The Klan of the Garvey era of the 1920s was indeed a mainstream, white Protestant organization, whose multimillion membership excluded Italians, Jews, Irish Catholics, and other new immigrants. Its ranks included elected officials, public and private power brokers, and law enforcement officers. Thus, as the head of the “only exclusive Negro” organization, and the self-appointed, “Provisional President of Africa,” Garvey considered it fitting to meet with the mainstream Klan—as one head of state with another—at their headquarters in Georgia.
