Leaders of the Ku Klux Klan
Encyclopedia
The national leader of the Ku Klux Klan
is called either a Grand Wizard or an Imperial Wizard
, depending on which KKK organization is being described.
Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...
is called either a Grand Wizard or an Imperial Wizard
Grand Wizard
Grand Wizard was the title given to the leader of the Reconstruction-era Ku Klux Klan which existed from 1866 to 1871.In 1915, the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan was created, initially as a fraternal organization. The highest-ranking leader of the latter organization was the Imperial Wizard. National...
, depending on which KKK organization is being described.
The First Ku Klux Klan Leader
- Nathan Bedford ForrestNathan Bedford ForrestNathan Bedford Forrest was a lieutenant general in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War. He is remembered both as a self-educated, innovative cavalry leader during the war and as a leading southern advocate in the postwar years...
(1821-1877) was the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan between 1867 and 1869.
Second Ku Klux Klan
- William Joseph Simmons (1880-1945) was the leader of the second Ku Klux Klan between 1915 and 1922.
- Hiram Wesley EvansHiram Wesley EvansHiram Wesley Evans was Imperial Wizard of the "second" Ku Klux Klan from 1922 until 1939. Evans succeeded William Joseph Simmons in the position of the Imperial Wizard in November 1922...
(1881-1966), Imperial Wizard, 1922-1939, during which the KKK experienced its peak in membership. - Jamse A. Colescott (1897-1950), Imperial Wizard, 1939-1944. Colescott dissolved the organization after it was hit with a $685,000 lien by the IRS.
- Samuel Green (Ku Klux Klan)Samuel Green (Ku Klux Klan)Samuel Green was an Imperial Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan leader in the late 1940s, organizing its brief reformation.-Early life:...
(1890-1949), Imperial Wizard for two weeks in 1946.
Other Ku Klux Klan Movements
- [Cole Thorton] Imperial Wizard of the United Northern & Southern Kights of the Ku Klux Klan A true Christian Fraternal Brotherhood. www.unskkkk.com
- Jeff BerryJeff BerryJeff Berry, leader of the American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in Butler, Indiana, was sentenced to seven years in prison on December 4, 2001 for conspiracy to commit criminal confinement with a deadly weapon...
- Samuel Bowers (1924-2006)
- David DukeDavid DukeDavid Ernest Duke is a former Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan an American activist and writer, and former Republican Louisiana State Representative. He was also a former candidate in the Republican presidential primaries in 1992, and in the Democratic presidential primaries in...
(born 1950) - Virgil Lee GriffinVirgil Lee GriffinVirgil Lee Griffin joined the Ku Klux Klan during the 1960s. He was leader of the Ku Klux Klan who was involved in a 1979 violent clash with Communist party organizers in North Carolina.-References:...
(ca. 1944-2009) - Thomas RobbThomas RobbThomas Robb, also known as Thom Robb, is the national director of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, and a pastor at the Christian Revival Center.-Early life:Thomas Robb was born in Detroit, Michigan into a Baptist family and grew up in Tucson, Arizona....
(born 1946) - David Wayne HullDavid Wayne HullDavid Wayne Hull is a leader of the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, which is considered the most militant as well as the most violent Ku Klux Klan in history....