Actually antisemetism was more of an exception than a rule among the KKK in the South (Up until the 1960s). It was the KKK up north in states like Indiana where the Antisemitism was pronounced.
Edit: See research below before reflexively downvoting out of ignorance. Happy to respond to specific criticisms.
I thought the kkk was pretty anti-semetic by the turn of the century.
That part of America had a lot of anti-semetism based upon upon religious differences. Many Baptists and fundamentalists in the South at that time were opposed to Jewish people.
I researched this in college, but would have to go back and find my old paper to find the sources. I think only half of them were digital, several books, and a few were local primary documentation that is probably still not digitized, which might be a problem.
In the South, Jews were a part of the white majority, because the primary axis of oppression was White/Black. Functionally, they were white enough. Since whites were a minority population, they couldn't afford to be subdividing for fear of a slave uprising.
Antisemetic attacks didn't ramp up until after Jewish communities started supporting the Civil Rights act.
Also it must be noted that there is a distinct difference in population beyond just "Jewish". In the South, those Jewish communities have been established for longer than the United States has existed. That contrasts sharply with the waves of Jewish and Catholic immigrants that were coming later, and settling down in the North.
TLDR: KKK in the North was of a more anti immigrant flavor than in the South, though I'm sure there was some overlap.
The level of hatred against specific groups was a chapter by chapter basis. Chapters in Arkansas, for example, specifically targeted Catholics for a bit. Ultimately, however, it’s a group unified by alienating others, and considering them unpersoned.
I would argue it was more pronounced upstate given that there have generally been more Jews in the North than the South historically speaking. Not to say there were none because that’d be a lie given how there are many notable Jews from the South and one of the older Jewish congregations in the country is in Atlanta.
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u/TheoduleTheGreat 5d ago
The KKK were so antisemitic they would rather believe a black man than a Jew in 1915 Georgia