Grand Wizard

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The grand wizard (sometimes called the imperial wizard or national director) is the national leader of several different Ku Klux Klan organizations in the United States and abroad.

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The title "Grand Wizard" was used by the first Klan which was founded in 1865 and which existed during the Reconstruction era until 1872. The title was chosen because General 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.

National leaders of the Ku Klux Klan

This list includes grand or imperial wizards of major Klan factions and excludes those of independent Klan factions:

The 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]

The second Klan (1915–1944)

The third Klan (post–World War II)

Major Klan leaders following the disbandment of the second Klan:

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Hurst, Jack (2011-06-08). Nathan Bedford Forrest: A Biography. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. ISBN   978-0-307-78914-3.
  2. ↑ Horn, Stanley F. (1939). Invisible Empire: The Story of the Ku Klux Klan, 1866–1871. Montclair, NJ: Patterson Smith Publishing Corporation.
  3. ↑ Fleming, Walter J., ed. (1905). Ku Klux Klan: Its Origins, Growth and Disbandment. Neale Publishing.
  4. ↑ 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. ↑ 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 Archived October 19, 2017, at the Wayback Machine . Retrieved December 22, 2022.
  7. ↑ 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.
  8. ↑ Wade 1987, p.  191.
  9. ↑ Wade 1987, p.  265.
  10. ↑ Wade 1987, p.  275.
  11. ↑ "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, ...
  12. ↑ Staff report (August 28, 1949). Ex-Chief of Georgia G-men is new head of Ku Klux Klan. Chicago Tribune
  13. ↑ Sims, Patsy (1996). The Klan . University Press of Kentucky. p.  34. ISBN   0-8131-0887-X.
  14. ↑ Staff report (March 4, 1986). Samuel W. Roper, 90, was second director of GBI in early 1940s. Atlanta Journal-Constitution
  15. ↑ "Imperial Wizard Says KKK's Membership Very Small in Texas". Dallas Morning News. February 11, 1961.
  16. ↑ 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.
  17. ↑ Theroux, Paul (2015). Deep South: Four Seasons on Back Roads . London, UK: Hamish Hamilton. p. 74. ISBN   9780241146729.
  18. ↑ Reed, Julia (April 9, 1992). "His Brilliant Career". The New York Review of Books. Retrieved October 21, 2019.(subscription required)
  19. ↑ "Knights of the Ku Klux Klan". Southern Poverty Law Center.
  20. ↑ Wilkinson, Bill (1982-11-04). "CNN Crossfire" (Interview). Interviewed by Tom Braden and Pat Buchanan.
  21. ↑ "Thomas Robb". Southern Poverty Law Center.
  22. ↑ "Pastor Robb Alive and Well". Christian Revival Center via Wayback Machine. Archived from the original on 2023-10-15.


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