The Handwriting on the Wall: The Klan, Language Issues, and Prohibition in the German Settlements of Eastern Texas

Photograph of the proclamation posted on the door of the Lutheran Church in Berlin in the early 19,20s. Courtesy ofBillNeinasL The Handwriting on the Wall: The Klan, Language Issues, and Prohibition in the German Settlements ofEastern Texas Walter D. Kamphoefner* FOR HISTORIANS IT IS NO NEWS THAT THE Ku KlUX KLAN OF THE 1920s did not restrict its hostilities to blacks. Among its targets were also white Catholics and Jews, foreigners, and anyone who failed to conform to the Klan's definition of "morality." But it has largely escaped notice that even native-born white Protestants could be targets of Klan violence and intimidation merely because they spoke a language other than English. For the German Americans of Washington County, Texas, in the early ig20S, the handwriting was literally on the wall. The following proclamation was photographed from the door of the Lutheran church at Berlin,just a few miles west of Brenham.1 Be It Known and Hereby Proclaimed: That this organization composed of native-born Americans who accept the tenets of the Christian religion, proposes to uphold die dignity and authority of the law. No innocent person of any color, creed or lineage, has any cause to fear or condemn this body of men. . . . We . . . shall ever be devoted to the sublime principles of a pure Americanism and valiant in the defense ofits ideals and institutions. * Walter D. Kamphoefner, professor of history at Texas A&M University, has published widely in die field of German American immigration and ethnicity. His latest book, Germans in the Civil War: The Letters They Wrote Home, edited wiüi Wolfgang Helbich (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2006) , includes a cross-section ofTexas Germans ofvarious political leanings. 1 Charles C. Alexander, Crusadefor Conformity: The Ku Klux Klan in Texas, ig2o-ig30 (Texas Gulf Coast Historical Association, [n.p.], ig62), 6. The Brenham Banner-Pressori December 24, 1921, carried the bizarre headline, "K.K.K. Sends Gift to Old Negroes on J.E. Routt Place." It was subsequently revealed that Routt was a Klan leader; one suspects that he simply processed his usual Christmas bonus (fifteen dollars) dirough the Klan. On May 17, 1921, a German from Fort Bend County gave a secondhand reported ofa recent Klan procession in Rosenburg. Not yet realizing for whom the bell tolled, the German remarked: "Not a Negro was to be seen. Can't hurt widi the Negroes, since their impudence went a bit too far." Wochenblatt (Austin), May 26, 1921, p. 5 (trans, by the author, as are all German sources cited in these notes); Alexander, Crusade, 15-26. Vol. CXII, no. 1 Southwestern Historical QuarterlyJuly 2008 54Southwestern Historical QuarterlyJuly Havingpledged our allegiance to the Hag which protects our Nation, we maintain and insist upon a ?oo per cent Americanism, which includes speaking theEnglish Language. The eyes of the unknown hath seen and doth constantly observe those whose hearts are not right. To each and everyone ofsuch we say: Do not disregard the warning. Be ioo per cent American. Speak the English language or move out of this city and county. Without regard to official, social or financial position, this warning applies to all persons alike living within diisjurisdiction of this Klan. . . . This warning will not be repeated. Mene Mene Tekel Upharsen. KNIGHTS OF THE KUKLUX KLAN2 This sign wasjust the tip of the iceberg in a series of interlocking cultural and political conflicts that extended beyond Washington County to adjacent areas and to some extent to wherever there were significant concentrations of Germans in Texas. Austin County, a few miles southeast of Washington County, was home of the two oldest German settlements in the state, Industry and Cat Spring, both ofwhich predated the Texas Revolution. Austin County was demographically similar to the adjoining counties of Washington and Fayette (with its seat in La Grange). In all three counties, Germans made up a slight majority, ranging from 50 to 54 percent of the white population according to the 1887 agricultural census (which although notoriously vague about its methodology, provides marvelously detailed data regarding ethnicity, which it seems to have assigned based on language and country of origin). The black proportion of the population ranged from 44...