The Ku Klux Klan in the United States: “We are still going to stand here”
by Amy C. Perkins
Writing Sample Originally written for:
HST 496
Research Seminar: Social Protest in Recent America
Ku Klux
They took me out
To some lonesome place.
They said, “Do you believe
In the great white race?”
I said, “Mister,
To tell you the truth,
I’d believe in anything
If you’d just turn me loose.”
The white man said, “Boy,
Can it be
You’re a-standin’ there
A-sassin’ me?”
They hit me in the head
And knocked me down
And then they kicked me
On the ground.
A klansman said, “Nigger,
Look me in the face
And tell me you believe in
The great white race.”
~Langston Hughes
“One thing is for certain, as long as there is a white man in America and as long as we got one red-blooded American white enough to wear one of these white sheets, we are going to stand here, we will not be moved . . . .” 1 These words, spoken by a klansman in the wake of the historic 1979 shootout in Decatur, Alabama, attest to the continued existence of the age-old American legacy of hate begun and perpetuated by the infamous Ku Klux Klan. Indeed, the white robes and the white hoods that haunt the pages of history clothe men and women of today. The hate and intolerance that originally united six Confederate veterans in 1865 is alive and well in contemporary America.2
Like a virus immune to antibiotics, the Klan has demonstrated an immunity to time, mutating with every successive decade to exploit the fears and uncertainty that surface. During the 133 years of its existence, the Klan has repeatedly reformed its tactics, refined its message, and revamped its image. It’s fundamental goal, however, has remained the same: “to rebuild our collapsing society on the principles of Christian honor, honesty, duty, courage, brotherhood, and patriotism.”3
Americans nationwide congregate under this banner of white supremacy as they participate in rallies, commit hate crimes, and campaign for political office. Their continued promotion of intolerance, however, has sparked the rise of a countermovement committed to fighting hate. Organizations at the local, regional, and national levels have formed to discredit the preachings of the Klan.4 Operating as advocates of racial harmony and social peace, these groups have succeeded in discouraging local Klan activities, proposing and passing federal legislation, and winning controversial court battles, all of which have effectively disarmed the Klan legally and financially.5 Consequently, the Klan, although originally optimistic about its resurgence in the mid-1970s, has again suffered a loss in membership and esteem.6
As this organization, founded upon a nineteenth-century ideology, welcomes the dawning of a new millennium, its fate hangs precariously in the balance. Will the Klan survive the injurious blows delivered by the community, courts, and Congress? Will its message of hate find its way into yet another century? While these questions have yet to be answered, history, coupled with recent developments, betokens an important reality: the Ku Klux Klan has consistently demonstrated an ability to adapt to the changing times and thereby persevere for more than a century.
The story of the Klan’s evolution and perseverance begins with its formation. One December evening in 1865 six Confederate veterans of Pulaski, Tennessee conspired to create a social club composed of the sons of the old ruling class.8 These six men, fueled by a desire to regain power and influence in the face of Reconstruction policy, founded an organization sympathetic to the interests of white aristocratic southerners.9 The group united under the title Ku Klux Klan, a name originating from the Greek word kuklos, meaning circle.10 They assumed a secretive nature and outlined a detailed chain of command.
Under the leadership of the Grand Cyclops, klansmen embarked upon terrifying night rides that evoked fear in the black community. Disguised in white-sheets, grotesque masks, and tall pointed hats, Klan members posing as ghosts of the Confederate dead visited local black residents.11 Testimony taken from Joseph Gill of Huntsville, Alabama during an 1872 Joint Select Committee hearing describes the terrifying appearance of these costumed klansmen:
They had gowns on just like your overcoat, that came down to the toes . . . you couldn’t see none of the face, nor nothing; you couldn’t see a thing of them . . . . They said they came from hell; that they died at Shiloh fight and Bull Run. 12
These ghoulish visitors threatened harm to freed blacks who attempted to practice their constitutional rights and liberties. Demonstrating the sincerity of their threats, the klansmen spawned a reign of terror throughout the South, committing acts of assault, robbery, rape, arson, and murder. News of the group’s mutilations, floggings, lynchings, and shootings spread, attracting new members to the organization and instilling fear in freed blacks nationwide.13
Despite its growing popularity, however, the Klan disbanded in 1869. Scholars site two factors to explain this event. Researchers employed by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a firm specializing in Civil Rights cases, concluded that the Klan fell victim to internal division. As the Klan’s membership exploded, violence attributed to the organization escalated. Members began donning robes and hoods merely to commit acts of personal revenge. Their affiliation with the racist order became an excuse for pursuing their individual definition of justice. Klan leaders, frustrated by their inability to exercise control over followers, directed their hostility against each other. Opposing factions formed within the once unified group. This consequential internal division, scholars believe, contributed to the Klan’s eventual disbandment.14
Anne Braden, a journalist specializing in Southern movements for social justice, outlines a second factor she believes inspired the Klan’s disbandment. In her article “Lessons From a History of Struggle,” Braden argues that the social group begun one evening in 1865 had been institutionalized into the official governments of the South and the nation. The secretive organization committed to the restoration of power to whites had achieved its original goal and, in doing so, thereby dissolved its need to exist. In summary, Braden asserts that the Klan’s disbandment was not the result of internal division, but rather a consequence of the group’s success. As members overthrew new governments by force and violence, they reassumed positions of authority. Operating within these governing capacities, former klansmen systematically reversed Reconstruction efforts and reinstated white dominance throughout the South. Braden adds that in the years that followed, the surviving Klan ideology became the prevailing force in American politics.15 Its reign in government continued well into the twentieth century, only to be challenged by the turmoil of the 1920s.
The massive immigration and social unrest of the 1920s prescribed a context ripe for a resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan. Americans, hostile to the immigration of an estimated 26 million people between 1870 and 1920, sought solace in a familiar friend.16 White robes and white hoods were dusted off and pulled from their closets as Americans once again mobilized under the banner of the Ku Klux Klan.
Massive immigration, however, was not the only factor that sparked a resurgence of the Klan in the 1920s. White Americans were also motivated by the apparent threat posed by black World War I veterans returning to the states; whites feared that these veterans would return with the expectation that they too could enjoy the democratic rights they had recently risked their lives to protect.17 Additionally, Americans were energized by their fear of the widespread formation of labor unions, the potential expansion of communism, and the perceived upsurge of immoral behavior throughout the nation. They responded to their anxieties by unleashing attacks against bootleggers, unions, dope, night-clubs, graft, sex, and other scandalous behaviors.18 The Klan, empowered by its new mission of social vigilance, effectively exploited the fears of Americans and attracted no less than 100,000 members by the summer of 1921. Thus, the second era of this “‘benevolent’” society had begun.19
Reminiscent of the tactics employed by their founders, Klan members in the 1920s led a rampage of whippings, shootings, lynchings, and tar-and-feathers raids. Their victims included blacks, Jews, Catholics, Mexicans, and various immigrant groups. They further expanded their efforts to target whites who opposed the Klan. Public officials unsympathetic to the organization’s interests were often branded with the letters ‘“KKK”’ on their forehead. Furthermore, women and Protestants perceived as immoral or as traitors to their race fell victim to the Klan’s rage. In Alabama, for example, a divorcee and mother of two was flogged for the “crime” of remarrying. In a similar case, a Georgia woman endured 60 lashes for her “‘immorality and failure to go to church.’” Indeed, the Klan’s campaign of terror instilled fear in Americans of all races, creeds, and sexes.20
The Klan succeeded not only in instilling fear in most Americans, but in securing political influence as well. In 1922, Texas klansmen campaigned to ensure the election of their colleague, Earl Mayfield, to the U.S. Senate. Additionally, klansmen spearheaded successful political campaigns to discourage the reelection of two Jewish congressmen who posed a threat to the continued existence of the organization.21
To supplement their campaign efforts, klansmen sought to make their presence known to the federal government and all of America. In 1925, 40,000 klansmen from across the United States attracted national attention when they congregated in Washington, D.C. The sight of their white robes and white hoods strolling down the streets of the nation’s capital alerted Americans to the resurrected presence of the Ku Klux Klan.22
The decline of the Klan, however, lurked just around the corner. In the years immediately following its 1925 march in Washington, the Klan suffered political defeats and counterattacks from clergy, the press, and the American public. These external challenges gave rise to division within the group. In 1927, rebellious klansmen in Pennsylvania delivered one of the most costly blows to the faltering organization. As these dissenters cut ties with the invisible empire, Imperial Wizard Hiram Wesley Evans responded by filing a $100,000 suit against them. When the case reached the courts, the defendants and supporting witnesses disclosed Klan secrets, linking the vigilant group with numerous acts of terror and murder. Newspapers covering the case published the defendants’ graphic testimony, including the story of a man in Terrell, Texas who was soaked in oil and burned to death as several hundred klansmen watched. The printing of such stories fed Americans’ hostility toward the Klan.23
Faced with popular opposition, the Klan endured losses of both members and sympathizers. Its membership dwindled from five million in 1925 to an estimated 350,000 by 1927. Reduced to the status of a fraternal organization, the Klan resumed a less pronounced presence in American society.24
A quarter of a century later, the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s inspired a second resurgence of the Klan. White Southerners, initially united in their rage following the Brown decision (1954), mobilized to preserve and defend white dominance in the South. They conspired to block racial integration and perpetuate the denial of constitutional rights to blacks. Their efforts resulted in marches, rallies, bombings, and lynchings.25 In 1963 their wrath claimed the lives of four young black girls changing into their choir robes in the basement of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. The girls’ innocent deaths were only the beginning of the Klan’s reign of terror.26 Newspaper reports credited the organization with almost 70 bombings in Georgia and Alabama, the burning of 30 black churches in Mississippi, and 10 murders in Alabama alone. Their blatant disregard for human life stole breath from the bodies of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner, three Civil Rights workers abducted and slain by Mississippi klansmen. Similarly, the Klan’s rage inspired the fatal shooting of Viola Gregg Liuzzo, a white woman and mother of five who was punished for ferrying Civil Rights marchers on the road from Selma to Montgomery in 1965.27
These acts of violence against the nonviolent aroused indignation in the American people. The public found it increasingly difficult to sympathize with a movement that preached Christian love and simultaneously committed violent acts. The national media, rousing this popular sentiment, broadcasted images of police brutality occurring in Selma and Birmingham, Alabama. People of all races responded with outrage against the Klan.28
The Klan’s apparent disregard for the law prompted a counterattack from the federal government. In 1964 the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) intensified efforts to infiltrate the Klan, securing informants in leadership positions in seven of the 14 Klans in existence at the time. Within a year, an estimated 20 percent of Klan membership was engaged in active correspondence with the FBI. Mirroring the efforts of the FBI, the United States Congress conducted its own investigation into Klan activities. The congressional probe resulted in the citation of seven Klan leaders for contempt of Congress after they refused to turn over Klan records. These investigative efforts spearheaded by the FBI and Congress, coupled with public animosity against the Klan, inspired the century-old group to reform its tactics. Nearing the close of the 1960s, the Klan confined itself to rallies and speeches, and consequently retreated into the periphery of American culture.29
In tracing the Klan’s rise and fall in the first 100 years of its existence, scholars highlight several general contextual factors they believed contributed to the Klan’s spasmodic reign following the Civil War. Anne Braden, in her article “Lessons From a History of Struggle,” contends that throughout history the Klan has prospered most in times of widespread turmoil. She cites the organization’s growth in membership during the 1920s and the 1950s as evidence to support her claim. During these periods of uncertainty, Americans, overwhelmed by their problems, found comfort in the community of the Klan. The Klan in turn provided its members with a mechanism through which they could focus their rage and assign blame to innocent bystanders.30 C. P. Ellis, a former Exalted Cyclops of a North Carolina Klan chapter, testified to this reality in a 1977 interview:
Tryin [sic] to come out of that [financial] hole, I just couldn’t do it. I really began to get bitter. I didn’t know who to blame. . . . The natural person for me to hate would be black people, because my father before me was a member of the Klan. As far as he was concerned, it was the savior of the white people. It was the only organization in the world that would take care of the white people. So I began to admire the Klan.31
Consequently, the Klan enjoyed its periods of greatest popularity when the American people were disenchanted with life, confused by the uncertainty of the times, and desperate for solutions to their personal problems.32
In consideration of this conclusion, however, Braden warns that one cannot assume that the Klan would thrive in any period of turmoil. She cites the status of the Klan in the 1930s to prove her point. In the wake of the Great Depression, one of the greatest economic crises the United States has ever endured, Americans were undeniably distraught. And yet the Klan continued to flounder following its resurgence in the 1920s. Braden explains this development by revealing two additional factors that influence the overall popularity of the Klan: the existence of (1) strong mass movements providing real answers to social and economic problems and (2) a unified offensive against the ideology of intolerance and hate. First of all, in the 1930’s powerful public movements promising positive change encouraged interracial cooperation. Their efforts to unite all people under the umbrella of humanity effectively challenged the attractiveness of the Klan’s message. Consequently, their formation contributed to the Klan's losses in membership and popular appeal. Secondly, Braden asserts that the Klan can be stopped when an aroused citizenry forms a counteroffensive against it. Such was the case in the 1920s when the group became so violent that the nation grew intolerant of the Klan’s criminal acts. The public responded by blocking the organization’s efforts to preach its ideology. Braden argues that this popular opposition to the Klan and the presence of viable alternatives to its ideology have historically hindered the Klan’s ability to grow.33
Braden recorded her conclusions during a time in which the infamous group enjoyed a third revival in American culture: the 1970s. She writes, “We see a resurgence of the Klan today because again we are in a period of social and economic turmoil.” She cited the high unemployment rate, the decaying condition of the cities, the deterioration of the school systems, and the widening gap between the rich and the poor as contextual factors that sparked the resurrection of the Klan in the late 1970s.34
Other sources, however, identify additional factors that contributed to the resurfacing of the Klan in the 1970s. Irwin Suall and David Lowe of the Anti-Defamation League credit the revival of the Klan to the group’s exploitation of such controversial issues as busing and affirmative action. Additionally, they believe the resurgence was fueled by several background factors: the United States’ defeat in Vietnam, costly inflation, the energy crisis, and finally, the animosity directed at the flourishing counterculture. Suall and Lowe argue that all of these factors combined to invite yet another revival of the Ku Klux Klan.35
In the late 1970s the Klan experienced a significant increase in membership, oversaw a proliferation of white supremacy groups, and planned a growing number of organizational activities. Periodic surveys conducted by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) track the upswing in Klan membership. In 1975 the group claimed to have 6,500 members. Just four years later, however, the group boasted a membership approximated at 9,000-10,500. This figure, however, was divided among numerous Klan branches that thrived in the years following the Vietnam War. Among these offshoots of the Klan, the United Klans of America (1,500 members), the Invisible Empire (1,500 members), and the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan (Tuscumbia faction) (500-750 members) attracted the largest number of followers.36
United in their commitment to white supremacy, these Klan factions organized several historically significant and sometimes violent demonstrations. Of these demonstrations, one of the most memorable occurred in Decatur, Alabama in 1979.37
The violence that ultimately erupted in Decatur originated from the arrest of Tommie Lee Hines, a severely retarded black man. Following his arrest in May 1978, Hines was convicted on charges of raping three white women. His conviction seemed unjust in light of considerable evidence suggesting he lacked the mental capacity to drive the car involved in the crimes. Outraged by the apparent injustice of Hines’ conviction, the local black population organized protest marches. Their demonstrations, however, captured the Klan’s attention. With the hope of attracting national publicity, Wizard Bill Wilkinson disclosed plans for an August 12 rally and forewarned, “‘A race war is coming.’” An estimated 7,000 whites, only 50 of which were clothed in white robes and hoods, responded to his call and demonstrated in the streets of Decatur. Following the August rally, tension between klansmen and local black residents continued to build into the spring of 1979. In February, 150 robed klansmen taunted city officials with a motorcade through town, waving shotguns and pistols. Their actions defied a new city ordinance banning weapons in demonstrations. Monitoring this restlessness in Decatur, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) grew increasingly nervous with the Klan’s activity. On May 25, the SCLC led a march to protest the Klan. Eager to return the favor, 200 klansmen, dressed in robes and hoods and armed with loaded guns, gathered for a counter-march. As the opposing forces met, violence ensued. Before the march was over four participants, two blacks and two klansmen, fell to the pavement bleeding. Two days later, Wilkinson, accompanied by 200 klansmen, rallied at the city hall, burned a seven-foot cross, and commanded whites to “Arm yourselves against the niggers.”38 On June 9, Wilkinson returned to the steps of the municipal building and spoke to an audience of 100 local whites. He defended the Klan’s constitutional right to demonstrate: “I will point out at this moment that our Constitution guarantees us among other things the right to peacefully assemble. And nowhere does it say you cannot wear white.”39
Exercising this right to “peacefully assemble,” the Klan descended on Greensboro, North Carolina to participate in “the worst episode of Klan violence in more than a decade.” In the fall of 1979 tension escalated between local klansmen and members of the Communist Workers Party (CWP). The mutual hostility reached its boiling point by mid-October, and CWP members announced plans for a “’Death to the Klan’” rally scheduled for November 3. The group publicly challenged the Klan to make an appearance at the rally and commanded local police to “‘stay out of our way.’”40
Responding to this challenge, white supremacists from all parts of North Carolina gathered south of Greensboro in the early morning hours of November 3. One of the klansmen present at this rendezvous point called his long-time police department contact, Detective Jerry Cooper, and reported, “‘There was 12 to 14 people at the house and they had guns, everybody had a gun.’” In fact, the Klan’s collection of weapons included a .357 Magnum pistol, an AR-180 semi-automatic rifle, and an assortment of shotguns. At 11:05 am the caravan of armed klansmen departed from its gathering point and drove north to Greensboro, the site of the CWP rally.41
As the Klan caravan approached Greensboro, the Communist Workers Party began its “Death to the Klan” rally on schedule. Members of the party and the local black community congregated in the streets, singing freedom songs and punching at an effigy of a white-robed klansman. They distributed CWP literature and posted signs on a flat-bed truck. Their gathering, however, was soon interrupted by the arrival of the Klan caravan at 11:20 am.42
Police transcripts of radio conversations between officers assigned to cover the rally record what transpired following the arrival of the klansmen. At 11:22 am, Detective Cooper radioed, “Okay, we got about nine or 10 cars on the opposite side have now arrived at the formation point for the parade . . . they’re definitely creating attention . . ..” Less than a minute later Cooper reported, “We’ve got a 10-10 [fight in progress] down here, you better get some units in here.” Witnesses later testified that a CWP demonstrator had hit a Klan vehicle with a stick, provoking klansmen to get out of their cars and physically attack the rally participants. Video footage of the event reveals that Klansman Mark Sherer then fired the first shot. His use of black powder caused authorities to suspect that Sherer’s shot may have been a signal to other klansmen. Within seconds heavy gunfire commenced. More than 30 shots, most of which were fired by klansmen, were exchanged in a span of 88 seconds. Following this brief volley of shots, klansmen fled the scene. By the time police arrived, only the lifeless bodies of five communist demonstrators remained. Caesar Cauce, Sandy Smith and Jim Waller died immediately. Bill Sampson died a few minutes later. Mike Nathans, the final victim, lay sprawled on his back with blood spilling out from his face. He died in the hospital two days later.43
The bloodshed and murder of five demonstrators shocked the Greensboro community. Local newspapers criticized the police department for failing to prevent the violent outbreak and, furthermore, for allowing the klansmen to flee the scene. Several Greensboro residents, however, assigned blame to the CWP. They downplayed the Klan’s motives and chastised the slain demonstrators for provoking the violence that ensued. This perception of the incident was represented in the courtroom as six men stood trial for five counts of first-degree murder. Despite a detailed video recording of the shootout, an all-white jury acquitted the four klansmen and two neo-Nazis. Again, white supremacists escaped punishment for murders they committed.44
The violence realized in Greensboro and Decatur echoed throughout the South in 1979. The Klan klavern in Sylacauga, Alabama declared war on two black leaders, Charles Woods and Willie James Williams, state president and local head of the NAACP respectively. Klansmen fired shots into the homes of these two men. In another act of terrorism, the “enforcers of community morals” sent bullets into homes of two interracial couples and flogged a suspected child abuser. In both cases, klansmen were charged with federal counts of violating the civil rights of citizens. A neighboring Klan in Carbon Hill, Alabama sent shockwaves through its local community when one of its members shot a black man in the face at a Klan meeting. Authorities charged Roger Dale Patmon with assault with attempt to commit murder. His criminal actions, however, inspired a different response from one Klan leader who stated that Patmon had behaved “admirably.”45
As the Klan continued to commit acts of terrorism throughout the South, the organization attracted a growing number of members. ADL surveys estimated Klan membership to be between 9,700-11,500 in 1981.46 This number was strengthened by an additional 75,000 sympathizers who identified with the Klan’s ideology. The SPLC credits this burgeoning popularity to the rise of a new articulate leader clothed in a three-piece suit and armed with a college education.47
David Duke single-handedly fashioned a new image for the Klan. As Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, this attractive college graduate effectively employed his communication skills to win support from mainstream American. He outwitted unprepared journalists and interviewers who expected to hear the traditional racial slurs and slogans used by his predecessors. Time and time again, Duke delivered a finely tuned pitch to the media and softened the popular perception of his organization. In 1975 he traveled from state to state recruiting new members to local Klan chapters. He even ran for the Louisiana Senate in 1975 and again in 1979; he was defeated in both races. After losing his second bid for the state Senate, Duke was stripped of his hold on the Knights. A rival Klan leader, Don Black, accused Duke of offering to sell his membership list. Unable to recover from the accusation, Duke was replaced by Black.48
Much to the dismay of Knights nationwide, Black labored unsuccessfully to sustain the image of Klan respectability. His efforts were frustrated by another high-ranking Klan leader who easily obliterated the organization’s polished image. Invisible Empire Imperial Wizard Bill Wilkinson attracted national publicity with his militaristic undertakings. He posed for newspaper photos surrounded with klansmen wielding submachine guns. Pleased with the Invisible Empire’s arsenal of guns, Wilkinson proudly disclosed the intended use of the weapons: “These guns ain’t for killing rabbits, they’re for wasting people.” With these words, Wilkinson destroyed Duke’s softened image of the Klan. Once again, the public perceived the robed racists as violent criminals fueled by hate. The Klan’s membership records reflected the return of this negative perception. Between 1981 and 1982, approximately 1,700 members left the infamous group and countless sympathizers distanced themselves from Klan ideology. Consequently, the organization, faced with growing opposition, retreated into the shadows of American culture.49
More than a decade after its fourth resurrection, the Klan has yet to enjoy another widespread expression of popular support for its cause. Current figures place Klan membership around 4,500-5,000, reducing the organization to the size it was in 1973.50
