Abstract

This thesis links the Veiled Prophet Society, a covert organization formed in 1878 by St. Louis' financial elite in response to the Great Strike of 1877, to the discursive transformation of procession into a “top-down” modality of power. Depicted in the Missouri Republican with a rifle and a bright pointed hood, the Veiled Prophet presaged the Ku Klux Klan’s later iconography, suggesting an intentional message of racial control. Accordingly, the organization’s procession aimed to indoctrinate Black and low-income communities, promoting the maxims of a burgeoning free market economy at a time of unparalleled economic disparity. This thesis thus situates the Veiled Prophet Society within a broader historical context, tracing its roots to European folk traditions like Charivari while examining its links to other American fraternal organizations, such as the Ku Klux Klan and Krewes of Mardi Gras. By appropriating and transmuting carnivalesque folk forms into a vehicle for ideological transmission, the Veiled Prophet Society sought to reinforce racial boundaries and divide the working class amid economic unrest. The thesis draws on Cedric J. Robinson's concept of "racial capitalism" and Dubois’ “counter revolution of property” to reveal how market concerns reshaped racial constructs. Additionally, my research addresses the dual nature of secrecy and spectacle in right- wing organizations. While early scholarship viewed Klan secrecy as a necessary limitation, more recent studies suggest it functioned to attract new members and propagate ideology. This thesis advances the understanding of how "top-down" processional forms, like those of the Veiled Prophet Society, exploited the duality of secrecy and spectacle to control social narratives and maintain economic dominance, infusing processional traditions with a distinct panoptic quality.