Statement of Mr. William Joseph Simmons
Testimony
By: William Joseph Simmons
Date: 1921
Source: Simmons, William Joseph. Statement of Mr. William Joseph Simmons, of Atlanta, Ga. The Ku-Klux Klan: Hearings Before the Committee on Rules: House of Representatives, 67th Cong., 1st sess. Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, 1921, 67–73.
About the Author: William Joseph Simmons (1880–1945) served in the Spanish-American War (1898). Although he never reached officer rank, he nonetheless adopted the title "Colonel," which he routinely employed throughout the remainder of his life. In 1915, galvanized by the favorable portrayal of the Ku Klux Klan in D.W. Griffith's epic silent motion picture Birth of a Nation, Simmons decided to form a new KKK—an organization that by 1921 had become the largest private paramilitary force in American history.
Introduction
Born in the...
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1920's Lifestyles and Social Trends Primary Sources
The 1920's: Primary Sources
