Cross burning
Since the early 20th century, the Klan has burned crosses on hillsides as a way to intimidate and threaten Black Americans and other marginalized groups.
It was used in the War of 1812 between Britain and the U.S. as a means of mobilizing the Scottish Fencibles and militia which were settled in Glengarry County, Ontario against the invaders.
[5] In Scotland itself, the last significant use of the burning cross was made in 1745, during the Jacobite rising,[6] and it was subsequently described in the novels and poetry of Sir Walter Scott, particularly The Lady of the Lake of 1810.
Here, on this spot made holy ground by the blood of those we hold dearer than life, I raise the ancient symbol of an unconquered race of men—This scene is accompanied by an unnumbered plate illustration by Arthur I. Keller, captioned "'The fiery cross of old Scotland's hills'", showing two robed, unmasked Klansmen, one of whom is holding a lighted cross, over a bound, blindfolded and gagged Black American, while robed and hooded klansmen look on.
[8] The fiery cross is mentioned once again in the final novel of Dixon's Klan trilogy, The Traitor: A Story of the Fall of the Invisible Empire, when a Grand Dragon tosses a burning cross on a heap of discarded Klan robes and regalia in obedience to the order of the Grand Dragon to dissolve the order.
The few members of the local clan burn a small (around 8 inches [20 cm]) cross, drenched in the young girl's blood.
A kangaroo court is convened, hears the girl's dying words when the colonel gives his testimony, finds the captain guilty of murder, and executes him.
The clan members place his body on the front porch of the South Carolina governor's mansion with a square piece of white sheeting with the initials KKK.
[12] According to journalist and civil rights advocate Carey McWilliams, in California during the '30s, several crosses were burned as part of the intimidation practices of the vigilante groups which were organized to break off pickers' strikes by the Associated Farmers.
