Ku Klux Klan and Globeville

The first Ku Klux Klan was founded in 1866 in Pulaski, Tennessee by former Confederate Army veterans with the goal of preventing African Americans from using their rights as citizens and voters. Acts of violence, lynchings and the passage of Jim Crow laws also disenfranchised blacks. This original version of the Klan was most active in the South.

Inspired by the film, “the Birth of a Nation,” William Joseph Simmons of Georgia called for the resurrection of the Klan in 1915. This new organization was more inclusive in its hatred than its predecessor, targeting not only blacks, but also Catholics, Jews, immigrants, minorities and organized labor. 

In predominantly Protestant Colorado, the Klan developed a new recruiting message that focused on the “nation’s Protestant ideals” and Americanism. Against the backdrop of prohibition, bootlegging, rampant crime, loose morals, and “free love,” the Klan also stood for law and order and a restoration of “Old-Time Religion.”

Catholics were denounced as followers of the Pope, who controlled a secret Catholic government. There were conspiracy theories about Jews, money and power. Eastern European and Russian immigrants were portrayed as dangerous, possibly anarchists, and unlikely to become loyal citizens. 

The Klan organized community events, including picnics, concerts and auto races, in order to be seen as similar to benevolent groups like the Elks Lodges. 

Globeville’s population included two of the Klan’s targets: immigrants and Catholics. The resurgence of the Klan occurred at the same time as the “Red Scare” following the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. 

While no fiery crosses were seen in Globeville, the community was aware of the power of the organization. Leopold Korsick and his fellow workers at the Globe Smelter were advised to walk in a group to and from their shift. Many people “Americanized” their names (Starsinovich became Star), and prominently displayed American flags on their porches, or in the windows of their businesses.

Globeville survived this version of the Ku Klux Klan, but the group has resurfaced several times and portrays itself as defending American ideals.

Leopold and Teresa Korsic in Globeville

Lent

Today's Christian congregations might be urged to prepare for Easter by simplifying their lives, giving up FaceBook, Starbucks, a favorite food, television program, movies or beer. Early settlers in Globeville didn't have many luxuries to give up but regarded Lent as an opportunity for spiritual growth with greater prayer, repentance and charity. Lent was also a way to express their faith, which had been suppressed in the Old Country, and to preserve the food, traditions and culture they had left behind. 
On the day before Ash Wednesday, or Fastenacht, a German-Russian cook would serve her family schlitzkuchla, a deep-fried pastry. While the German-Russians didn't observe a strict fast, many families served meatless meals, such as Kaseknepfla,(cheese buttons) during the season. Lent was a time of frequent church attendance, with special services every Wednesday evening, and no dancing, card playing, amusements or weddings. 
Lent began for Catholics from St. Joseph's Polish and Holy Rosary Churches on Ash Wednesday with the application of ashes on the forehead, and a reminder that "dust you are and to dust you shall return". Lenten practices included abstaining from meat on Fridays and observing a fast that required the evening meal to be no larger than the combination of breakfast and lunch, and avoiding eating between meals. (It was understood that the faithful would cut back on beer and wine during the solemn season). Fridays were for the devotion known as the Stations of the Cross, Via Crucis, or Via Dolorosa, recalling the route Jesus took on his way to Golgotha, with incense, candles and Latin hymns like Stabat Mater, Mary is Standing.
Because Russian and Serbian Orthodox observed the Julian calendar, "Great Lent" usually began later than that of Roman Catholics with fasting that included not only abstaining from meat, but also certain kinds of fish and dairy. Inside the church, the royal gates to the altar remained closed to signify man's separation from God through sin, and the priest donned vestments in the somber color of purple. The Vesper service which began the lenten season was called Vespers of Forgiveness where the faithful asked forgiveness and forgave each other.
Many of the descendants of Globeville's earlier residents return to the neighborhood parishes to continue the lenten practices they practiced as children, and use the dark, cold days of Lent to prepare for the joyful resurrection of Easter. 

One of the stained-glass windows at Holy Rosary Church

German Russian Lent
St Joseph's Polish Catholic Church 
Holy Rosary Church
Holy Transfiguration of Christ Cathedral