties was to appoint recruiters for newmembers—in Klan-speak “Kleagles.” He found willingvolunteers among the Methodist ministry; at its height thenumber of ministers who were Klan members was estimatedat 40,000 nationwide. By 1924 the Klan was a force in NewJersey politics, with much of their support in MonmouthCounty.

Early 20th century Monmouth County, with its mixture ofdiversely populated cities and more demographicallyhomogenous small towns and farms, was the perfectlaboratory for the Klan, which had found much support insuburbs of cities with large black and immigrant populations.In an attempt to present its agenda in the most attractivesetting possible, the Klan attempted to create centers of


Arthur H. Bell and Leah Bellduring their time entertainingU.S. troops during the FirstWorld War.

influence in New Jersey shore towns which were alreadyhomes to desirable resorts. As such, they would draw crowdswho could be receptive to the Klan’s message. Theorganization’s success or failure was unique to eachmunicipality involved: Long Branch, Asbury Park, Ocean Grove,and Wall Township all have their particular story to tell.

Long BranchThis seaside resort, seven-miles north of Asbury Park, was

incorporated in 1867; when Asbury Park was founded only fouryears later the two cities were in constant competition forvisitors. Once the summer playground several U.S. Presidents,Long Branch was known for gambling, available alcohol, and allthe misdeeds that go along with them. James Bradley, adevout Methodist, founder of Asbury Park, and later its Mayorand State Senator, cast the deciding vote in the New JerseyLegislature 1894 to ban gambling throughout the state. As aresult, Monmouth Park, a nearby horse racetrack and draw formany of the resort’s visitors, was closed, and would not reopenfor fifty-three years. (Monmouth Park has had three differentlocations in its history-but that is another fascinating Jerseystory!) The high rollers moved on to Saratoga Springs, takingtheir money and cachet with them.

At the turn of the Twentieth Century, the demographics ofLong Branch changed once again with the influx of wealthyJews who were refused admission to the high society ofNewport, Rhode Island. Long Branch became their choice for abeach resort, and the city saw an increase in commerce,tourism, and the building of many luxurious homes andNewport style “cottages.” Many Italians had also establishedresidence in the city at the end of the 19th century. The first tocome were gardeners who tended the world-class parks andhuge flower beds of the John Hoey Hotel and estate. They toobegan doing well for themselves and their families. Theemergence of these well-off “foreigners” did not sit well withmany native to the area.

So in 1924, when Arthur Bell and the Ku Klux Klan came to


The Konclaveheld in 1926featured the

ImperialWizard

speaking on theKlan’s agenda

in a localchurch. And, a

“Miss 100%America” wasalso crowned.

Long Branch, they felt welcomed enough to make the city itsheadquarters for New Jersey. The Klan bought Elkwood Park(the site of the present Monmouth Park racetrack), putting Bellin charge of the Elkwood Park Association. This became thesite of their Independence Day festivities with a tri-stateKonklave that included Klansmen from Delaware andPennsylvania. This event included minstrel shows, beautypageants, fireworks displays, and sporting events. More than15,000 Klansmen marched for four hours from Broadway inLong Branch to Elkwood Park in full hooded regalia during theirFourth of July parade. It was the biggest Klan march to date.

On May 25, 1925, “Imperial Klaliff’s Day,” a ten-hour eventhonoring the Imperial Klaliff (national sergeant-at-arms) drew20,000. The Konclave held in 1926 featured the Imperial Wizard(national Klan president) speaking on the Klan’s agenda in alocal church. And, a “Miss 100% America” was also crowned.This was the last major Klan event to be held in Long Branch.

Following the 1924 Konclave, many Jewish and Italianfamilies vacated their homes and Catholic and Jewish familiesdeclined to vacation in Long Branch. It only took two years forKlan dominance to create an economic disaster for the localbusiness community. The Klan’s inflexible “dry” stance and theeventual assimilation of local immigrant groups alsocontributed to the Klan’s loss of influence. As will be seen inother municipalities in Monmouth County, business interestswould trump bigotry when dealing with the Klan, which was nolonger welcome in Long Branch.

Asbury ParkA number of events in the beginning of the 20th century

greatly changed the city of Asbury Park. It more than doubledin size when, on May 15, 1906, it annexed the West Side. “WestPark” was largely populated by those who made the eastsideresort area function—African -Americans, Italian and Greekimmigrants, and many Jews who owned city businesses.

The sensational murder of Marie Smith, a 10-year-old whitegirl, occurred in November 1910 and influenced the city’s


The Associated Press storythat made newspapersaround the country telling ofthe murder of 10-year-oldMarie Smith.

events for years to come. The public and the press blamedThomas Williams (known as “Black Diamond”), a handymanwho worked for the victim’s aunt, and many residents wereready to dispatch mob justice. Sherriff Clarence Hetrick movedWilliams across the county to the jail in Freehold to prevent hislynching. Such a murder would have been an unusual event inMonmouth County; the only recorded post-Revolutionary Warlynching had occurred in 1886. (The victim in that earlier case,Samuel Johnson, known as “Mingo Jack,” was a stable hand atMonmouth Park who was accused of attacking a whitewoman. The day after his arrest, his body was found beatenand hanging in the jailhouse doorway.)

The following month, a Monmouth County Grand Jury didnot indict Thomas Williams. Frank Heidemann, a Germangardener who had left town shortly after the murder wasHetrick’s prime suspect, and the Sherriff hired a privatedetective agency to investigate. Hetrick’s hunch was right, andhe finally got his man in March 1911. The resulting popularityin the black community insured Hetrick the city’s black votethat helped to elect him to the Board of City Commissioners(who selected him as mayor) in 1915.

Due to the city’s demographics, there was some localsupport for the Klan in Asbury Park. The Asbury Park CivicChurch League had been warm to the Klan’s aims andobjectives, but it was soon opposed by the business andhospitality industry, who realized that the Klan’s presence wasdriving away visitors from urban northern New Jersey and NewYork.

The two sides came to blows in June of 1923, when thechaplain of the NJ Senate, Rev. DeWitt Cobb, organized a Klanparade at the city’s largest Methodist Church on Grand Avenue.The marchers were roughed up by a local mob before citypolice broke up the melee. As expected, Mayor Hetrick, (whowas also President of the Chamber of Commerce), had thesupport of the city’s business community as well as black,southern European, and Jewish residents who did not supportKlan activity in Asbury Park. (There had been similar incidents


The marcherswere roughedup by a local

mob before citypolice broke up

the melee.

of local Klan resistance in Bound Brook and Perth Amboy.)Undaunted, however, the Klan waited until following spring tomake its next move in Asbury Park.

Following the closing banquet of Asbury Park’s annual tradefair, held at the Deal Inn, an associate of Arthur Bell’s by thename of Walter Tindall leveled serious accusations at MayorHetrick. Among the immoral behaviors he claimed the Mayorguilty was drunkenness—a serious charge under Prohibition—and the presence of five New York women giving “improperdisplay.” The Klan, Civic Church League, and Asbury Park’s ‘oldguard’ from the Bradley years joined in a smear campaign overwhat they called “The Merchants’ Orgy” to oust Hetrick fromoffice. Their efforts failed when no one corroborated Tindall’stestimony. The Grand Jury dismissed the case on April 18th,and Tindall was accused of perjury. Hetrick would later run forreelection in 1927 and win on an anti-Klan platform.

The Klan sought put their own into state and nationaloffices in the election year of 1924. The RepublicanCongressional primary would be on the ballot in June andvoters would choose between the incumbent, Frank Appleby(who denied Klan membership, but did not decline theirsupport), and Major Stanley Washburn, a close friend ofPresident Coolidge. Washburn not only favored the revision ofProhibition laws but also had a Roman Catholic secretary whohe refused to fire despite Klan pressure to do so—whichincluded death threats. Although Bell insisted that the Klanallowed its membership freedom of conscience when voting, afull page ad featuring letters from both himself and his wifeurging support of Klan endorsed candidates was printed in theAsbury Park Evening Press on the eve of the primary, and waspaid for by a private citizen who wished to expose the Klan’sinfluence in the political process. Nevertheless, Applebyhandily beat Washburn, who had no regrets regarding hiscampaign.

The Klan briefly reappeared in Asbury Park in 1928 in thefigure of Democratic Senator James T. Heflin of Alabama. Aftermaking a speech in Long Branch where he condemned New


Washburn notonly favored

the revision ofProhibition

laws but alsohad a Roman

Catholicsecretary whohe refused to

fire despiteKlan pressure

to do so—which included

death threats.

York Senator Al Smith for being Catholic, and thus part of anational conspiracy to subvert the nation’s democraticprocess, Heflin took a room at the city’s elegant MonterreyHotel. Here he had all contacts screened, telling the press thathe was in fear for his life. This was shown to be a hoax whenthe press revealed that Klan public relations professionalswere being paid $125.00 per day to create this illusion.

Ocean GroveOcean Grove was founded as a Methodist Camp Meeting

Association (OGCMA-www.oceangrove.org/) in 1869. It wasincorporated as a borough by the New Jersey Legislature inJune of 1920, but this decision was overturned the followingMay by the State’s Court of Errors and Appeals. It then becamea part of Neptune Township in June 1921. Despite these legalactions, Ocean Grove retained many of its religious policies,especially those relating to Sabbath restrictions. The practiceforbidding the presence of any wheeled vehicles from thestreets on Sundays was only ended in 1981 with an actionbrought forward by a newspaper vendor. Beaches in OceanGrove are still only open on Sundays after 12:30 and noalcoholic beverages may be sold. (In January of 2012 a NJState Administrative Law judge ruled that the OGCMA’srestrictions of civil unions and marriages in a boardwalkpavilion previously used by the general public were illegal. Thecomplaint was brought by a lesbian couple who had previouslybeen denied the use of the pavilion for such a purpose.)

With the 1921 denial of borough status for Ocean Grove, itsresidents felt that their value system was under siege by theoutside world. In 1923 a New Jersey newspaper survey statedthat there was no obvious Klan activity in Monmouth County,but membership was suspected. On Memorial Day of that year,a floral arrangement of red roses in the shape of a crossbearing the letters “KKK” were placed at a World War IMemorial outside of the camp meeting’s Broadway entrancegate. This practice was to continue for several years.

In May of 1924 Grand Dragon Bell spoke to an enthusiastic


He spoke onsuch topics as

the evils ofmiscegenationas well as the

Catholic and Jewish

conspiracy totake over USmilitary and

economy.

audience at the Ocean Grove Auditorium, the camp meeting’smain religious and entertainment venue to stump for the Klan.(The Grand Auditorium had previously hosted such celebritiesas Ulysses S. Grant, John Philip Sousa, and Enrico Caruso). Hespoke on such topics as the evils of miscegenation as well asthe Catholic and Jewish conspiracy to take over US militaryand economy. (One can only imagine what he would havethought of the composition of the current US Supreme Court!)Leah Bell often spoke with him, and was an adult leader for the

“Tri-K Girls”—a youth organization thatpromoted motherhood and other traditionalfemale activities and headed the New JerseyStatewide Women of the Ku Klux Klan.

In honor of Mother’s Day, 1925 Bell spoketo a crowd of 8,000 at the Grand Auditorium. Inthis speech, he asserted that loyalty to anAmerican mother insured loyalty to the UnitedStates.

Wall TownshipThe former Camp Evans, which is presently

the site of the InfoAge Science and HistoryLearning Center (http://www.infoage.org) and the New JerseyShipwreck Museum (http://www.infoage.org/exhibits/nj-shipwreck-museum) is a National Historic Site, has had manyproud moments in America’s military and technology historyand is well worth a visit. However, there is a darker side to thislocation’s past, which involves the Klan’s continued infiltrationinto Monmouth County.

In March 1925, 90-acres of land, which included the presentInfoage site, was sold to the newly formed Monmouth PleasureClub (MPC) Association. Additional purchases enlarged thereservation to 396-acres, which was made possible throughthe sale of 13,000 shares of stock, sold to the general public,although most were thought to be purchased by localKlansmen. The MPC became the state headquarters for theKlan, and only Klan members or those members of affiliated


“Hotel at Marconi WirelessStation, Belmar, N.J." 1914postcard.

http://ibmcollectable.com/gallery/Infoage-card/InfoAge_Postcard_Front

organizations were admitted. In 1926, 200-acres were reservedfor a planned housing development to be named “ImperialPark,” with the Marconi Hotel to be renamed the Imperial Hotel.

By 1927, however, the picture had changed. Plans for theMPC and Imperial Park would never come to fruition due tocompetition for ownership among the various Klanorganizations involved—the dispute was even taken to court.The MPC Association’s officers contended that the resort washeld by the stockholders and that the various Klan entities who

used it were simply tenants. GrandDragon Bell argued that the Klan createdthe MPC, comprised the largest group ofinvestors and as such was thecontrolling interest. In February 1928, theMonmouth County Chancery Court ruledthat the largest MPC investor was aspeculator with no ties to the Klan,resulting in a revision of the plans forImperial Park by Bell and the New JerseyKlan.

Now the national Klan stepped in,claiming that recently-dissolved NewJersey Klaverns transferred theirownership to the larger organization

which would then have a controlling interest in the MPC. InSeptember 1929 the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals threw outthe national Klan’s case, allowing the MPC to sell the remainingproperty.

Collapse of the EmpireOne month after the MPC was allowed to sell its land, the

stock market crashed, and with it Bell’s dreams of a major Klanresort in Monmouth County. The property was still used by theKlan for annual circuses and a 50-foot tall cross behind theMarconi Hotel would be electrically lit at night. In the yearspreceding World War II the American Nazi Party (German-American Bund) would meet there.


Former professional basebaloutfielder-turned-preacherWilliam “Billy” Sunday wasknown for his physicallyexuberant preaching style.While he was known tooppose Jim Crow laws andreach out to the African-American community, hisstrong social conservatisminspired the KKK to make twolarge contributions to hisministry in the mid-1920s.

As shown in Asbury Park, the Klan was not politicallyinvincible. In 1924, candidates from New Jersey’s Democraticand Republican parties (John W. Davis and Walter Edge) spokeout against the Klan in Monmouth County. In addition to thefailure of the MPC, there were other lawsuits concerning realestate ownership, various sexual scandals, cases ofembezzlement, and backlash from the clergy.

On August 25, 1928 Jersey City Mayor and Democraticpowerhouse Frank Hague organized a parade to support AlSmith’s nomination. Eighty thousand people attended theevent to show their support for the candidate in Sea Girt, onceregarded as Klan territory. During the same day nationallyknown preacher and Klan sympathizer Billy Sunday promised acapacity crowd in Ocean Grove’s Great Auditorium that Smith’selection would result in “a national calamity.” Although Smith, aRoman Catholic, lost the election to Herbert Hoover, hiscampaign succeeded in exposing Klan bigotry.

The Klan made other important enemies in New Jersey: theAtlantic City Elks, the state commander of the AmericanLegion, and many clergy, government officials, and citizenswho acted as vigilantes to oppose Klan activities.

In 1940 Imperial Wizard James Colescott removed ArthurBell as head of the New Jersey Klan. Bell, as Vice President ofthe German-American Bund, attempted to unite the remains ofhis Klan organization with the Bund, and was investigated bythe Dies Committee (also known as the House Un-AmericanActivities Committee-HUAC) a result. In 1942 he wasinvestigated by the Military Intelligence Service for“disaffection”; his case was closed.

Interestingly, before his death in 1973 in New Jersey, hewas quoted as saying: “I think tolerance should be taught in thepublic schools.”

EpilogueAs a result of the 1970 Asbury Park race riot, the city’s

Springwood Avenue and its surrounding neighborhood wasburnt and subsequently bulldozed. The Klan (whose New


On the night ofMarch 13,

1971, the datewhen three

Klansmen wereindicted for the

previous crossburnings, an

additional crosswas burned inKennedy Park,

the center ofAsbury Park’s

CookmanAvenue

businessdistrict...

Jersey membership was then-estimated at 1,000) used thisopportunity to reappear in central New Jersey. Crosses wereburned in Princeton, Hightstown, Long Branch, and Neptune.On the night of March 13, 1971, the date when three Klansmenwere indicted for the previous cross burnings, an additionalcross was burned in Kennedy Park, the center of Asbury Park’sCookman Avenue business district, in full sight of Ocean Grove,just across Wesley Lake.

History continues to take place all around us. The reader isreferred to the following recent article:http://www.nj.com/south/index.ssf/2015/03/new_jersey_has_

fourth_highest_number_of_hate_group.html” \1“incart_2box_nj-homepage-featured

in which the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), long anexpert on hate groups in the US, claims New Jersey has thefourth largest number of active hate groups in the US—behindCalifornia, Florida, and New York. Other experts, however, suchas the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), disagree with SPLC’sstatistics. Still, New Jersey is home to one Ku Klux Klanchapter based in Trenton, and numerous other organizationsclassified as hate groups which include: Neo-Nazis, skinheads,white nationalists, black separatist organizations, and a recordcompany that issues white supremacist music. Only one of thegroups is listed as being located in Monmouth County, theIsraelite Church of God in Asbury Park. The ADL believes thatthe actual numbers of hate groups in both New Jersey and theU.S. has been falling.

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose (the more a thingchanges, the more it stays the same).


References:The following books provide an unvarnished account of Klan activities inMonmouth County, and are recommended to readers who want to get beyond thepicture post card aspects of a region beloved for its seaside resorts. They may befound in local souvenir and gift shops; an especially good one is the Asbury ParkGalleria located in the city’s Grand Arcade: http://www.asburygalleria.com/.

Wolff, Daniel, 4th of July, Asbury Park: A History of the Promised Land; 2005, Bloomsbury USA, New York, New York

Bilby, Joseph G. and Ziegler, Harry F., Asbury Park: A Brief History; 2009, The History Press, Charleston, SC

Salvini, Emil, Tales of the Jersey Shore; 2006, The Globe Pequot Press, Guilford, CT

Websites of Interest:www.campevans.orgThe Rutgers University Library’s Bernard Bush Collection is an additional

source of New Jersey Klan documentation:http://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/rul/libs/scua/manuscripts/bush_klan_collection.pdf

A summary of the New York World 1921 Klan expose can be found at:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_World_Expos%C3%A9_of_the_Ku_Klux_Klan

Want to do some Klan ghost hunting in Monmouth County?http://weirdnj.com/stories/roads-less-traveled/whippoorwill-valley-and-cooper-road/


Documents

The Ku Klux Klan in Monmouth County during the 1920s · 2016. 9. 11. · The Ku Klux Klan in Monmouth County during the 1920s Donna Troppoli Rally of the Ku Klux Klan in Long Branch,