Laura Martin Rose (September 18, 1862 May 6, 1917) (born Laura Marcella Martin), known professionally as Mrs. S. E. F. Rose, was a

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

and

propagandist Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded l ...

for the

Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to KKK or Klan, is an American Protestant-led Christian terrorism, Christian extremist, white supremacist, Right-wing terrorism, far-right hate group. It was founded in 1865 during Reconstruction era, ...

employed by the

United Daughters of the Confederacy The United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) is an American neo-Confederate hereditary association for female descendants of Confederate Civil War soldiers engaging in the commemoration of these ancestors, the funding of monuments to them, a ...

Biography

Rose was born in 1862 near

Pulaski, Tennessee Pulaski is a city in and the county seat of Giles County, which is located on the central-southern border of Tennessee, United States. The population was 8,397 at the 2020 census. It was named after Casimir Pulaski, a noted Polish-born general o ...

, the town where the Ku Klux Klan would be formed three years later. After her marriage to Solon Edward Franklin Rose, she often identified herself with her husband's name, as Mrs. S. E. F. Rose. Rose wrote a pamphlet, called ''Origins of the Ku Klux Klan'', sold as a fundraiser by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, of which she was

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

division president. The funds were to be used to erect a

Confederate A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a political union of sovereign states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

monument at

Jefferson Davis Jefferson F. Davis (June 3, 1808December 6, 1889) was an American politician who served as the only President of the Confederate States of America, president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. He represented Mississippi in the Unite ...

's home. The pamphlet promoted the

Lost Cause The Lost Cause of the Confederacy, known simply as the Lost Cause, is an American pseudohistorical and historical negationist myth that argues the cause of the Confederate States during the American Civil War was just, heroic, and not cente ...

narrative of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

and presented racist acts of violence as heroism. Encouraged by the success of the pamphlet, Rose expanded it into a textbook titled ''The Ku Klux Klan, or Invisible Empire''. Rose justified Klan violence by claiming it was a last resort in response to supposed African American racial violence, and to encourage southern boys, if deemed necessary, to commit acts violence against African American men to defend the virtue of white southern women. The book was one part of a broad campaign to insert false Confederate narratives of the "Lost Cause", glorification of the KKK, and minimalization of the role of slavery in the Civil War, into public school curriculums in the South, so as to uphold institutionalized

white supremacy White supremacy is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White supremacy has roots in the now-discredited doctrine ...

. It was unanimously endorsed by the United Daughters of the Confederacy at their 1913 annual convention in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

, and again at their 1915 annual convention in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, and by the

Sons of Confederate Veterans The Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) is an American neo-Confederate nonprofit organization of male descendants of Confederate soldiers that commemorates these ancestors, funds and dedicates monuments to them, and promotes the pseudohisto ...

Jacksonville Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...

in 1914, with aim of promoting it in schools throughout the

American South The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, Dixieland, or simply the South) is census regions United States Census Bureau. It is between the Atlantic Ocean and the ...

. It was frequently promoted in ''

Confederate Veteran The ''Confederate Veteran'' was a magazine about veterans of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War of 1861–1865. It published histories of the Civil War with a focus on Confederate events. It also propagated a myth of the Lo ...

'', the official organ of the

United Confederate Veterans The United Confederate Veterans (UCV, or simply Confederate Veterans) was an American Civil War veterans' organization headquartered in New Orleans, Louisiana. It was organized on June 10, 1889, by ex-soldiers and sailors of the Confederate Sta ...

. Rose succeeded

Mildred Rutherford Mildred Lewis Rutherford (July 16, 1851 – August 15, 1928) was a prominent white supremacist speaker, educator, and author from Athens, Georgia. She served the Lucy Cobb Institute, as its head and in other capacities, for over forty years, and ...

as historian-general of the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1916. She died in 1917. Martin Methodist College (renamed

University of Tennessee Southern The University of Tennessee Southern (UT Southern or UTS) is a public university in Pulaski, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1870, it was a private institution for over 150 years until joining the University of Tennessee System in 2021. It ...

in 2021) was named for her grandfather Thomas Martin (1799–1870), who established the college in his will. As her book describes, some of the earliest meetings of the Klan were held at her grandfather's house.

Re-founding of the Klan

Rose's 1914 textbook contributed to mythologizing and glorifying the Ku Klux Klan, which at that time was a nearly-extinct regional organization. It was one of a number of works of the era that would lead to the Klan's re-founding in 1915. According to journalist Michelle Serrano, Rose's textbook served to propagate white supremacy and helped to bring about the

Jim Crow The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws introduced in the Southern United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that enforced racial segregation, " Jim Crow" being a pejorative term for an African American. The last of the ...

era of racist laws.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rose, Laura 1862 births 1917 deaths Members of the United Daughters of the Confederacy American Ku Klux Klan members People from Giles County, Tennessee American women historians

Biography

Re-founding of the Klan

Further reading

References