We have a facebook question from peter. He saz are there any Historical Resources on the poem who died in destroit . Theres one in particular. The Detroit Free Press did a piece. You could be featured during our next live program. Join the conversation on facebook. At facebook. Com cspan history. And on twitter. Next on real america. Klu klux klan the invisible empire. September, 1965 document tear produced by cbs reports. It traces the history of the kkk from its resurgence in 1915. Inspired by the silent film birth of a nation. Through the post world war ii years. The film includes scenes of Klu Klux Klan ceremonies and interviews with members which viewers might find disturbing. This 45 minute film earned cbs reports and producer david low a 1965 pea body award. The driver of this car was mrs. Mother of five children. 20 miles from sell ma, alabama on route 80. A red and white sedan over took her car. Several shots were fired. The driverless car veered off the highway and came to a stop at a cattle fence. She was dead. A arrested kp charged with murder were three alleged members of the Klu Klux Klan. One was tried. And the jury was unable to reach a verdict. This is the temporary grave of three civil rights workers. Two white and one negro. Beaten and shot to death. Among those indicted for the triple slaying were six men identified as members of the Klu Klux Klan. None has been brought to trial. In this automobile reserved lieutenant pen was killed by a shotgun blast while riding through georgia. Arrested for this crime were four nooilgt knights of the Klu Klux Klan. Two klan men were tried and acquitted. Five members, 13 alleged members of the Klu Klux Klan said to be involved in the killings. When such an order like this moves in. You are at their mercy. And there are atrocities and violence can be vised on anybody that disagrees with them on any given situation. What started as a joke a hundred years ago when a group of men donned bed sheets for a romp. Has attracted to it persons charged with acts of harassment, intimidation, and violence throughout the south. The nation has been out raged for many years, the Klu Klux Klan persists with its bizarre ritual and trappings. 100 years is a long time for a joke. Cbs reports presents the Klu Klux Klan the invisible empire. Good evening. The Klu Klux Klan is a secret organization which for 100 years has been allowed to exist in the country. Virtually every president of the United States in the past century has said the klan has little regard for constituted authority. President johnson following the murder in alabama defined lt Klu Klux Klan as a hooded society of big gots. And warned clans men to get out and return to a decent society. Before it is too late. After the president s warning the house on American Activity Committee started a full scale investigation of the klan. And open hearings are scheduled for next month. The hearings will present witnesses, not only klans men but victims of klan activity. However, the committee will not attempt to show the klan in action. For the next hour, we will take a close look at the Klu Klux Klan from the inside out. Examine its leadership, ritual, secr secret and record of violence. Lets look at klans men without their robes. Its sunday the morning of a Klu Klux Klan meeting in North Carolina. These men are mens of the united klans of the america. Knights of the Klu Klux Klan. One of the most prominent. And anyone else who according to to the Klu Klux Klan is not 100 pure american. I dont hate. This is the grand dragon of the North Carolina realm of the united klan. Jay robert jones. Former sailor, bricklayer lightning rod sales man. He rules over more than 50 chapters and 7,000 dues paying members. I think the nigger has rights in the country. Equal but separate rights. It will work now. If ufs the nicest fellow in the world and johnson said i had to associate with you. Id tell him to go straight to hell. I would not associate with you. Until his recent death of the chief Legal Counsel of the united klan. His famous targets were negro, jews, and International Bankers. I had. And they were the only organization that ever went on record after i had talked for two solid hours on the viciousness of a Federal Reserve corporation and how it built the taxpayers and citizens of all the money. And that Great Britain has removed the bank from International Bankers and the bank is back under the crown. This is a knight hawk of the united klan in North Carolina. A night hawk is responsible for the security of a klan. I have a wife, five kids. I think thats enough reason. I want them to be have a country to raise to be raised up in like i was. I wasnt forced to go to school with know grees and i wasnt forced to eat with them. This is mr. Out law. Where ever jones goes, he is at his side. In the group are the three defendants indicted for the killing of. Thomas, william eaten, and will kins. These men had little to say. They prefer listening to their counsel, mat murray jr. I read in my history book theres a man, the negro race was inferior. That was the history taught to me in school. That wasnt too long ago. Always have been. Always will be. Where do you think the money is coming from behind the civil rights movement. I say christ killing jews because they havent been affluent since they crucified christ. And their relatives can be traced back to the ones running streets today. What about the role of the catholics . His first alean jens is not to the United States of the america. Their allegiance is to the pope. Theres a bunch of people that are wrong. Let me say this, we have never had a drop of blood spilled between a white man and black one in any town in North Carolina. We have the klan organized. We are doing our best to keep down trouble. My people are everybody in the country is organized. Negros have the naacp in court along with the sorry white trash. You have for your juish people. Knights of columbus which is a secret fraternal order. Nobody investigates that which they should. But the white the only hope and the only salvation they have left in the United States is the united klans of america. One important Klu Klux Klan official was not at this meeting. The klan clud. Or chaplain. There was a clud in action the night before. You have a bunch of people standing over here with cameras. And theyre backbone to get him a job and go to work. There might be trouble. I want to tell you, im telling you. Right over here. They aint got enough backbone to tell the truth. Anybody lie with the devil youll go to hell without god. Thats all the fbi agents want to investigate the klan. Im not ashamed to be a klans men. Amen. This is the klan clud in action. The preacher. The held fire speaker the the rebel riser. A mixture of comedy and christianity. Above all he preaches racial hatred. To mix the black and white together. Do you know your horse mix with a cow. Dog wont mix with hog. Tell me white people has got to listen friend. We need to turn to god. We need to wake up with god. We had four fathers die to give us die. Forefathers walked barefoot in the snow and fought and died to give us freedom. And now here we set back because we got a dictator in the white house. And the youre sending your money down. And willing to stand up and be counted. Take a man to stand. Anybody can go down and commit adultery with a nigger. It takes a chris chab chan a man to stand for god. You raised hogs, and shell try to protect them. The dog has a gang of pups they try to protect them. You have a gang of white children running arpd in your yard and youre going to standby and see them sold out to a bunch of negros. Wake up and try to do what god will have you do. Act like a decent person. And then if you dont want to do that, dont be a hypocrite. Forget about it. The klan was born 100 years ago in tennessee. As a six member social club. But six years later the klan had half a million members. And the burning cross the klan trademark became a symbol of the violence it used to keep the newly freed negros in their place. In 1915, dw griffith produced and directed the first great feature length Motion Picture the birth of a nation. Who subject was the Klu Klux Klan. Today thise fil 50 years ago is still shown to klans men as the classic example of what southerners did to protect white supremacy. These are some scenes from birth of a nation. A chance witnessing of two white children under a bed sheet scaring a group of negro children. The birth of the idea of the klan. The idea is successful. Robed and masked clans men frighten the negros. In a fight, the negro scaring a white girl and causing a girl to jump from a cliff to her death. Kills a white man. Captured the killer taken into the woods and put on trial. The klan passes judgment. The culprit is killed. And his body deposited at the door of the lieutenant governor. In the same year the birth of a nation was first released a new leader rose to head the klan. William joseph. One time sales man of lady garters. Leads his followers up Stone Mountain in georgia for the first initiation ceremony o. Reincarnated klan. He added something new to the uniform. A stylized face mask. Which he alone could wear. He also insisted the clan operate in total secrecy. The klan sinister power grew as new recruits joined. Some through coercion. And the activities increased. In the first 14 months after world war i, 70 negros were lynched. 14 burned. In 1922, he couldnt over come intraklan difficulty and was replaced by a dentist from dallas. Who inherited a depleted treasury. As well as his title of the imperial wizard. In 1923, he established headquarters in washington. To be closer to congress. The klan next target. The klan was so powerful in oregon in 1923 it was able to elect the president of the state senate and speaker of the house. In ohio klan supported candidates became mayors. At the National Democrat ilk convention in new york in 1924, it is estimated that at least 350 delegates were klans men. And responsible for the defeat of governor smith as the democratic nominee. By 1925, the Klu Klux Klan was big business. Almost 6 million americans now belong to the klan. And the organization was grossing 75 million a year. Some 40,000 klans men and women crowded into washington on august 8, 1925, to parade down pennsylvania avenue. To help the klan a flag was used to catch money thrown in by spectators. In the 1920s the imperial wizard of indiana was indicted on charges of assault and battery. Rape, mayhem, kidnapping and murder. And found guilty. The scandal caused a sharp drop in klan membership. In 1940, there was a mild flirtation between the german american the believers in the masters race. And the Klu Klux Klan. The believers in the supremacy of the white race. They joined up in rally at camp new jersey. 25 years later, theres evidence that klan nazi friendship is being revived. This year in houston, texas, claiming membership in the united klan knight of the Klu Klux Klan. Was interviewed be Radio Station. And was paid by check for hids appearance. When the cancel check was returned to the Radio Station. It had been endorsed by lincoln rock well. Head of the american nazi party. With a swats ka beneath his signature. Received a bill from the irs. For 685,000. For the klan back taxes. Unable to pay, he disbanded the klan. But four years later, his former partner dr. Green reactivated the klan and many new were initiated into clan dem. Motivated by keeping the negro in his place. Imperial wizard green defended the klan. We dont hate the negro. God made him black and made us white. You will find out laid out in the event chapter of genesis. In which he segregated the races and. Renewing for 5,000 years the white man has been the supreme race. We the knights intend to keep it the white race. Today the organization differs from the past. In that klans men are willing to appear in robes and hoods in daylight. The advent of the civil rights struggle the klan has become more militant. Some groups have military units such as this one in North Carolina. Grand dragon jones security guards are hired to take care of anything that will happen in klan rallies. The klan also sponsors softball teams. Since they cant be played in robes. Kkk appear on the uniform. This team is made up of 100 pure white ballplayers. Sometimes klans men engage in bizarre sport. Kkk carved with a penknife of the chest and stomach of this man. After he had been hanged from his knees from an oak free. And flogged with a chain. Toad us. The clan to me, is a group primarily of thugs, that would use the civil rights issue to foster an organization or a klan as they are, and will take the law into their own hands. They have been become more or less their own police power. They are a police group within themselves. Dedicated to defiance of law. Violence. They are as i have expressed before they are a hooded bunch of killers and Knight Riders and floggers. That this nation and this state has no use for whatsoever. The strength of the Klu Klux Klan is difficult to estimate. Among its many secrets is the actual membership total. Students of klan affairs say there are at least 30 to 50,000 active members. But there are probably as many as a million or more americans who are strongly sympathetic to the klan. And who if pushed to a decision could join the klan. 100 pure White American citizen aplies for membership his application is carefully checked. If accepted he can then leave what the klan calls the alien world. And become a member of the invisible empire. For the first time in klan history. Cbs news cameras filmed part of a initiation ceremony. Filming had to be done with available light. And the only parts of the ritual we could not film were the secret handshake. And the secret oath of alean jans to the Imperial Authority of the klan. This is the ceremony we filmed. Five initiatives appeared. Corresponding to a president , lecturer, chaplain and secretary. The men were presented by the klu card. And checked out by the investigating committee. On a makeshift alter before an electrified cross are placed a sword. And a flag. The emblem. An open bible is laid on the flag. A glass of water completes the symbol you can array. An inner guard sits at the door. On the other side, is a clux ster. Or outer guard. The two assistants report to the exalted cyclops. God give us men, men who can stand. God give us men. Right face. Turn. This is the eyes of scrutiny part of the initiation ceremony. Klan members pass by the initiates for one last searching look. In this room the initiates swear allegiance to the klan above all things. The secrecy and ritual which seem almost laughable to the outsider have a grim purpose. Because of secrecy the klan can hold sway over a community. When men are initiated into klan and ritualing. Their neighbors will not know they have become klans men. If some are police or sheriffs deputy. Their fellow officers will not know. If they are jurors their fellow jurors will not know. Under the cloak of this secrecy, the klan can take over positions of influence and power. Present your body a living sacrifice. Transform by the renewing of your mind. That you may prove what is that good and acceptable in perfect will of god. Are you a native born white citizen. Yes. Do you believe in the christian religion . Yes. Do you esteem the United States of america institutions above and other government. Yes. Kneel on your right knee. Let us pray. You may now rise. Now on behalf. Welcome you to citizen ship in the invisible empire. The Klu Klux Klan. The five new klans men are no longer part of the alien world. They are members of the invisible empire. Entitled to wear the uniform and hood. Proud possessors of the handshake and secret password. They can attend meetings such as this one in North Carolina. A klan rally has many elements of a carnival. Outing for the family. Children start attending these out door meetings at an early age. Robes for the youngsters are made by mothers and follow the pattern of adult robes. Rallies always have entertainers and material is plan tailored for the audience. This entertainer recites a poem. Sins appear on her wedding gear. Three days and nights he felt blackness press against her own. Her soul let out a frightening groan. Until now i know no black man lives can take a white mans place. Thank you. The featured speaker is usually a well known personality. At this rally it was the late mat mur jr. Imperial or chief Legal Counsel of the legal klan. Extra added attraction, mat murphy introduced the three men indicted for the murder of civil rights worker. And befitting the occasion of a Klu Klux Klan rally, the three men were besieged by autograph hunters. And they willingly obliged. Klan members accuse offend crime must be. Attorneys must be paid. In addition, money is required for operating e pences and leaders salaries which run as high as 1,500 a month. The invisible empire needs a treasury. Where the money comes from and how much is a secret. Whats known is initiation fees are between 10 and 25 and yearly dues for assessment range from 3 to 15. A con sesh tifr esti