Pulling off the Sheets – The Second Ku Klux Klan in Deep Southern Illinois

This presentation shares the story of Darrel's discovery of the 1924 Ku Klux Klan and initiation that occurred less than a half mile from his childhood home. Although the site was passed daily on rides to school or church, no one ever talked about the site's connection to the Klan that had been active in the area only a few decades earlier. 

This presentation "pulls the sheets" off the history of the Klan in Illinois and examines what happens when we hide or run from our past. The story is told in a nonjudgmental way that encourages us to confront our past and prepares us to move past those painful experiences. 

Photographs (contemporary and current) of people and places involved in the story will be presented, with copies of newspaper accounts of Klan activity in Illinois in the 1920s.