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Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Christian Knights of the Ku Klux Klan Invisible Empire, Inc., Collection #70049, North Carolina Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Purchased from David M. Lesser of Woodbridge, Conn., in March 2020 (Acc. 20200303.2).

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

Processed by: Dawne Howard Lucas, April 2023

Encoded by: Dawne Howard Lucas, April 2023

Since August 2017, we have added ethnic and racial identities for individuals and families represented in collections. To determine identity, we rely on self-identification; other information supplied to the repository by collection creators or sources; public records, press accounts, and secondary sources; and contextual information in the collection materials. Omissions of ethnic and racial identities in finding aids created or updated after August 2017 are an indication of insufficient information to make an educated guess or an individual's preference for identity information to be excluded from description. When we have misidentified, please let us know at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu.

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• Christian Knights of the Ku Klux Klan Invisible Empire, Inc.
• Ku Klux Klan (1915- )-- North Carolina.
• North Carolina--Race relations--20th century.
• Racism--North Carolina--History--20th century.
• Racism--Southern States--History--20th century.
• Southern States--Race relations--20th century.
• White supremacy movements--United States--History--20th century.

The Christian Knights of the Ku Klux Klan Invisible Empire, Inc. formed in North Carolina in 1985 and later organized chapters in Tennessee, Kentucky, and South Carolina. The organization espoused white supremacist views, including opposition to inter-racial relationships and school integration. Its members also opposed homosexuality and communism and expressed anti-Semitic views. From the mid-1980s through 1996, the Christian Knights of the Ku Klux Klan held numerous marches and protests in towns in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. The organization was also tied to several incidents of violence and arson. In 1990, 28 members of the organization held a march in Washington, D.C., which sparked protests and resulted in clashes between police and anti-Klan demonstrators. Fourteen people were injured and 40 people were arrested. In 1995, members of the organization's South Carolina chapter set fire to Macedonia Baptist Church in Clarendon County, S.C., burning it to the ground. Four members of the organization were charged in that fire and several other fires at churches and migrant labor camps. They pleaded guilty to federal charges. Two other members of the Christian Knights pleaded guilty to federal charges in a drive-by shooting outside a nightclub in Pelion, S.C., an incident that left three people injured. In 1998 a federal jury found the Christian Knights of the Ku Klux Klan liable in a civil suit filed by Macedonia Baptist Church. The organization, the leader of its South Carolina chapter, and four other Klansmen were ordered to pay $37.8 million, later reduced by a judge to $21.5 million, for their part in the burning of the church. The ruling effectively forced the Christian Knights to sell its South Carolina headquarters and the property on which it sat. As of 2020, the judgement remains the largest ever against a hate group. Leaders of the Christian Knights of the Ku Klux Klan included Virgil Lee Griffin, Charles S. Beasley, and Horace King. Griffin (circa 1944-2009), who lived in Mount Holly, N.C., was the founder and imperial wizard, or leader, of the organization. Griffin was among individuals involved in a 1979 clash between the Klan, Nazis, and union organizers in Greensboro, N.C., which resulted in the death of five people. Griffin was not charged in the killings, but he was tried and acquitted on federal civil rights charges related to the incident. Beasley (1920-2016) served as grand dragon of the North Carolina chapter. He was a native of Dunn, N.C., and pastor of Emmanuel Tabernacle church in Charlotte. Beasley was also the host of radio and television programs in and around Charlotte. King (1930-2019) was grand dragon of the South Carolina chapter. Those charged in the South Carolina church fires and nightclub shooting claimed that King inspired their activities, but he was not charged in those incidents. King was a defendant in the Macedonia Baptist civil suit, and the court judgment in that case required him to pay $15 million himself.

This collection includes a small amount of correspondence to and from Ku Klux Klan members, minutes of the Lincolnton, N.C. (Bull Dog Unit 213) chapter of the Christian Knights of the Ku Klux Klan from February 1990 to April 1993, a small amount of correspondence related to requests for parade permits from N.C. town governments, photocopied newsletters from Imperial Wizard Virgil L. Griffin and Grand Dragon Charles Beasley from 1989 through 1993, a few white supremacist newspapers, fliers promoting the Klan and marches, constitution and laws of the Christian Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, and a business card for Imperial Wizard Virgil L. Griffin. The minutes record the routine activities of a Klan meeting (opening prayer, acceptance or recruitment of new members, upcoming marches, fundraising, and occasional related to racial incidents at schools or other venues. The newsletters offer further discussions on current events and white supremacy. These items materials offer a look at the day-to-day (or week-to-week) operations of a white supremacist organization and provide numerous examples of racist newsletters.