The White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan is a Ku Klux Klan (KKK) organization which is active in the United States. It originated in Mississippi and Louisiana in the early 1960s under the leadership of Samuel Bowers, its first Imperial Wizard.[1] The White Knights of Mississippi were formed in December 1963,[2] when they separated from the Original Knights of Mississippi after the resignation of Imperial Wizard Roy Davis.[3] Roughly 200 members of the Original Knights of Louisiana also joined the White Knights. Within a year, their membership was up to around six thousand, and they had Klaverns (local branches of the Ku Klux Klan) in over half of the counties in Mississippi. By 1967, the number of active members had declined to around four hundred.[4] Similar to the United Klans of America (UKA), the White Knights are very secretive about their group.
- ^ "Biography of Sam Bowers". Archived from the original on 2010-11-25. Retrieved 2018-09-20.
- ^ Dirks, Annelieke. “Between Threat and Reality: The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Emergence of Armed Self-Defense in Clarksdale and Natchez, Mississippi, 1960-1965.” Journal for the Study of Radicalism, vol. 1, no. 1, 2007, p. 85. JSTOR website Retrieved 15 July 2023.
- ^ Committee on Un-American Activities (January 1966). Activities of Ku Klux Klan Organizations of the United States; Parts 1-5. United States Congress. p. 49.
- ^ Nelson, Stanley (October 1, 2008). "Gunshots in Morgontown signaled changes in Klan membership". The Concordia Sentinel. Retrieved October 25, 2008.