Leaders of the Ku Klux Klan

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File:Hiram Wesley Evans, Imperial Wizard 27471u waist up.jpg
Hiram Wesley Evans, Imperial Wizard from 1923–1939

The national leader of the Ku Klux Klan is often called the grand wizard, imperial wizard, or national director; varying depending on the specific Klan organization.

Titles

The title "Grand Wizard" was used by the first Klan, founded in 1865 and active during the Reconstruction era until 1872. The title was chosen because its first and only officeholder, former Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest, had been known as "The Wizard of the Saddle" during the Civil War.[1]

The second Klan, founded in 1915, styled their national leader the "Imperial Wizard". National officers were styled "Imperial" officers. State or "Realm" officers were styled "Grand" officers. For example, a "Grand Dragon" was the highest-ranking Klansman in a given state.[citation needed]

First Klan (1865–1872)

The Ku Klux Klan was founded by six Confederate veterans in 1865, but did not elect a grand wizard until after Nathan Bedford Forrest joined in 1867.[2][3][4]

  • Nathan Bedford Forrest, Grand Wizard, 1867–1869.[1] Forrest resigned in 1869 and ordered the Ku Klux Klan to be dissolved, although the group remained active until 1872[5][6]

Second Klan (1915–1944)

  • William Joseph Simmons[7] (1880–1945) was the imperial wizard (national leader) of the second Ku Klux Klan between 1915 and 1922.[8]
  • Hiram Wesley Evans (1881–1966), part of a group that ousted William Joseph Simmons from the position of Imperial Wizard in November 1922. Evans was Imperial Wizard from 1922 to 1939,Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found. during which time the Klan's membership peaked.
  • James A. Colescott (1897–1950), Imperial Wizard, 1939–1944.Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found. Colescott dissolved the organization after the IRS filed a lien for $685,305 in unpaid taxes, penalties, and interest from the 1920s against the Klan.Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found.

Later "Third" Klans (1940s–present)

  • Samuel Green (1889–1949).[9] Green reformed the KKK in 1946.[10] He was briefly Imperial Wizard of a reorganized Klan in 1949, but died of a heart attack within two weeks of his election.
  • Jeff Lynn Berry[11] (1968–2013)
  • Samuel Bowers[12][13] (1924–2006)
  • David Duke (born 1950), Imperial Wizard, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan (1974–1981); Duke started a new branch of the KKK.[14]
  • Virgil Lee Griffin[15] (1944–2009)
  • Thomas Robb (born 1946), National Director, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, 1989–present[16][17]
  • David Wayne Hull (born 1962), Imperial Wizard, White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, until 2003[18]
  • Johnny Lee Clary (1959–2014), Imperial Wizard in 1989 of the White Knights Organization but subsequently renounced his membership and became an ordained Christian minister speaking against racism and movements such as the Ku Klux Klan.
  • Ron Edwards, Imperial Wizard of the Imperial Klans of America.
  • Robert Shelton (1930–2003). Grand Wizard, United Klans of America Inc., 1961–1987, Shelton started a new branch of the KKK[19]
  • Louis Beam (born 1946), Grand Wizard, Texas Ku Klux Klan, 1984–2000[20][21]
  • Bill Wilkinson (born 1942), Imperial Wizard, Invisible Empire Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, 1975–1981, Wilkinson formed a competing branch which, at the time, was the largest national KKK organization.[22][23]
  • Don Black (born 1953), formally imprisoned white nationalist and Imperial Wizard, from 1981–1987.
  • Eldon Edwards (1909–1960), Imperial Wizard, Original Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, 1950–1959[24][25]
  • Roy Elonza Davis (1890–1967) Second in command of 1915 KKK under William Simmons, Grand Dragon of Texas under Eldon Edwards. Imperial Wizard, Original Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Knights of the Flaming Sword 1959–1964;[26] Both organizations disbanded.[27]
  • Samuel Roper (1895–1986), law enforcement officer turned Imperial Wizard of the KKK, from 1949–1950. Styled Imperial Wizard, Original Knights of the Ku Klux Klan 1949–1950,[28] He was preceded by Samuel Green, and was later succeeded by Eldon Lee Edwards.
  • Bob Jones (1930–1989), Grand Dragon of the United Klans of America in North Carolina from 1963–1967.[29]
  • Tom Metzger (1938–2020), Grand Wizard of the KKK in the 1970s. Founder of the White Aryan Resistance (WAR).

See also

References

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  1. ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Hurst, Jack (2011-06-08). Nathan Bedford Forrest: A Biography. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-307-78914-3.
  2. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Horn, Stanley F. (1939). Invisible Empire: The Story of the Ku Klux Klan, 1866–1871. Montclair, NJ: Patterson Smith Publishing Corporation.
  3. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Fleming, Walter J., ed. (1905). Ku Klux Klan: Its Origins, Growth and Disbandment. Neale Publishing.
  4. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Wyn Craig Wade (1998). The Fiery Cross: The Ku Klux Klan in America. Oxford University Press. p. 32. ISBN 978-0-19-512357-9.
  5. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.United States. Congress. Joint Select Committee on the Condition of Affairs in the Late Insurrectionary States (1872). Report of the Joint Select Committee to Inquire Into the Condition of Affairs in the Late Insurrectionary States, So Far as Regards the Execution of the Laws, and Safety of the Lives and Property of the Citizens of the United States and Testimony Taken: Report of the Joint committee, Views of the minority and Journal of the Select committee, April 20, 1871 – Feb. 19, 1872. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 14. When it is considered that the origin, designs, mysteries, and ritual of the order are made secrets; that the assumption of its regalia or the revelation of any of its secrets, even by an expelled member, or of its purposes by a member, will be visited by 'the extreme penalty of the law', the difficulty of procuring testimony upon this point may be appreciated, and the denials of the purposes, of membership in, and even the existence of the order, should all be considered in the light of these provisions. This contrast might be pursued further, but our design is not to connect General Forrest with this order, (the reader may form his own conclusion upon this question,) but to trace its development, and from its acts and consequences gather the designs which are locked up under such penalties.
  6. ^ "The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow: The Enforcement Acts, 1870–1871", Public Broadcast Service [1]. Retrieved December 22, 2022.
  7. ^ Ku Klux Klan -- Extremism in AmericaScript error: No such module "webarchive".
  8. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Wade, Wyn Craig (1987). The Fiery Cross: the Ku Klux Klan in America. Oxford University Press US. p. 144. ISBN 978-0-671-41476-4. OCLC 652217460 – via Internet Archive.
  9. ^ Samuel Green Script error: No such module "webarchive".
  10. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Green, Klan Chief, Dies At His Home. Atlantan Was Head Of Force Which Led New Movement Of The Hooded Groups". The New York Times. August 19, 1949. Retrieved 2011-04-27. Dr. Samuel Green, imperial wizard of the Associated Klans of Georgia, died at his home tonight of a heart attack at the age of 59. He had been promoted from grand dragon to the wizard post at a "Konklave" two weeks ago. ... He was the driving force behind the revitalized movement of their hooded order that followed World War II. The old Klan was by Federal tax suits, ...
  11. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Key Leader Profile: Berry, Jeff". www.tkb.org. Archived from the original on 2006-10-02. Retrieved 2006-08-09.
  12. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."CNN - Former KKK leader convicted of 1966 murder - August 21, 1998". www.cnn.com.
  13. ^ Samuel Bowers Bio Script error: No such module "webarchive".
  14. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Reed, Julia (April 9, 1992). "His Brilliant Career". The New York Review of Books. Retrieved October 21, 2019. (subscription required)
  15. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Martin, Douglas (17 February 2009). "Virgil Lee Griffin, Klan Leader, Dies at 64". The New York Times.
  16. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Thomas Robb". Southern Poverty Law Center.
  17. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Pastor Robb Alive and Well". Christian Revival Center via Wayback Machine. Archived from the original on 2023-10-15.
  18. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."United States v. David Wayne Hull". CourtListener. May 18, 2006.
  19. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Theroux, Paul (2015). Deep South: Four Seasons on Back Roads. London, UK: Hamish Hamilton. p. 74. ISBN 9780241146729.
  20. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Quarles, Chester L. (1999). The Ku Klux Klan and Related American Racialist and Antisemitic Organizations: A History and Analysis. p. 153. ISBN 978-0786406470.
  21. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Louis Beam". Southern Poverty Law Center.
  22. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Knights of the Ku Klux Klan". Southern Poverty Law Center.
  23. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Wilkinson, Bill (1982-11-04). "CNN Crossfire" (Interview). Interviewed by Tom Braden and Pat Buchanan.
  24. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Sims, Patsy (1996). The Klan. University Press of Kentucky. p. 34. ISBN 0-8131-0887-X.
  25. ^ Staff report (March 4, 1986). Samuel W. Roper, 90, was second director of GBI in early 1940s. Atlanta Journal-Constitution
  26. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Imperial Wizard Says KKK's Membership Very Small in Texas". Dallas Morning News. February 11, 1961.
  27. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Committee on Un-American Activities (January 1966). Activities of Ku Klux Klan Organizations of the United States; Parts 1–5. United States Congress. p. 48.
  28. ^ Staff report (August 28, 1949). Ex-Chief of Georgia G-men is new head of Ku Klux Klan. Chicago Tribune
  29. ^ Cunningham, David. Klansville, U.S.A.: The Rise and Fall of the Civil Rights-Era Ku Klux Klan. Massachusetts: Oxford Scholarship Online, 2012. Print.

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