Knights of the White Camelia facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Knights of the White Camelia |
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| White Camelia Participant in the Reconstruction Era |
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Alcibiades DeBlanc, the group's founder.
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| Active | 1867 – c. 1870 |
| Ideology | White supremacy |
| Leaders | Alcibiades DeBlanc |
| Preceded by | Confederate Army veterans |
| Succeeded by | White League |
| Allies | Ku Klux Klan |
| Opponents | U.S. Government, U.S. Republican Party, carpetbaggers, scalawags, African-Americans |
The Knights of the White Camelia was a group in the Southern United States in the late 1800s. It was similar to the Ku Klux Klan. This group believed that white people were better than others and should have all the power. They were against the rights of African Americans who had recently become free after the American Civil War.
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History of the White Camelia Knights
The Knights of the White Camelia got its name from the camellia, a type of flower. It was started by Alcibiades DeBlanc, a former Confederate States Army officer. He founded the group on May 22, 1867, in Franklin, Louisiana.
Goals of the Organization
The members of the Knights of the White Camelia promised to support the idea that white people should be in charge. They were against different races mixing. They also wanted to stop people from the North, called "carpetbaggers," from gaining power in the South. Their main goal was to bring back white control of the government.
Historians say the Knights were a leading group that used fear in Louisiana. They often used threats and violence. This caused a lot of fear among Black people in the state during 1868. Many people were hurt or even killed by their actions.
Membership and Decline
Most of the group's chapters were in the southern part of the Deep South. Unlike the Ku Klux Klan, which had many members from poorer backgrounds, the White Camelia mainly included wealthier Southerners. These members were often doctors, landowners, newspaper editors, and former military officers. Many were also veterans of the Confederate Army.
The group also wanted to keep newly freed Black farm workers from leaving plantations. Even though they held a meeting in 1869, the group started to become less active. By 1870, the original Knights of the White Camelia had mostly disappeared. Some of its more aggressive members joined other groups like the White League.
Later Uses of the Name
Years later, in 1939, a man named George E. Deatherage from West Virginia claimed to be the leader of the "Knights of the White Camellia." He was known for being against Jewish people.
In the 1990s, a Ku Klux Klan group in East Texas started using the name. Since then, other Klan groups in Louisiana and Florida have also used the name "White Camelia" or "Kamelia."
See also
