"Competition with the 'Crossroad'": Miss Graham, the Freedmen's Public School and the Ku Klux Klan

Subject

School; Community

Description

This is an account of Miss Graham, of Albany, NY, and her run-in with the Ku Klux Klan. According to Florence historian Lee Freeman: "According to the report, Graham was harassed into leaving town by a group of Klansmen, who considered her school "obnoxious". The Cyclops of the group reportedly told her: "We are opposed to having those of another race from the North to teach us. You must leave this place forthwith," to which the plucky teacher, who had "a keen appreciation of the ridiculous, and discovered it in the situation, voices, and clothing of the Ku Klux Klaners," responded by breaking forth into a "furious laugh" which "perfectly discomposed her persecutors," who then apologized for their visit, yet nevertheless made a second warning that they would burn her house down over head, prompting her to leave. So far I can't find any other references anywhere to this Miss Graham or her run-in with the Klan. Was she the principal/teacher of the Florence Colored Grammar School, which I think *may* have been the successor to the Florence Freedmen's Public School? Because we know from school reports by him that in October, 1869 noted black educator Jacob Reed Ballard (1845-1902) was teaching this school. Nor am I at all certain who these Klansmen were. Until I discovered this article I didn't think Florence had had a Klan chapter until the mid-1920s (which thankfully never really got up to much other than holding the odd rally at McFarland and terrorizing local prostitutes and seems to have dwindled by the early 1930s) . I haven't been able yet to locate a report of this incident in the 1869 Florence Journal. "

Source

Raftsman's Journal (Clearfield, PA)

Date

1869-03-03

Contributor

Lee Freeman

Rights

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Format

JPG

Language

English

Type

Still Image

Identifier

Competition_with_the_Crossroads.jpg

Original Format

Newspaper

Files

Competition with the Crossroads.jpg

Collection

School

Citation

“"Competition with the 'Crossroad'": Miss Graham, the Freedmen's Public School and the Ku Klux Klan,” Shoals Black History, accessed April 25, 2024, https://shoalsblackhistory.omeka.net/items/show/658.

Item Relations

This Item dcterms:relation Item: Freedmen's Public School Letters
This Item dcterms:relation Item: "The Colored Grammar School"
This Item dcterms:relation Item: Original Klan Activity in the Shoals Area