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Size | 0.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 400 items) |
Abstract | Contains materials documenting the Christian Knights of the Ku Klux Klan Invisible Empire, Inc., a white supremacist organization formed in North Carolina in 1985 that later organized chapters in Tennessee, Kentucky, and South Carolina. 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. |
Creator | Christian Knights of the Ku Klux Klan Invisible Empire, Inc. |
Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. North Carolina Collection. |
Language | English |
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.
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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.
Back to TopThis 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.
Back to TopBox 1 |
Papers, 1989-1993 |