Pulling Off the Sheets

Darrel Dexter is the author of several books, including Bondage in Egypt: Slavery in Southern Illinois and A Trot Down to Egypt: The Lincoln-Douglas Debate in Jonesboro, Illinois.John A. Beadles is the author of A History of Southernmost Illinois and Stained with Blood and Tears:  Lynchings, Murder, and Mob Violence in Cairo, Illinois 1909-1910 (SIU Press).

“This well-documented history should be read by anyone who wants to understand and work to eliminate racial divides in southern Illinois.”—Sheila Simon, former lieutenant governor of Illinois“What we experience today in this country from those who preach the power of white supremacy, nationalism, and caste preferences has deep roots. Dexter and Beadles teach us that the very atmosphere of our region, our country, has been shaped and privileged by a form of Christianity that still engenders hatred, division, and cruelty. Attention must be paid to what these authors bring to light.”—Joseph A. Brown, SJ; Ph.D., professor of Africana Studies, Southern Illinois University Carbondale“How fortunate southern Illinoisans are to have historians like Darrel Dexter and John A. Beadles, who have meticulously researched our region’s role in a dark chapter of U. S. history. Every county needs and deserves this kind of truthful accounting of its public institutions and church officials, because these small, detailed, honest histories are essential to tell the complete national story. Dexter and Beadles have shown us how American democracy was subverted for decades in our region. This is history we must read, acknowledge, and learn to not repeat.”—Kay Rippelmeyer, author of Giant City State Park and the Civilian Conservation Corps and The Civilian Conservation Corps in Southern Illinois, 1933-1942“Clearly written and meticulously documented, this book focuses on a regional hotspot of racial discord. Fueled by post-WWI nationalism and by pop culture such as The Birth of a Nation, the Ku Klux Klan made itself felt in deep southern Illinois in the early 1920s. The chief targets were African Americans in Alexander and Pulaski counties (think Cairo and environs). But this iteration of the Klan had a wide variety of other enemies—new immigrants, Catholics, Jews, moonshiners, and others who were not ‘100 percent American.’”—Herbert K. Russell, author of The State of Southern Illinois: An Illustrated History

• CONTENTSPrologueIntroduction1. The Mythical Klan and Rumors of Its Second Coming2. Memories of the First Klan3. The Second Coming of the Klan4. Pulaski and Alexander Counties in 19235. The Klan Goes to Church6. The Elco Trouble7. For Twenty-six Pennies8. The Lynch Mob and the Klansman’s Prayer9. Railroad Detectives and the National Guard10. The Trial of Hale and Conner11. Lynch Mob Indictments and Trial12. The Second Klan Fades from MemoryWorks CitedNotesIndex