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 Neo-Confederatism |
| Leaders | Alcibiades DeBlanc |
| Preceded by | Confederate Army veterans |
| Succeeded by | White League |
| Allies | Ku Klux Klan, Dixiecrats, Southern Democratic Party |
| Opponents | U.S. Government, U.S. Republican Party, carpetbaggers, scalawags, African Americans |
The Knights of the White Camelia was a group formed in the Southern United States in the late 1800s. They believed that white people were better than all other races. This group was similar to the Ku Klux Klan. They were against the rights of formerly enslaved African Americans, who were called freedmen.
Contents
History of the Knights of the White Camelia
How the Group Started
The Knights of the White Camelia got its name from the camellia, a type of flower. A former Confederate States Army Colonel named Alcibiades DeBlanc started the group. This happened on May 22, 1867, in Franklin, Louisiana.
What the Group Believed and Did
The members of the Knights of the White Camelia promised to support the idea that white people were superior. They were against people of different races marrying or having children. They also wanted to stop the influence of people from the North, called "carpetbaggers." These "carpetbaggers" were people who moved to the South after the Civil War. The Knights wanted to bring back white control of the government.
A historian named Nicholas Lemann described the Knights as a leading group causing fear in Louisiana. Their actions included bothering people, whipping them, and sometimes even killing them. These actions created a time of great fear for the Black population in Louisiana during 1868. Many people were hurt or killed by the group.
Where the Group Operated
The main groups of the Knights were in the southern part of the Deep South. Even though some thought there was a big plan, these groups mostly acted on a local level. One of their goals was to keep formerly enslaved farm workers from leaving the plantations.
Who Joined the Knights
The Knights of the White Camelia were different from the Ku Klux Klan in some ways. The Ku Klux Klan often had members from lower-income backgrounds. However, the White Camelia mostly included wealthier Southerners. These members included doctors, landowners, newspaper editors, and officers. Many of them were also former Confederate soldiers.
The Decline of the Group
The Knights of the White Camelia started to become less active. Even after a meeting in 1869, the group began to fade. Some members who wanted to be more aggressive joined other groups. These included the White League and similar groups that formed in the mid-1870s. By 1870, the original Knights of the White Camelia had mostly stopped existing.
Later Use of the Name
In 1939, a man from Minnesota named George E. Deatherage 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. This new "White Camelia" group has been said to have a strong presence in Vidor, Texas. Since then, other "White Camelia" (sometimes spelled Kamelia) Klan groups have appeared in Louisiana and Florida.
See also
In Spanish: Caballeros de la Camelia Blanca para niños
