The business of hate: Importing & exporting the Invisible Empire through Shreveport

Yahoo

12-02-2025

SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) – Synonymous with hate, the Ku Klux Klan is easily one of the most infamous groups in American history. Formed by a group of mainly Confederate veterans in Pulaski, Tennessee, in 1865, the Ku Klux Klan graduated from relatively tame demonstrations to full-on domestic terrorism. Nathan Bedford Forest led the charge as the group's first leader, also known as the 'imperial wizard' of their 'Invisible Empire of the South.' With the stated goal of upending Reconstruction in the South out of fear of losing unquestioned white supremacy, the Klan spread unimaginable terror. In reaffirming white superiority, the group faded into the background in the late 1870s but would return with a vengeance through a new form of media – the silver screen.
The 1915 film The Birth of a Nation gave the Klan a second life as its popularity soared in the following decade. Extolling the virtues of the previous post-Reconstruction Klan and depicting African Americans as thoughtless savages, the group made a powerful resurgence under William Joseph Simmons.
This Second Klan expanded its influence beyond the American South, hiring recruiters and adopting a proper pyramid scheme of initiation fees and robe sales. This was evident through the Klan's rise in north Louisiana. The Knights of the Ku Klux Klan formed a branch in Shreveport, Louisiana, in 1920 and nearly took control of the state in 1922.
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Following the disappearance of two men in Mer Rouge, Louisiana, Governor John M. Parker sought assistance from the Justice Department as he correctly suspected Klan involvement. After sending a quartet of agents to Mer Rouge, they found the missing men had been murdered. The agents soon discovered that their lives were also in danger, as Phillip H. Mecom, United States Attorney of the Western District located in Shreveport, was an active Klan member who attempted to halt investigations.
The Klan's expansion from Shreveport into Mer Rouge, Bastrop, and other northern Louisiana towns coincided with their growth in gaining membership from mayors, sheriffs, and doctors. However, by the mid-1920s, the Klan's power throughout the state faded drastically with the election of Governor Henry Fuqua. In what was later coined the 'Fuqua Law,' the Klan was required to fill out annual membership lists.
With the Klan's prominence in Louisiana fading by the mid-1920s, men like Luther Ivan Powell, born in Shreveport, began to fill the void elsewhere.
Powell extended the Klan's influence in the western United States, beginning in California in 1920. As a Klan Department of Propagation graduate, he proved an effective recruiter and organizer for the group, moving further North into Medford, Oregon, in 1921. Powell was able to tailor Klan messaging to meet the needs of the time. Rather than harping on a deep hatred for African Americans in a population that lacked a substantial black demographic, he changed his tune toward opposing Catholics, supporting prohibition, and consistently attacking Japanese Americans. A pattern was established with the group's city infiltration into communities: spreading anti-Catholic, nationalistic pamphlets into communities.
Following this, an overzealous protestant minister spread the word of an alleged Vatican takeover of Washington, D.C., sowing seeds of distrust of Catholics. With the congregation swept up in fear, local pastors began Klan recruitment.
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The Klan's infiltration into Medford went deeper than a few public appearances. Lawernce J. Saalfeld, a historian of the Oregon Klan, reports that the press neglected to disclose the Klan's emergence as a significant political force. Oregon Senate candidates initially vied for Klan support to ensure political survival. The mayor of Medford was compromised immediately, joining the group. Later, politicians in Eugene, Tillamook, Condon, and Astoria, were also found to be Klansmen.
This was a common tactic of the Klan, molding the social paranoia surrounding a given area. Anti-Japanese rhetoric flourished in the Pacific coastal states, anti-Mexican in the Southwest, and anti-Semitism in the Northern Atlantic States. Of course, this was not hatred for hatred's sake; monetary strings were attached to the sentiment. Capitalizing on the social paranoia lined the pockets of prominent Klan leaders like Powell and others in future generations. His organizing strategy was simple yet effective. He used the existing memberships of fraternal, civic, and social groups as high-yielding grounds for fostering Klan membership. This foreshadows future Klan tactics using business fronts to conceal criminal activity.
While in Oregon, he founded Klan chapters in Klamath Falls and Roseburg and a sizeable chapter in Portland that bore his name, Luther Ivan Powell Klan No. 1. However, as quick as the success came, it left, and Powell fell out of favor with the Klan in Oregon as all Klan-backed candidates failed in primaries in 1922. This initiated Powell's moving north to Washington, as several promised Klan business ventures (guaranteeing a skyscraper) failed.
Powell saw early gains as Kleagle of Washington and Idaho soon after moving in 1922.
In a twist of irony, he replaced fellow Shreveport, Louisiana native L. M. McFarlin, as the 'King Kleagle' of the Invisible Empire of the Ku Klux Klan' for the 'Realm of Washington,' worked from a temporary office at the St. Regis Hotel in Seattle. The 'King Kleagle of the Pacific Northwest Domain' now encompassed Washington, Oregon, Alaska, and Hawaii. He sought to expand further by instituting a branch of the Klan for women. Powell also employed the help of Dr. W. M. Rose to begin a Klan affiliate, the Royal Riders of the Red Robe, later known as American Krusaders. This group further expanded the Klan's reach for naturalized U.S. citizens. David M. Chalmers, author of Hooded Americanism: The History of the Ku Klux Klan (3rd Edition), in his analysis of the American Krusaders writes, 'real patriotic organization to all Canadians, Englishmen, and other white, Gentile, Protestants.' The group excluded immigrants from Greece, Italy, and the Balkans.
Powell also began a newspaper, The Watch on the Tower, to further spread the ideals of the Klan. However, due to internal strife, greed, and abrasive personality, typical of the Second and future Third iteration of the Klan, Powell left Washington by 1923, which brought him to Vancouver, B.C., in late 1925.
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Following yet another expulsion, Powell returned home to Shreveport, Louisiana, in the 1930s. He returned with a new goal of sparking a fascist movement known as the Khaki Shirts of America. As he attempted to foment a fascist movement in his hometown, he began a sinister partnership with William Dudley Pelley.
Pelley was a noted supporter of Adolf Hitler. On January 31, 1933, the day after Hitler's rise to power in Germany, he founded the Silver Shirts Legion of America.
Powell's Shreveport venture did not last long, as Trevor Griffey of the Seattle Civil Rights & Labor History Project recounts in a memoir from a Shreveport police officer in the 1930s,
'He has lived by his wits for many years– in fact, I have never known him to do any work. He pays no bills, and he is a man utterly without standing in the community. He presents a good superficial appearance and is a good speaker, and in that way he got control of the organization known as the Khaki Shirts of America. I am reliably informed that his misuse of the funds of the organization was the primary cause of its disbandment… I am… certain that no organization sponsored by Powell could make any headway here because Powell has neither the respect nor the confidence of anyone who knows him.'
It is no surprise that Powell became the State Manager of Townsend Pension, as the Shreveport Journal reported in 1935.
'Luther I. Powell, better known as Maj. Powell, for 25 years a resident of Shreveport, has returned from an extended trip of the Western States, begun by him last spring on behalf of the Townsend age-old revolving pension plan. Among the states included in his itinerary were Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. Mr. Powell Tuesday was appointed Louisiana state manager of the Townsend old-age plan movement in Louisiana, he said. Club No. 1 will be set up in Shreveport.'
While Powell's fascist movement fell flat, the foundation was firmly laid for the Klan's return in future decades in Shreveport.
Powell served as an example of Shreveport exporting the business of hate into other areas. The 1960s came with a new obstacle to overcome: the entrance of the infamous Roy Elonzo Davis. Connecting accusations of involvement with the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, confirmed plots to assassinate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as early as 1964, and the Mississippi burning murders, Shreveport serves as somewhat of a connective piece in all of these events.
Roy Elonzo Davis wore several hats throughout his life. Born in Texas in 1890, he and his brother instigated several complex schemes, fronting as Christian charities while defrauding congregations and several banks throughout the United States. In the 1910s, he adopted the alias Lon Davis to evade law enforcement.
In the 1920s, Davis was a founding member of the second iteration of the Ku Klux Klan under William Joseph Simmons. Davis proved vital in Klan recruitment across the Deep South until a factional split in 1924 led Simmons to create a Klan organization, the Knights of the Flaming Sword. As the Knights of the Flaming Sword quickly disbanded, Davis turned his attention toward the formation of the Pentecostal Baptist Church of God. The formation of this new church provided Davis with a new avenue to continue his enterprise. He ordained and mentored William Branham, a self-professed faith healer who believed he received direct messages from God.
Following decades of continuing his criminal activity from state to state, dodging trials and convictions, Davis returned to Texas and eventually settled in Dallas. In 1958, Davis became the Grand Dragon of the Klan in Texas. The following year, he became the self-professed Imperial Wizard of the Original Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, where his recruitment efforts brought him to Shreveport, Louisiana.
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Following decades of continuing his criminal activity from state to state, dodging trials and convictions, Davis returned to Texas and eventually settled in Dallas. In 1958, Davis became the Grand Dragon of the Klan in Texas. The following year, he became the self-professed Imperial Wizard of the Original Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, where his recruitment efforts brought him to Shreveport, Louisiana.
The Original Knights of the Ku Klux Klan formed late in December 1960, and they made several public displays to make their presence known across North Louisiana. A cross was burned in Congressman Overton Brooks's yard, much to the dismay of the Shreveport Journal (then ardent segregationists.) They felt that the cross-burnings would elicit sympathy for integrationist causes.
According to a House of Unamerican Activities Committee held in 1966, Davis led the formation of the OKKKK yet exercised little leadership, which generally fell into the hands of John D. Swenson. Swenson held the title of national Kleagle and Grand Dragon of Louisiana. From its inception to 1963, the OKKKK held immense strength in Shreveport, Monroe, and Bogalusa, Louisiana. Despite a lack of authentic leadership from Davis in the local Shreveport Klan, he kept himself busy with constant attacks against President John F. Kennedy.
Davis set out these flyers just days before President Kennedy's assassination, prompting several investigations into his organization.
While Davis stood more as a figurehead of the OKKKK, the previously mentioned Swenson directed much of the Klan activity from the Shreveport-Bossier area. CORE (Congress of Racial Equality) activist Heather Tilsen Baum recounted, 'Bogalusa is a small town close to what at the time was called 'the seat' of the Klan in Shreveport.
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In the summer of 1963, the OKKKK in Bogalusa nearly lynched CORE leader James Farmer, who had to escape the city by hiding in a hearse. The subsequent years of constant OKKKK harassment gave Bogalusa the distinction of 'Klantown, USA' through its leadership under Charles Christmas and Saxon Farmer. Their front organization differed from their northern counterparts, as they were known as they disguised themselves as the 'Anti-Communist Christian Association.' In 1965, the Deacons for Defense and Justice were formed to protect Civil Rights workers, mainly CORE and the Bogalusa Voter's League. Due to the sheer repression of the OKKKK, historian Adam Fairclough, in Race & Democracy: The Civil Rights Struggle in Louisiana, 1915-1972, concluded that Bogalusa became a testing ground for the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
Under Swenson's new direction, the OKKKK spread its recruitment into Arkansas and, most notably, Mississippi.
However, a three-way factional split soon spelled trouble for Swenson, as Mississippi Grand Dragon Douglas Byrd and Klan officer Edward McDaniel accused him of personally profiting from the sale of robes. Swenson and Imperial Dragon Royal Young attested to leaving the Klan in 1964. While under Swenson and Young's leadership, the group was the 'Louisiana Rifle Association' in Shreveport, while the Monroe branch operated under a similar umbrella as a 'Hunting and Fishing Club.'
Under Swenson's new direction, the OKKKK spread its recruitment into Arkansas and, most notably, Mississippi.
However, a three-way factional split soon spelled trouble for Swenson, as Mississippi Grand Dragon Douglas Byrd and Klan officer Edward McDaniel accused him of personally profiting from the sale of robes. Swenson and Imperial Dragon Royal Young attested to leaving the Klan in 1964. While under Swenson and Young's leadership, the group was the 'Louisiana Rifle Association' in Shreveport, while the Monroe branch operated under a similar umbrella as a 'Hunting and Fishing Club.'
A substantial number of members from the OKKKK split led to the formation of the infamous White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan of Mississippi, led by Imperial Wizard Samuel Bowers Jr. Bowers held the headquarters for the WKKKK in Laurel, Mississippi. Bowers' presentation was likened to future prominent Klansman David Duke. He considered himself a gentleman, was soft-spoken, and considered himself of a 'higher level' than the stereotypical version of a Klansman.
In the summer of 1964, the White Knights committed the infamous Mississippi burning murders, killing James Chaney, Mickey Schwerner, and Andrew Goodman. The three CORE activists were close friends of Dave Dennis Sr., freedom rider and prominent CORE leader. He would have been in the car with them had he not contracted bronchitis and returned home to Shreveport.
After the murders, the White Knights employed the use of several front organizations to conceal Klan activity, much like the OKKKK. One of the front organizations was The White Christian Protective and Legal Defense Fund. Despite its advertising as an organization collecting funds to support people arrested in the murders of Chaney, Schwerner, and Goodman, most of the finances collected went toward the general operations of the White Knights.
In late July of 1964, an FBI informant recounted the OKKKK in Monroe, Louisiana's plans to assassinate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. after rumors swirled of his appearance in the city. The reaction to CORE's efforts in Louisiana from 1964 to 1965 by the Klan could have proved even more devasting.
While these are horrifying, detestable accounts of violence from hate groups, there is still a message of hope that can be salvaged from them. They reside in the stories of Johnny Lee Clary and Edward L. McDaniel.
Former professional wrestler turned successor of Samuel Bowers, Clary turned his life around, leaving the Klan behind and educating the FBI in white supremacist recruiting tactics. McDaniel also left the Klan, later backing Charles Evers, brother of Medgar Evers, who was murdered by a Klansman in his mayoral campaign, making Charles Evers the first black mayor in Mississippi since Reconstruction.
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'I count Mayor Evers as a friend now, and I have a lot of respect for the man,' said Bowers. 'We realized it is not blacks against whites, but the little folks against the big shots.'
Although these two instances can serve as a source of hope for escaping this ideology, we must remember that human beings should not be used as fodder for someone's redemption story.
There is a silver lining across those who imported and exported the business of hate into and out of Shreveport – they were able to exploit racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia, and antisemitism for profit. The sale of robes to clothe disdain lined the pockets of a few while they sowed fear of the 'other.'
Through the decades of coverage, these groups have proven their ability to adapt to the modern landscape and alter their targets accordingly. Their business model requires extremism; the deeper the animosity, the more money its leaders extract.
Combating these ideologies requires community and education. In a true community, knowing and respecting one's neighbor drastically decreases the chances of hatred fomenting across any social line.
LSU Shreveport's Mik Barnes took the lead on this article.
Sources:
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David J. Chalmers, Hooded Americanism: The History of the Ku Klux Klan, 3rd Ed., (Durham: Duke University Press, 1987), 90.
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The Capital Journal, Salem, Oregon, July 7, 1922, pp. 1.
John Caldbick, 'Ku Klux Klan in Washington, 1921-1925,' March 11, 2019, https://www.historylink.org/file/20718
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The Shreveport Journal, September 10, 1935, pg. 8.
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The Shreveport Times, February 10, 1961, pg 1.
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The Shreveport Times, February 16, 1961, pg 6.
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'THE PRESENT-DAY KU KLUX KLAN MOVEMENT REPORT by the COMMITTEE on UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES HOUSE of REPRESENTATIVES NINETIETH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION.' 1967. https://li.proquest.com/elhpdf/histcontext/12808-7-H.doc.377.pdf.
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'Former Klansmen tells of Bowing out in 1964' The Shreveport Times, January 5, 1966, pg 2.
'Bogalusans Face Hearing on Klan' The Daily Advertiser, January 5, 1966, https://www.newspapers.com/image/536982684/
Bruce Watson, Freedom Summer: The Savage Season That Made Mississippi Burn and Made America a Democracy, (Penguin, 2010), 143.
Bruce Watson, Freedom Summer: The Savage Season That Made Mississippi Burn and Made America a Democracy, (Penguin, 2010), 282.
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