The Ku Klux Klan, commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist terrorist hate group whose primary targets are African Americans as well as Jews, immigrants, leftists, homosexuals, Catholics, and Muslims. The Klan has existed in three distinct eras at different points in time during the history of the United States. Each has advocated extremist reactionary positions such as white nationalism, anti-immigration and – especially in later iterations – Nordicism, antisemitism, anti-Catholicism, Prohibition, right-wing populism, anti-communism, homophobia, Islamophobia, and anti-atheism. Historically, the first Klan used terrorism – both physical assault and murder – against politically active blacks and their allies in the Southern United States in the late 1860s. All three movements have called for the "purification" of American society and all are considered "right-wing extremist" organizations. In each era, membership was secret and estimates of the total were highly exaggerated by both friends and enemies.
Cleveland County is a county located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains and the western Piedmont, and on the southern border of the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2010 census, the population was 98,078. Its county seat is Shelby.
Noblesville is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Indiana, United States, a part of the north Indianapolis suburbs along the White River. The population was 51,969 at the 2010 census making it the state's 14th largest city/town, up from 19th in 2007. As of 2019 the estimated population was 64,668. The city is part of Delaware, Fall Creek, Noblesville, and Wayne townships.
Shelby is a city in and the county seat of Cleveland County, North Carolina, United States. It lies near the western edge of the Charlotte combined statistical area. The population was 20,323 at the 2010 census. Shelby is located in between Charlotte and Asheville, and has become a noted tourism and wedding destination in Western North Carolina.
Monroe is a city in and the county seat of Union County, North Carolina, United States. The population increased from 26,228 in 2000 to 32,797 in 2010. It is within the rapidly growing Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill, NC-SC Metropolitan area. Monroe has a council-manager form of government.
The Clansman: A Historical Romance of the Ku Klux Klan is a novel published in 1905. It was the second work in the Ku Klux Klan trilogy by Thomas Dixon Jr. that also included The Leopard's Spots and The Traitor. It presents the Ku Klux Klan heroically. The novel was twice notably adapted, immediately by its author as a highly successful play entitled The Clansman (1905), and a decade later by D. W. Griffith in the 1915 movie The Birth of a Nation. The 20th-century revival of the Ku Klux Klan is a direct result of its glorification by Dixon, suggests filmmaker Spike Lee.
The Battle of Hayes Pond or Maxton Riot was an armed confrontation between members of the Ku Klux Klan and the Lumbee Native Americans at a Klan rally near Maxton, North Carolina, on the night of January 18, 1958. Grand Dragon James W. "Catfish" Cole was the organizer of the Klan rally. Sanford Locklear, Simeon Oxendine and Neill Lowery were leaders of the Lumbee who attacked the Klansmen and successfully disrupted the rally.
Thomas Robb is an American white supremacist Ku Klux Klan leader and Christian Identity pastor. He is national director of The Knights Party, also known as the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, taking control of the organization in 1989.
James William "Catfish" Cole (1924–1967) was a leader of the Ku Klux Klan of North Carolina and South Carolina. He called himself a Grand Dragon.
Thomas Frederick Dixon Jr. was an American white supremacist, politician, lawyer, Baptist minister, lecturer, novelist, playwright, and filmmaker. Referred to as a "professional racist", Dixon wrote two best-selling novels, The Leopard's Spots: A Romance of the White Man's Burden – 1865–1900 (1902) and The Clansman: A Historical Romance of the Ku Klux Klan (1905), that romanticized Southern white supremacy, endorsed the Lost Cause of the Confederacy, opposed equal rights for blacks, and glorified the Ku Klux Klan as heroic vigilantes. Film director D. W. Griffith adapted The Clansman for the screen in The Birth of a Nation (1915), which inspired the creators of the 20th-century rebirth of the Klan.
Reid Memorial Presbyterian Church is an architecturally significant building located at 11th and North "A" Streets in Richmond, Indiana. Designed by the Cleveland, Ohio architectural partnership of Sidney Badgley and William H. Nicklas the building was begun in 1904 and dedicated on May 13, 1906. The building committee had visited the Badgley and Nicklas-designed St. Paul's Methodist Episcopal Church which had been built by the Clement Studebaker family in South Bend, Indiana and the two churches have strikingly similar design elements in the sanctuaries. Reid Church was paid for by Daniel G. Reid in memory of his parents Daniel Reid and Anna Gray Reid. The church interiors and windows were designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany and the Tiffany Studios. The original organ designed by Hook and Hastings is still in use, though it was rebuilt in 1958 by the Wicks Organ Company. The organ was featured with a recital during the Organ Historical Society's 2007 convention in Indianapolis.
Virgil Lee Griffin was a leader of a Ku Klux Klan chapter in North Carolina who was involved in the November 3, 1979 Greensboro massacre, a violent clash by the KKK and American Nazi Party with labor organizers and activists from the Communist Workers Party at a legal march in the county seat of Guilford County. It resulted in the deaths of five marchers, including a woman.
The Charlotte metropolitan area or Metrolina is a metropolitan area of North and South Carolina within and surrounding the city of Charlotte. The metropolitan area also includes the cities of Gastonia, Concord, Huntersville, and Rock Hill as well as the large suburban area in the counties surrounding Mecklenburg County, which is at the center of the metro area. Located in the Piedmont, it is the largest metropolitan area in the Carolinas, and the fourth largest in the Southeastern United States. The Charlotte metropolitan area is one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in the United States.
Leroy Magnum McAfee was an American Confederate veteran and politician. He was a member of the North Carolina House of Representatives. He later served as the inspiration for the protagonist of his nephew Thomas Dixon Jr.'s infamous 1905 play The Clansman: A Historical Romance of the Ku Klux Klan and its 1915 film adaptation The Birth of a Nation.
Wilson House, also known as Old Jail and Yorkville Jail, is a historic home located at York, York County, South Carolina. It is attributed to Robert Mills and was built in 1828. It is a three-story, brick building originally designed as a local jail. It features brick arches and a semi-circular fanlight. It was converted into a residence in 1853, then used as a jail during the Reconstruction Era when Federal troops imprisoned Ku Klux Klan members.
Caswell County Courthouse is a historic county courthouse located at Yanceyville, Caswell County, North Carolina. It was built between 1858 and 1861, and is a rectangular two-story, stuccoed brick building, five bays wide and seven deep. It sits on an elevated granite block foundation and features a two-level recessed entrance porch and octagonal cupola.
Central Shelby Historic District is a national historic district located at Shelby, Cleveland County, North Carolina. It encompasses 229 contributing buildings in the central business district and surrounding residential areas of Shelby. The district is centered on the Cleveland County Courthouse (1907) and public square, established in 1841. The district includes representative examples of Colonial Revival and Bungalow / American Craftsman architectural styles. The district includes the separately listed courthouse, Masonic Temple Building, and Webbley. Other notable buildings include the Webb House, Wells House, Fulenwider-Ebeltoft House, Dr. S. S. Royster House, Bateman House, Washburn Block, city hall and firehouse (1911), Royster Building (1910), First Baptist Church, Ascension Lutheran Church (1932), and Southern Railway Freight Depot.
The Washington County Courthouse is a historic courthouse in Greenville, Mississippi. It has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since September 10, 2014.
John Watson Morton was an American Confederate veteran, farmer and politician. He served as captain of artillery under General Nathan Bedford Forrest in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War, and he was the founder of the Nashville chapter of the Ku Klux Klan after the war. He served as the Tennessee Secretary of State from 1901 to 1909.
Samuel Nuckles was a legislator in South Carolina during the Reconstruction era. He represented Union County. A Republican, he gave testimony about a campaign of intimidation used by Democrats and the Ku Klux Klan in the 1870 election. In 1871 he was part of a delegation sent to Washington D.C. requesting federal troops to address "outrages". He testified that he was a former slave and could read a little and write his name. He also testified that he was a refugee from Union County due to threats of violence and Ku Klux Klan attacks.
