Klansmen: Guardians of Liberty
Encyclopedia
Pillar of Fire Church
The Pillar of Fire International is a Christian organization founded in Denver, Colorado in 1901 by Alma White, with headquarters in Zarephath, New Jersey. The Pillar of Fire was originally incorporated as the Pentecostal Union, but changed its name to distance itself from Pentecostalism in 1915...
in 1926 by Bishop Alma Bridwell White
Alma Bridwell White
Alma Bridwell White was the founder, and a bishop of the Pillar of Fire Church. In 1918, she became the first woman bishop in the United States...
and illustrated by Reverend Branford Clarke
Branford Clarke
Branford Clarke was an Evangelical preacher, poet and artist who promoted the Ku Klux Klan through his art which was drawn for the Pillar of Fire Church and their publications.-Biography:...
. She claims that the founding fathers of the United States were members of the Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...
, and that Paul Revere
Paul Revere
Paul Revere was an American silversmith and a patriot in the American Revolution. He is most famous for alerting Colonial militia of approaching British forces before the battles of Lexington and Concord, as dramatized in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem, Paul Revere's Ride...
made his legendary ride in Klan hood and robes. She said: "Jews are everywhere a separate and distinct people, living apart from the great Gentile
Gentile
The term Gentile refers to non-Israelite peoples or nations in English translations of the Bible....
masses ... they are not home builders or tillers of the soil." Her book became popular during the United States presidential election of 1928
United States presidential election, 1928
The United States presidential election of 1928 pitted Republican Herbert Hoover against Democrat Al Smith. The Republicans were identified with the booming economy of the 1920s, whereas Smith, a Roman Catholic, suffered politically from Anti-Catholic prejudice, his anti-prohibitionist stance, and...
when Al Smith
Al Smith
Alfred Emanuel Smith. , known in private and public life as Al Smith, was an American statesman who was elected the 42nd Governor of New York three times, and was the Democratic U.S. presidential candidate in 1928...
was a candidate.
History
White authored over 35 books and founded the Pillar of Fire ChurchPillar of Fire Church
The Pillar of Fire International is a Christian organization founded in Denver, Colorado in 1901 by Alma White, with headquarters in Zarephath, New Jersey. The Pillar of Fire was originally incorporated as the Pentecostal Union, but changed its name to distance itself from Pentecostalism in 1915...
.
This book primarily espouses White's anti-Catholicism
Anti-Catholicism
Anti-Catholicism is a generic term for discrimination, hostility or prejudice directed against Catholicism, and especially against the Catholic Church, its clergy or its adherents...
, while it also promotes antisemitism, racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
, white supremacy
White supremacy
White supremacy is the belief, and promotion of the belief, that white people are superior to people of other racial backgrounds. The term is sometimes used specifically to describe a political ideology that advocates the social and political dominance by whites.White supremacy, as with racial...
and women's equality. Guardians is a compendium of essays and sermons by White and illustrations by Clarke that were originally published in her pro-KKK political periodical The Good Citizen
The Good Citizen
The Good Citizen was a sixteen-page monthly political periodical edited by Bishop Alma White and illustrated by Reverend Branford Clarke. The Good Citizen was published from 1913 until 1933 by the Pillar of Fire Church at their headquarters in Zarephath, New Jersey in the United States...
, one of the numerous periodicals published by her Pillar of Fire Church
Pillar of Fire Church
The Pillar of Fire International is a Christian organization founded in Denver, Colorado in 1901 by Alma White, with headquarters in Zarephath, New Jersey. The Pillar of Fire was originally incorporated as the Pentecostal Union, but changed its name to distance itself from Pentecostalism in 1915...
at their communal headquarters in Zarephath, New Jersey
Zarephath, New Jersey
Zarephath is an unincorporated area of Franklin Township in Somerset County, New Jersey, United States. It was the communal home to the Pillar of Fire Church, and was the worldwide headquarters of Pillar of Fire International and housed the church's college, Somerset Christian College, and radio...
.
The book contains an introduction by Arthur H. Bell
Arthur H. Bell
Arthur Hornbui Bell was a resident of Bloomfield, New Jersey and the Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan in New Jersey.-Early years:...
, the Grand Dragon of the New Jersey Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...
. It is the second of three books White published to promote the KKK. The other two books were 1926's The Ku Klux Klan In Prophecy
The Ku Klux Klan In Prophecy
The Ku Klux Klan In Prophecy is a 144 page book written by Bishop Alma Bridwell White in 1925 and illustrated by Reverend Branford Clarke. In the book she uses scripture to rationalize that the Klan is sanctioned by God "through divine illumination and prophetic vision". She also believed that the...
, and 1928's Heroes of the Fiery Cross
Heroes of the Fiery Cross
Heroes of the Fiery Cross is a book published in 1928 by Protestant Bishop Alma Bridwell White in which she "sounds the alarm about imagined threats to Protestant Americans from Catholics and Jews." In the book she asks rhetorically "Who are the enemies of the Klan? They are the bootleggers,...
. White republished her Klan books as a three volume set in 1943, three years before her death and 21 years after her initial association with the Klan, under the title Guardians of Liberty
Guardians of Liberty
Guardians of Liberty is a three volume set of books published in 1943 by Bishop Alma Bridwell White, author of over 35 books and founder of the Pillar of Fire Church. Guardians of Liberty is primarily devoted to summarizing White’s vehement anti-Catholicism under the guise of patriotism...
.
The contents included essays entitled The Hebrew Rock, Klansmen of the Revolution, Rome's Idolatrous Shrines and Papal Prisons in America.