Ku Klux Klan medal given to a South Carolina man

Identifier
irn619899
Language of Description
English
Alt. Identifiers
  • 2018.296.2
  • 2019.504
Dates
1 Jan 1920 - 31 Dec 1928
Level of Description
Item
Source
EHRI Partner

Extent and Medium

overall: | Depth: 0.625 inches (1.588 cm) | Diameter: 1.750 inches (4.445 cm)

Creator(s)

Biographical History

Sanford Vandifer Rogers Jr. (1864-1928) was born in Spartanburg County, South Carolina to Sanford senior and Demy Ann Pearson Rogers. Sanford senior was a Confederate soldier in the Civil War who died in a Union prisoner of war camp in Elmira New York. Sanford Jr. married Selena Bagwell and the couple had nine children. Sanford lived in Spartanburg South Carolina his entire life.

Archival History

Donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2018 by the descendants of Sanford Vandifer Rogers Jr.

Acquisition

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of the Descendants of Sanford Vandifer Rogers, Jr.

Scope and Content

Ku Klux Klan (KKK) medal acquired by Sanford Vandifer Rogers Jr. in Spartanburg County, South Carolina during the 1920s while he was a member. Sanford was born in 1864. His father, Sanford senior, was a Confederate soldier who died in a Union prisoner of war camp in Elmira, New York just before he was born. The KKK promoted the idea that whites are inherently superior to other races. This idea was supported by the racially motivated, pseudoscientific American eugenics movement, which attempted to establish a hierarchy of races. These racist ideas were used to justify the exclusion of African Americans from their inherent rights and the creation of segregation and sterilization laws. Before Nazi Germany, the United States led the world in forced sterilizations. The United States’ Jim Crow and sterilization laws, as well as the eugenics program, served as precedents and helped enable passage of the Nazi Nuremberg Laws which excluded German Jews from Reich citizenship and prohibited them from marrying or having relations with persons of “German or related blood.”

Conditions Governing Access

No restrictions on access

Conditions Governing Reproduction

No restrictions on use

Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements

Thin, circular, brass medal with cut out letters in the center and a line of engraved text above and below. An additional line of text is engraved along the curved, bottom edge. A small circular hole with slight green discoloration is at the top. The surface is smooth and the medal has a plain back.

Corporate Bodies

Subjects

Genre

This description is derived directly from structured data provided to EHRI by a partner institution. This collection holding institution considers this description as an accurate reflection of the archival holdings to which it refers at the moment of data transfer.