The RG’s Diane Dietz has the news on the report from Mike Schill’s denaming historians. This story concentrates on former UO Professor and KKK Exalted Cyclops Frederick Dunn:
He was the exalted cyclops of the Eugene chapter of the Ku Klux Klan — “one of the most successful (KKK) klaverns in Oregon” — and a University of Oregon professor.
Frederick Dunn, who taught classics in the 1920s and 1930s, made no secret of his association with the racist and often violent group. Leading Eugene citizens of the day also were Klansmen.
These are some of the facts unearthed by a trio of historians the UO commissioned to assess the racial views and actions of Dunn and UO founder Matthew Deady — to see whether their names brought dishonor to the university and should be stripped from its buildings.
But the overall effect of the report is an indictment of 1920s Eugene, where citizens turned out to watch a Ku Klux Klan parade, where the Klan burned crosses on Skinner Butte for all to see, and KKK members worked behind the scenes to harm Catholics.
I thought of this scene from O Brother where Art Thou:
But I’m sure that, in reality, it took a lot more than good music to run Eugene’s KKK out of town – though presumably self-interested politicians really did help – and obviously its ideas are still far from defeated.
Dietz also has a story on the Matthew Deady part of the historian’s report, here.
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