The K.K.K originated in the South in the 1860s after the Civil War as a white supremacist organization and terrorist movement. The Klan was inactive after the end of Reconstruction, but reemerged in the 1920s as a national movement with widespread outspokenness against Jews, Catholics, and immigrants.

The Klan in the 1960s was predominantly in the South and became increasingly active in opposition to the Civil rights movement. The United Klans of America, which is highlighted in this collection, was the most notorious Klan group. The majority of Klan members belonged to this Alabama-based organization led by Robert Sheldon. Klansmen in the 1960s were typically blue-collar workers, without a high school education, and in their thirties. Klan membership in this decade reached fifty thousand. Klansmen believed that integration risked their economic, political, and social status, and resisted desegregation with violence. Members of the Klan attacked and firebombed Civil rights activists and African American homes and churches, burned crosses, and murdered African Americans and supporters of integration. After desegregation, Klan activity dropped with less than 5,000 members in the 1970s.

Marshal Robert Kornegay (1928–1975), from North Carolina, was the Grand Dragon of Virginia for the United Klans of America from 1965-1968. The Virginia Klan practiced similar violent acts of resistance against the Civil rights movement as the national organization and held many rallies in the Richmond, Virginia area.

Source: Singleton, Carl, and Rowena Wildin. The Sixties in America Vol. 3, Vol. 3. The Sixties in America. Pasadena, CA: Salem Press, 1999.