Warning: This collection contains racial imagery and rhetoric that may be offensive to users.
Collection (1917-1920s, 1965) of Ku Klux Klan materials including correspondence, publications, an admission card to a talk, and a parody basketball game ticket.
William Joseph Simmons (b. May 7, 1880 – d. May 18, 1945) was an American preacher and leader of the second incarnation of the Ku Klux Klan from 1915 to 1922. Simmons was born in Harpersville, Alabama, and served in the Spanish-American War. Following his honorable discharge, he worked as a teacher for the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, until he was suspended in 1912 due to his inefficiency. In 1915, Simmons saw the film The Birth of a Nation, a film based on the second novel in the Ku Klux Klan trilogy, which glorifies the Klan and portrays it as heroic. Simmons was inspired by the film and on November 24th, 1915, inaugurated a new Knights of the Ku Klux Klan by climbing Stone Mountain in Georgia and burning a cross. The new Klan initially started with fifteen members, and a few thousand more joined in the first few years. Simmons declared himself to be the Imperial Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. In 1921, the Klan was exposed by the New York World for committing violent acts and Simmons was summoned to testify in court. During the trial, which lasted for more than a week in October of 1921, Simmons distanced himself from the violent actions and emphasized that the group was fraternal in nature. The trial ended with no direct consequences for the Klan, though Simmons began to lose his influence over the group. In 1923, Simmons was ousted as Imperial Wizard by Hiram W. Evans. Following this, Simmons and Roy Elonzo Davis, a co-founder of the second iteration of the Klan, began a new white supremacist organization: the Knights of the Flaming Sword. Through Davis's work, many Klan members remained loyal to Simmons, with at least 60,000 Klan recruits joining the Flaming Sword. The second Ku Klux Klan began to decline in 1925, following the kidnap, rape, and murder of Madge Oberholtzer. Oberholtzer survived the initial event and was able to report the crime to the police. However, she later died due to her injuries. Following these crimes, the Klan continued to decline until it was disbanded by Imperial Wizard James A. Colescott in 1944 due to tax obligations. The following year, in 1945, Simmons died in Atlanta.
The collection consists of Klan publications and personal correspondence from its Imperial Wizard. A letter (January 13, 1919) from Col. W. J. Simmons, Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan in Atlanta, Georgia, to Maurice O. Roberts of Greensboro, N.C., encourages Roberts to join the Klan, describes the organization in general terms, and promises more information when Roberts joins. Simmons discusses the money a Klan organizer could make and offers to send Roberts literature on the Klan.
Three pamphlets and a proclamation (1917) constitute Klan propaganda. One, written by Simmons, discusses the Klan's history, its goals, and its policies. The second pamphlet, a reprint of a signed editorial from McClures' Magazine (April, 1920) is titled Scum O' The Melting Pot. In it, Herbert Kaufman describes America's Anglo-Saxon mission. A third (incomplete) pamphlet (undated), entitled America, The Second Land of Promise, bemoans America's anti-Christian stance and the removal of Christian ethics and teachings from its government, educational system, and military. The pamphlet further decries the influence of Jewish and Catholic elements in American society and advocates Col. William Simmons and his organization as the salvation of white America.
The collection also contains an admission card (undated) for Mr. M[aurice] O. Roberts to hear an address on Americanism, with penciled notations on the reverse side.
November 10, 2023, (unprocessed addition 2), 1 item; A parody basketball game ticket from the 1920s. Transfer from ECU University History & Records.
Gift of Mr. Norman Caine
Gift of Mr. S. Tony Jordan
Transfer from University History & Records
Processed by J.W. Morris III, January 1985.
Re-processed by Patrick Cashm February 2024
Encoded by Apex Data Services
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