Perspective: The ominous history surrounding President Trump’s Fourth of July rally
President Trump speaks during a rally in El Paso, Texas, on Feb. 11. By Christopher Petrella Christopher Petrella teaches in the critical race, gender, and culture studies collaborative at American University. He serves as the director of advocacy & strategic partnerships for the Antiracist Research & Policy Center, also at American University.
Throughout the 19th century, the American Colonization Society , a popular transregional organization that advocated for removing “free” black people from the United States and resettling them in Liberia, used the Fourth of July to expand its message and donor base. Founded in 1816-1817 in Washington, the ACS quickly became the leading institutional voice calling for the pursuit of a homogeneous white nation.
Dickenson‘s sermon was saturated with rank racism. He characterized the presence of free blacks as “a most manifest evil.” Most frightening to Dickenson was the potential for the future as the black population grew.
Shortly after a July 4, 1924, Klan rally in Nebraska — a rally that helped to launch a “three week cross-burning frenzy” — Nebraska’s Star Herald newspaper provided a vivid illustration of how the two ideas, racism and patriotism, were inextricably intertwined at the popular gathering.
These also weren’t small gatherings. Reflecting the popularity of the white supremacist cause, reporters covering the Klan’s July 4, 1923, gathering in Kokomo, Ind., estimated a crowd of 75,000 to 100,000 supporters. The attendance was similar the next year in Jackson, Mich.
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