The Headmistress by Milena McKay

Afterword Part II

The Know Nothings were a nativist political party and movement in the United States in the mid-1850s. It was primarily an anti-Catholic, anti-Irish, anti-immigration, populist and xenophobic movement.

In 1854, Know Nothings were associated with the tarring and feathering of a Catholic priest. They also burned down a Catholic church in Bath, Maine.

The party declined rapidly in the second half of the 19th century, but the echoes of some of its ideas and ideals can be found in the current US political landscape.