1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:09:00,354 ... 2 00:09:00,354 --> 00:17:56,719 3 00:17:56,719 --> 00:18:00,783 As the 20th Century dawned, the Ku Klux Klan was a fading memory. 4 00:18:00,783 --> 00:18:04,398 Recollections of the hooded order were tainted by popular literature, 5 00:18:04,398 --> 00:18:08,888 which portrayed the invisible empire as a heroic force. 6 00:18:08,888 --> 00:18:14,485 Simply battling to maintain the proper social order. 7 00:18:14,485 --> 00:18:20,035 This fanciful remembrance would help fuel the Klans revival. 8 00:18:20,035 --> 00:18:24,562 On Thanksgiving Eve 1915, 16 men gathered on top 9 00:18:24,562 --> 00:18:27,942 of Stone Mountain in Georgia. As night fell, 10 00:18:27,942 --> 00:18:32,729 a towering cross was ignited and the Ku Klux Klan was reborn. 11 00:18:32,729 --> 00:18:36,065 The organizer of the spectacle was a preacher turned salesman 12 00:18:36,065 --> 00:18:40,516 named William Joseph Simmons. 13 00:18:40,516 --> 00:18:43,064 (David Chalmers) William J. Simmons was a failed 14 00:18:43,064 --> 00:18:47,511 Methodist Clergyman who had left, left the cloth 15 00:18:47,511 --> 00:18:51,561 in order to become a fraternal organizer. 16 00:18:51,561 --> 00:18:54,139 Simmons claimed the idea of starting a new klan 17 00:18:54,139 --> 00:18:56,614 came to him in a vision. 18 00:18:56,614 --> 00:18:59,787 The birth of the group was simply a matter of timing. 19 00:18:59,787 --> 00:19:02,499 The moment arrived with the release of one of 20 00:19:02,499 --> 00:19:05,737 the greatest cinematic achievements of its time. 21 00:19:05,737 --> 00:19:12,433 [music] 22 00:19:12,433 --> 00:19:15,381 Just days following the Stone Mountain cross burning 23 00:19:15,381 --> 00:19:18,374 the Birth of a Nation was released in the south. 24 00:19:18,374 --> 00:19:21,764 D.W. Griffiths film was played to sold out theaters. 25 00:19:21,764 --> 00:19:25,419 The film making was flawless. 26 00:19:25,419 --> 00:19:28,816 The history was not. 27 00:19:28,816 --> 00:19:32,624 (Julian Bond) In the Birth of a Nation, the clan is a heroic force. 28 00:19:32,624 --> 00:19:34,539 It is the defender of white womanhood 29 00:19:34,539 --> 00:19:37,577 against the ravages of the newly freed slaves, 30 00:19:37,577 --> 00:19:40,521 these animals, these beasts whose main purpose in life 31 00:19:40,521 --> 00:19:42,337 was to ravage white women. 32 00:19:42,337 --> 00:19:45,487 It's a heroic force, it's a noble force. 33 00:19:45,487 --> 00:19:49,341 (narrator) In the films climatic scene, a group of hooded Klansmen 34 00:19:49,341 --> 00:19:52,846 ride to the rescue of the film's imperiled heroin 35 00:19:52,846 --> 00:19:57,173 as she threatened by lust crazed, black men. 36 00:19:57,173 --> 00:20:00,021 (Julian Bond) Black Americans reacted to Birth of a Nation 37 00:20:00,021 --> 00:20:03,197 with horror, with protest, with demonstrations. 38 00:20:03,197 --> 00:20:06,415 It was an assault on Black America at a time when there were 39 00:20:06,415 --> 00:20:09,629 no depictions of black people as human being. 40 00:20:09,629 --> 00:20:11,758 This depicted us as beasts 41 00:20:11,758 --> 00:20:16,572 and depicted these criminals as heroes and saviors. 42 00:20:16,572 --> 00:20:18,326 (narrator) Despite it's historical inaccuracies, 43 00:20:18,326 --> 00:20:22,153 the gained legitimacy after President Woodrow Wilson 44 00:20:22,153 --> 00:20:24,631 screened the epic in the White House. 45 00:20:24,631 --> 00:20:28,511 "It is like writing history with lightening", the President said, 46 00:20:28,511 --> 00:20:33,935 "my only regret is that it is all so terribly true." 47 00:20:33,935 --> 00:20:36,806 (Wyn Craig Wade) The effect of the film was enormous. 48 00:20:36,806 --> 00:20:42,907 Um, it increased hatred toward blacks, it made people believe 49 00:20:42,907 --> 00:20:45,507 in the history that was portrayed in it. 50 00:20:45,507 --> 00:20:50,611 Even ministers endorsed it and it just had a great effect 51 00:20:50,611 --> 00:20:54,934 on changing peoples attitudes towards blacks and 52 00:20:54,934 --> 00:21:00,621 convincing them that these people really do need to be controlled. 53 00:21:00,621 --> 00:21:06,792 (narrator) At his Atlanta home, Simmons mapped out 54 00:21:06,792 --> 00:21:11,216 the vehicle of control in a manual called, the Kloran. 55 00:21:11,216 --> 00:21:16,322 The handbook described the Klan's secret rights, rituals, and oaths. 56 00:21:18,392 --> 00:21:21,031 It defined the meanings of strange names 57 00:21:21,031 --> 00:21:24,843 created for Klan ceremonies, regence and officers. 58 00:21:24,843 --> 00:21:29,123 Simmons bestowed upon himself the title of Imperial Wizard, 59 00:21:29,123 --> 00:21:33,546 Emperor of the invisible empire. 60 00:21:33,546 --> 00:21:36,136 As Simmons set forth to build his kingdom, 61 00:21:36,136 --> 00:21:39,388 he found recruits hard to come by. 62 00:21:39,388 --> 00:21:43,994 But Klan publicist devised a sales pitch based on the slogan 63 00:21:43,994 --> 00:21:47,105 100% Americanism. 64 00:21:47,105 --> 00:21:50,172 The new Klan would be a patriotic organization for 65 00:21:50,172 --> 00:21:53,663 American born, white Protestants only. 66 00:21:53,663 --> 00:21:57,054 It was no longer enough for the Klan to be antiblack, 67 00:21:57,054 --> 00:22:01,287 it now added Jews, Catholics, and immigrants to its 68 00:22:01,287 --> 00:22:03,055 list of enemies. 69 00:22:04,975 --> 00:22:08,404 The recruitment strategy was a spectacular success. 70 00:22:08,404 --> 00:22:14,421 Within 15 months the Klan enrolled more than 100 thousand new members. 71 00:22:14,421 --> 00:22:19,827 The Klan had tapped a fear in millions of Americans. 72 00:22:19,827 --> 00:22:24,763 (Wyn Craig Wade) In the 20's, a strong portion of American felt invaded. 73 00:22:24,763 --> 00:22:29,993 They felt invaded by immigrants, Catholics were growing in number, 74 00:22:29,993 --> 00:22:34,749 and they felt America was no longer the America they knew. 75 00:22:34,749 --> 00:22:39,756 And so there was strong feeling that they wanted to restore America 76 00:22:39,756 --> 00:22:43,012 and the Klan promised them that too. 77 00:22:43,012 --> 00:22:45,921 (narrator) But as the Klan grew, so did its problems. 78 00:22:45,921 --> 00:22:51,421 Rumors spend about Klan leadership misappropriating funds. 79 00:22:51,421 --> 00:22:55,983 Rank and file Klansmen took to heart the fiery rhetoric being used 80 00:22:55,983 --> 00:23:03,260 to increase membership and acts of violence began to occur. 81 00:23:03,260 --> 00:23:08,113 The Klan was rocked by bad press in 1921 based on information 82 00:23:08,113 --> 00:23:11,223 supplied by a former Klan recruiter. 83 00:23:11,223 --> 00:23:14,852 The New York World Newspaper ran a scathing expose, 84 00:23:14,852 --> 00:23:22,125 the paper detailed Klan atrocities and financial irregularities. 85 00:23:22,125 --> 00:23:26,599 In response, Congress held hearings into Klan actives. 86 00:23:26,599 --> 00:23:29,496 The star witness, Imperial Wizard Simmons 87 00:23:29,496 --> 00:23:34,066 denied all accusations and dazzled the Senators. 88 00:23:34,066 --> 00:23:38,236 The committee adjourned without taking any action. 89 00:23:38,236 --> 00:23:41,403 Amazingly, the investigation had the opposite effect 90 00:23:41,403 --> 00:23:44,874 from which they were intended. 91 00:23:44,874 --> 00:23:47,885 Simmons claimed the publicity was instrumental in the growth 92 00:23:47,885 --> 00:23:50,497 of the Klan. 93 00:23:50,497 --> 00:23:54,312 (voice of Simmons) It wan't until the newpapers began to attack the Klan 94 00:23:54,312 --> 00:23:58,058 that it really grew. Certain newspapers aided us by 95 00:23:58,058 --> 00:24:00,384 inducing Congress to investigate us. 96 00:24:00,384 --> 00:24:04,371 The result was that Congress gave us the best advertising we ever got. 97 00:24:04,371 --> 00:24:07,410 Congress made us. 98 00:24:08,010 --> 00:24:12,009 The History Channel returns to Ku Klux Klan, a Secret History. 99 00:24:12,909 --> 00:24:24,131 [music] 100 00:24:24,131 --> 00:24:27,607 (narrator) Riding a wave of publicity from the newspaper exposes 101 00:24:27,607 --> 00:24:31,382 and Congressional hearing, the Klan bursts out of the South 102 00:24:31,382 --> 00:24:35,375 in an incredible surge of growth. 103 00:24:35,375 --> 00:24:38,449 Klaverns arose in every state of the union. 104 00:24:39,519 --> 00:24:43,064 New members willingly paid a $10 initiation fee 105 00:24:43,064 --> 00:24:47,754 for the privilege of donning the robe and hood. 106 00:24:49,014 --> 00:24:53,159 Klan recruiters used the Protestant church to their full advantage. 107 00:24:53,159 --> 00:24:56,717 They persuaded local ministers to join the Klan by offering 108 00:24:56,717 --> 00:25:01,390 free membership and a position of leadership. 109 00:25:03,440 --> 00:25:07,970 Klansmen would then make a mysterious call on the congregation. 110 00:25:07,970 --> 00:25:10,170 (David Chalmers) With prior arrangement by the minister, 111 00:25:10,170 --> 00:25:13,326 they would appear during the service on Sunday morning, 112 00:25:13,326 --> 00:25:16,726 make a donation to the church, which the minister 113 00:25:16,726 --> 00:25:20,191 would receive and bless and then they would withdraw 114 00:25:20,191 --> 00:25:26,450 and the people would know that the Klan was now in town. 115 00:25:27,230 --> 00:25:29,174 (narrator) When the Klan wrapped its message 116 00:25:29,174 --> 00:25:31,169 in the sacred symbols of Christianity 117 00:25:31,169 --> 00:25:34,063 and the hollowed cloth of the American flag 118 00:25:34,063 --> 00:25:39,059 it found new members easily induced to join. 119 00:25:39,059 --> 00:25:42,879 (Morris S. Dees, Jr.) In order to recruit, the Klan has to have a message 120 00:25:42,879 --> 00:25:46,563 that's palatable and if the Klan message was 121 00:25:46,563 --> 00:25:50,988 join the Klan and we'll lynch a black 122 00:25:50,988 --> 00:25:54,081 or we'll burn a building. Very few people would join the Klan 123 00:25:54,081 --> 00:25:58,404 So the Klan kind of cloaks its goals in, 124 00:25:58,404 --> 00:26:03,122 good and Christian and right and moral and just and patriotic purposes. 125 00:26:03,122 --> 00:26:11,304 (narrator) By 1922, 3 million white American had joined the hooded order. 126 00:26:11,304 --> 00:26:15,831 The stereotype of Klan members as unschooled and savage 127 00:26:15,831 --> 00:26:17,064 is inaccurate. 128 00:26:17,064 --> 00:26:21,068 Klan membership in the 1920's represented a cross section 129 00:26:21,068 --> 00:26:25,443 of the white Protestant community. 130 00:26:25,443 --> 00:26:28,291 At the same time, American women were demanding 131 00:26:28,291 --> 00:26:31,953 equal rights. Women who supported klan ideals 132 00:26:31,953 --> 00:26:36,146 demanded entrance into the invisible empire. 133 00:26:36,146 --> 00:26:38,525 There overtures resulted in the formation of the 134 00:26:38,525 --> 00:26:44,893 Women of the Ku Klux Klan and other women klan organizations. 135 00:26:47,773 --> 00:26:56,741 At it heights, 500 thousand women were members of the Ku Klux Klan. 136 00:26:56,741 --> 00:27:00,134 With millions now counting themselves as members of the hooded order, 137 00:27:00,134 --> 00:27:04,357 the Ku Klux Klan became the great social organization 138 00:27:04,357 --> 00:27:10,067 for much of white Protestant America in the 1920's. 139 00:27:10,067 --> 00:27:12,801 The Klan demonstrated its popularity 140 00:27:12,801 --> 00:27:16,263 with its own form pageantry. Main street parades, 141 00:27:16,263 --> 00:27:21,599 the marches were exhibitions of might and spectacle. 142 00:27:21,599 --> 00:27:26,954 As Klan membership roles grew, so did its political power. 143 00:27:26,954 --> 00:27:29,403 In the national arena, the Klan helped to elect 144 00:27:29,403 --> 00:27:33,996 16 United States Senators, 5 of who were sworn Klan members. 145 00:27:33,996 --> 00:27:37,948 One of the five, Hugo Black, recanted his allegiance 146 00:27:37,948 --> 00:27:42,499 when he later became a Supreme Court Justice. 147 00:27:42,499 --> 00:27:46,348 From California to New Jersey, voters elected Klan backed candidates 148 00:27:46,348 --> 00:27:49,797 to a variety of statewide and local offices. 149 00:27:49,797 --> 00:27:52,296 (Julian Bond) You couldn't run for public office in some places 150 00:27:52,296 --> 00:27:55,738 unless you had the Klan endorsement and Klan support 151 00:27:55,738 --> 00:27:58,582 because it had this enormous membership and it enjoyed 152 00:27:58,582 --> 00:28:01,406 the sympathy of nonmembers, who may not have always 153 00:28:01,406 --> 00:28:04,625 condoned the most horrific and brutal acts 154 00:28:04,625 --> 00:28:08,108 but who thought the Klan serviced a role in helping tamp down 155 00:28:08,108 --> 00:28:13,297 these disatant elements in society. 156 00:28:13,297 --> 00:28:22,465 [music] 157 00:28:22,465 --> 00:28:24,960 Klan philosophy was one of exclusion. 158 00:28:24,960 --> 00:28:30,424 The groups on the out, blacks, Catholics, and Jews, 159 00:28:30,424 --> 00:28:37,515 were subject to intimidation, economic boycott, and violence. 160 00:28:38,305 --> 00:28:42,242 While the majority of the members abstained from vigilantism, 161 00:28:42,242 --> 00:28:44,813 the Klan was responsible for episodes of racial 162 00:28:44,813 --> 00:28:48,035 and religious terror. Most crimes transpired 163 00:28:48,035 --> 00:28:54,386 in the South but Klan intimidation was felt nationwide. 164 00:28:54,386 --> 00:28:57,500 Most violence was directed at Blacks. 165 00:28:57,500 --> 00:29:04,143 They were subject to beatings, floggings, and at times murder. 166 00:29:07,473 --> 00:29:10,770 But the Klan mission of the 1920's was broader than 167 00:29:10,770 --> 00:29:13,389 the intimidation of African Americans. 168 00:29:13,389 --> 00:29:17,022 Portland, Oregon's exalted Cyclope once observed, 169 00:29:17,022 --> 00:29:20,872 the only way to cure a Catholic is to kill em. 170 00:29:20,872 --> 00:29:23,698 While few Klansmen advocated the murder of Catholics, 171 00:29:23,698 --> 00:29:29,421 the anti-Catholic sentiment was a lure for new members. 172 00:29:29,421 --> 00:29:32,859 Because of their abundant numbers Catholics bore the brunt of 173 00:29:32,859 --> 00:29:37,142 Klan religious terrorism. 174 00:29:37,142 --> 00:29:42,539 But those of the Jewish faith were equally despised by the Klan. 175 00:29:42,539 --> 00:29:45,133 The Klan was able to operate outside the law 176 00:29:45,133 --> 00:29:52,937 because in many communities it's members were the law. 177 00:29:52,937 --> 00:29:57,009 In the last half of 1922, Morehouse Parish, Louisiana 178 00:29:57,009 --> 00:30:00,087 was run by the Klan. Because the hooded order 179 00:30:00,087 --> 00:30:03,771 had infiltrated the law enforcement, Klansmen were confident 180 00:30:03,771 --> 01:28:07,886 they could get away with anything, even murder. 181 99:59:59,999 --> 01:28:08,350 ...