Samuel Roper (Klansman)

For other people named Samuel Roper, see Samuel Roper (disambiguation).

Samuel Roper
6th Imperial Wizard of the
Knights of the Ku Klux Klan
In office
August 18, 1949 – 1950
Preceded bySamuel Green
Succeeded byEldon Edwards
Personal details
Born(1895-04-10)April 10, 1895
DiedMarch 1, 1986(1986-03-01) (aged 90)
Chiefland, Florida
Cause of deathKidney failure

Samuel W. Roper (April 10, 1895 – March 1, 1986) was an American law enforcement official and Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK).

Roper was an Atlanta, Georgia police officer and the second Director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. After leaving law enforcement in 1949, Roper succeeded Samuel Green as Imperial Wizard of the KKK, and held that position until 1950.[1] His successor was Eldon Edwards.[2] He has also been directly implicated in the September 12, 1936, lynching and murder of Thomas Finch in Atlanta, Georgia.[3]

Roper moved to Florida in 1972 and was a resident of Chiefland, Florida at the time of his death. He died of kidney failure at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Gainesville, Florida on March 1, 1986.

  1. ^ Staff report (August 28, 1949). Ex-Chief of Georgia G-men is new head of Ku Klux Klan. Chicago Tribune
  2. ^ Staff report (March 4, 1986). Samuel W. Roper, 90, was second director of GBI in early 1940s. Atlanta Journal-Constitution
  3. ^ Rosenwald, Michael S. (July 19, 2020). "A black man accused of rape, a white officer in the Klan, and a 1936 lynching that went unpunished". Washington Post. Retrieved July 28, 2020.