WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:09:00.354 ... 00:09:00.354 --> 00:17:56.719 00:17:56.719 --> 00:18:00.783 As the 20th Century dawned, the Ku Klux Klan was a fading memory. 00:18:00.783 --> 00:18:04.398 Recollections of the hooded order were tainted by popular literature, 00:18:04.398 --> 00:18:08.888 which portrayed the invisible empire as a heroic force. 00:18:08.888 --> 00:18:14.485 Simply battling to maintain the proper social order. 00:18:14.485 --> 00:18:20.035 This fanciful remembrance would help fuel the Klans revival. 00:18:20.035 --> 00:18:24.562 On Thanksgiving Eve 1915, 16 men gathered on top 00:18:24.562 --> 00:18:27.942 of Stone Mountain in Georgia. As night fell, 00:18:27.942 --> 00:18:32.729 a towering cross was ignited and the Ku Klux Klan was reborn. 00:18:32.729 --> 00:18:36.065 The organizer of the spectacle was a preacher turned salesman 00:18:36.065 --> 00:18:40.516 named William Joseph Simmons. 00:18:40.516 --> 00:18:43.064 (David Chalmers) William J. Simmons was a failed 00:18:43.064 --> 00:18:47.511 Methodist Clergyman who had left, left the cloth 00:18:47.511 --> 00:18:51.561 in order to become a fraternal organizer. 00:18:51.561 --> 00:18:54.139 Simmons claimed the idea of starting a new klan 00:18:54.139 --> 00:18:56.614 came to him in a vision. 00:18:56.614 --> 00:18:59.787 The birth of the group was simply a matter of timing. 00:18:59.787 --> 00:19:02.499 The moment arrived with the release of one of 00:19:02.499 --> 00:19:05.737 the greatest cinematic achievements of its time. 00:19:05.737 --> 00:19:12.433 [music] 00:19:12.433 --> 00:19:15.381 Just days following the Stone Mountain cross burning 00:19:15.381 --> 00:19:18.374 the Birth of a Nation was released in the south. 00:19:18.374 --> 00:19:21.764 D.W. Griffiths film was played to sold out theaters. 00:19:21.764 --> 00:19:25.419 The film making was flawless. 00:19:25.419 --> 00:19:28.816 The history was not. 00:19:28.816 --> 00:19:32.624 (Julian Bond) In the Birth of a Nation, the clan is a heroic force. 00:19:32.624 --> 00:19:34.539 It is the defender of white womanhood 00:19:34.539 --> 00:19:37.577 against the ravages of the newly freed slaves, 00:19:37.577 --> 00:19:40.521 these animals, these beasts whose main purpose in life 00:19:40.521 --> 00:19:42.337 was to ravage white women. 00:19:42.337 --> 00:19:45.487 It's a heroic force, it's a noble force. 00:19:45.487 --> 00:19:49.341 (narrator) In the films climatic scene, a group of hooded Klansmen 00:19:49.341 --> 00:19:52.846 ride to the rescue of the film's imperiled heroin 00:19:52.846 --> 00:19:57.173 as she threatened by lust crazed, black men. 00:19:57.173 --> 00:20:00.021 (Julian Bond) Black Americans reacted to Birth of a Nation 00:20:00.021 --> 00:20:03.197 with horror, with protest, with demonstrations. 00:20:03.197 --> 00:20:06.415 It was an assault on Black America at a time when there were 00:20:06.415 --> 00:20:09.629 no depictions of black people as human being. 00:20:09.629 --> 00:20:11.758 This depicted us as beasts 00:20:11.758 --> 00:20:16.572 and depicted these criminals as heroes and saviors. 00:20:16.572 --> 00:20:18.326 (narrator) Despite it's historical inaccuracies, 00:20:18.326 --> 00:20:22.153 the gained legitimacy after President Woodrow Wilson 00:20:22.153 --> 00:20:24.631 screened the epic in the White House. 00:20:24.631 --> 00:20:28.511 "It is like writing history with lightening", the President said, 00:20:28.511 --> 00:20:33.935 "my only regret is that it is all so terribly true." 00:20:33.935 --> 00:20:36.806 (Wyn Craig Wade) The effect of the film was enormous. 00:20:36.806 --> 00:20:42.907 Um, it increased hatred toward blacks, it made people believe 00:20:42.907 --> 00:20:45.507 in the history that was portrayed in it. 00:20:45.507 --> 00:20:50.611 Even ministers endorsed it and it just had a great effect 00:20:50.611 --> 00:20:54.934 on changing peoples attitudes towards blacks and 00:20:54.934 --> 00:21:00.621 convincing them that these people really do need to be controlled. 00:21:00.621 --> 00:21:06.792 (narrator) At his Atlanta home, Simmons mapped out 00:21:06.792 --> 00:21:11.216 the vehicle of control in a manual called, the Kloran. 00:21:11.216 --> 00:21:16.322 The handbook described the Klan's secret rights, rituals, and oaths. 00:21:18.392 --> 00:21:21.031 It defined the meanings of strange names 00:21:21.031 --> 00:21:24.843 created for Klan ceremonies, regence and officers. 00:21:24.843 --> 00:21:29.123 Simmons bestowed upon himself the title of Imperial Wizard, 00:21:29.123 --> 00:21:33.546 Emperor of the invisible empire. 00:21:33.546 --> 00:21:36.136 As Simmons set forth to build his kingdom, 00:21:36.136 --> 00:21:39.388 he found recruits hard to come by. 00:21:39.388 --> 00:21:43.994 But Klan publicist devised a sales pitch based on the slogan 00:21:43.994 --> 00:21:47.105 100% Americanism. 00:21:47.105 --> 00:21:50.172 The new Klan would be a patriotic organization for 00:21:50.172 --> 00:21:53.663 American born, white Protestants only. 00:21:53.663 --> 00:21:57.054 It was no longer enough for the Klan to be antiblack, 00:21:57.054 --> 00:22:01.287 it now added Jews, Catholics, and immigrants to its 00:22:01.287 --> 00:22:03.055 list of enemies. 00:22:04.975 --> 00:22:08.404 The recruitment strategy was a spectacular success. 00:22:08.404 --> 00:22:14.421 Within 15 months the Klan enrolled more than 100 thousand new members. 00:22:14.421 --> 00:22:19.827 The Klan had tapped a fear in millions of Americans. 00:22:19.827 --> 00:22:24.763 (Wyn Craig Wade) In the 20's, a strong portion of American felt invaded. 00:22:24.763 --> 00:22:29.993 They felt invaded by immigrants, Catholics were growing in number, 00:22:29.993 --> 00:22:34.749 and they felt America was no longer the America they knew. 00:22:34.749 --> 00:22:39.756 And so there was strong feeling that they wanted to restore America 00:22:39.756 --> 00:22:43.012 and the Klan promised them that too. 00:22:43.012 --> 00:22:45.921 (narrator) But as the Klan grew, so did its problems. 00:22:45.921 --> 00:22:51.421 Rumors spend about Klan leadership misappropriating funds. 00:22:51.421 --> 00:22:55.983 Rank and file Klansmen took to heart the fiery rhetoric being used 00:22:55.983 --> 00:23:03.260 to increase membership and acts of violence began to occur. 00:23:03.260 --> 00:23:08.113 The Klan was rocked by bad press in 1921 based on information 00:23:08.113 --> 00:23:11.223 supplied by a former Klan recruiter. 00:23:11.223 --> 00:23:14.852 The New York World Newspaper ran a scathing expose, 00:23:14.852 --> 00:23:22.125 the paper detailed Klan atrocities and financial irregularities. 00:23:22.125 --> 00:23:26.599 In response, Congress held hearings into Klan actives. 00:23:26.599 --> 00:23:29.496 The star witness, Imperial Wizard Simmons 00:23:29.496 --> 00:23:34.066 denied all accusations and dazzled the Senators. 00:23:34.066 --> 00:23:38.236 The committee adjourned without taking any action. 00:23:38.236 --> 00:23:41.403 Amazingly, the investigation had the opposite effect 00:23:41.403 --> 00:23:44.874 from which they were intended. 00:23:44.874 --> 00:23:47.885 Simmons claimed the publicity was instrumental in the growth 00:23:47.885 --> 00:23:50.497 of the Klan. 00:23:50.497 --> 00:23:54.312 (voice of Simmons) It wan't until the newpapers began to attack the Klan 00:23:54.312 --> 00:23:58.058 that it really grew. Certain newspapers aided us by 00:23:58.058 --> 00:24:00.384 inducing Congress to investigate us. 00:24:00.384 --> 00:24:04.371 The result was that Congress gave us the best advertising we ever got. 00:24:04.371 --> 00:24:07.410 Congress made us. 00:24:08.010 --> 00:24:12.009 The History Channel returns to Ku Klux Klan, a Secret History. 00:24:12.909 --> 00:24:24.131 [music] 00:24:24.131 --> 00:24:27.607 (narrator) Riding a wave of publicity from the newspaper exposes 00:24:27.607 --> 00:24:31.382 and Congressional hearing, the Klan bursts out of the South 00:24:31.382 --> 00:24:35.375 in an incredible surge of growth. 00:24:35.375 --> 00:24:38.449 Klaverns arose in every state of the union. 00:24:39.519 --> 00:24:43.064 New members willingly paid a $10 initiation fee 00:24:43.064 --> 00:24:47.754 for the privilege of donning the robe and hood. 00:24:49.014 --> 00:24:53.159 Klan recruiters used the Protestant church to their full advantage. 00:24:53.159 --> 00:24:56.717 They persuaded local ministers to join the Klan by offering 00:24:56.717 --> 00:25:01.390 free membership and a position of leadership. 00:25:03.440 --> 00:25:07.970 Klansmen would then make a mysterious call on the congregation. 00:25:07.970 --> 00:25:10.170 (David Chalmers) With prior arrangement by the minister, 00:25:10.170 --> 00:25:13.326 they would appear during the service on Sunday morning, 00:25:13.326 --> 00:25:16.726 make a donation to the church, which the minister 00:25:16.726 --> 00:25:20.191 would receive and bless and then they would withdraw 00:25:20.191 --> 00:25:26.450 and the people would know that the Klan was now in town. 00:25:27.230 --> 00:25:29.174 (narrator) When the Klan wrapped its message 00:25:29.174 --> 00:25:31.169 in the sacred symbols of Christianity 00:25:31.169 --> 00:25:34.063 and the hollowed cloth of the American flag 00:25:34.063 --> 00:25:39.059 it found new members easily induced to join. 00:25:39.059 --> 00:25:42.879 (Morris S. Dees, Jr.) In order to recruit, the Klan has to have a message 00:25:42.879 --> 00:25:46.563 that's palatable and if the Klan message was 00:25:46.563 --> 00:25:50.988 join the Klan and we'll lynch a black 00:25:50.988 --> 00:25:54.081 or we'll burn a building. Very few people would join the Klan 00:25:54.081 --> 00:25:58.404 So the Klan kind of cloaks its goals in, 00:25:58.404 --> 00:26:03.122 good and Christian and right and moral and just and patriotic purposes. 00:26:03.122 --> 00:26:11.304 (narrator) By 1922, 3 million white American had joined the hooded order. 00:26:11.304 --> 00:26:15.831 The stereotype of Klan members as unschooled and savage 00:26:15.831 --> 00:26:17.064 is inaccurate. 00:26:17.064 --> 00:26:21.068 Klan membership in the 1920's represented a cross section 00:26:21.068 --> 00:26:25.443 of the white Protestant community. 00:26:25.443 --> 00:26:28.291 At the same time, American women were demanding 00:26:28.291 --> 00:26:31.953 equal rights. Women who supported klan ideals 00:26:31.953 --> 00:26:36.146 demanded entrance into the invisible empire. 00:26:36.146 --> 00:26:38.525 There overtures resulted in the formation of the 00:26:38.525 --> 00:26:44.893 Women of the Ku Klux Klan and other women klan organizations. 00:26:47.773 --> 00:26:56.741 At it heights, 500 thousand women were members of the Ku Klux Klan. 00:26:56.741 --> 00:27:00.134 With millions now counting themselves as members of the hooded order, 00:27:00.134 --> 00:27:04.357 the Ku Klux Klan became the great social organization 00:27:04.357 --> 00:27:10.067 for much of white Protestant America in the 1920's. 00:27:10.067 --> 00:27:12.801 The Klan demonstrated its popularity 00:27:12.801 --> 00:27:16.263 with its own form pageantry. Main street parades, 00:27:16.263 --> 00:27:21.599 the marches were exhibitions of might and spectacle. 00:27:21.599 --> 00:27:26.954 As Klan membership roles grew, so did its political power. 00:27:26.954 --> 00:27:29.403 In the national arena, the Klan helped to elect 00:27:29.403 --> 00:27:33.996 16 United States Senators, 5 of who were sworn Klan members. 00:27:33.996 --> 00:27:37.948 One of the five, Hugo Black, recanted his allegiance 00:27:37.948 --> 00:27:42.499 when he later became a Supreme Court Justice. 00:27:42.499 --> 00:27:46.348 From California to New Jersey, voters elected Klan backed candidates 00:27:46.348 --> 00:27:49.797 to a variety of statewide and local offices. 00:27:49.797 --> 00:27:52.296 (Julian Bond) You couldn't run for public office in some places 00:27:52.296 --> 00:27:55.738 unless you had the Klan endorsement and Klan support 00:27:55.738 --> 00:27:58.582 because it had this enormous membership and it enjoyed 00:27:58.582 --> 00:28:01.406 the sympathy of nonmembers, who may not have always 00:28:01.406 --> 00:28:04.625 condoned the most horrific and brutal acts 00:28:04.625 --> 00:28:08.108 but who thought the Klan serviced a role in helping tamp down 00:28:08.108 --> 00:28:13.297 these disatant elements in society. 00:28:13.297 --> 00:28:22.465 [music] 00:28:22.465 --> 00:28:24.960 Klan philosophy was one of exclusion. 00:28:24.960 --> 00:28:30.424 The groups on the out, blacks, Catholics, and Jews, 00:28:30.424 --> 00:28:37.515 were subject to intimidation, economic boycott, and violence. 00:28:38.305 --> 00:28:42.242 While the majority of the members abstained from vigilantism, 00:28:42.242 --> 00:28:44.813 the Klan was responsible for episodes of racial 00:28:44.813 --> 00:28:48.035 and religious terror. Most crimes transpired 00:28:48.035 --> 00:28:54.386 in the South but Klan intimidation was felt nationwide. 00:28:54.386 --> 00:28:57.500 Most violence was directed at Blacks. 00:28:57.500 --> 00:29:04.143 They were subject to beatings, floggings, and at times murder. 00:29:07.473 --> 00:29:10.770 But the Klan mission of the 1920's was broader than 00:29:10.770 --> 00:29:13.389 the intimidation of African Americans. 00:29:13.389 --> 00:29:17.022 Portland, Oregon's exalted Cyclope once observed, 00:29:17.022 --> 00:29:20.872 the only way to cure a Catholic is to kill em. 00:29:20.872 --> 00:29:23.698 While few Klansmen advocated the murder of Catholics, 00:29:23.698 --> 00:29:29.421 the anti-Catholic sentiment was a lure for new members. 00:29:29.421 --> 00:29:32.859 Because of their abundant numbers Catholics bore the brunt of 00:29:32.859 --> 00:29:37.142 Klan religious terrorism. 00:29:37.142 --> 00:29:42.539 But those of the Jewish faith were equally despised by the Klan. 00:29:42.539 --> 00:29:45.133 The Klan was able to operate outside the law 00:29:45.133 --> 00:29:52.937 because in many communities it's members were the law. 00:29:52.937 --> 00:29:57.009 In the last half of 1922, Morehouse Parish, Louisiana 00:29:57.009 --> 00:30:00.087 was run by the Klan. Because the hooded order 00:30:00.087 --> 00:30:03.771 had infiltrated the law enforcement, Klansmen were confident 00:30:03.771 --> 01:28:07.886 they could get away with anything, even murder. 99:59:59.999 --> 01:28:08.350 ...