State officials in Mississippi have uncovered full Ku Klux Klan regalia and a pamphlet criticising Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during a clear-out at a government office. The discovery was made by workers at the Mississippi Department of Public Safety (DPS) as they prepared to move to a new building.
The materials, some dating back to the 1960s, included recruitment documents, meeting notes, and ledgers, according to a press release from the Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH). Among the items was a propaganda pamphlet titled 'The Ugly Truth about Martin Luther King', published by the United Klans of America, and a handbook from the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.
The trove was found in a small blue suitcase and has been handed over to the MDAH. DPS Commissioner Sean Tindell said his department and state highway patrol have worked for decades to 'shed light on the darkness in which groups like the Ku Klux Klan chose to operate'. He added: 'By preserving these artifacts and shedding light on such organizations, we help ensure that future generations are never led astray by such hate.'
Barry White, incoming director of the MDAH, thanked Tindell for the materials, stating: 'These records will give researchers broader access to documentation that deepens our understanding of Ku Klux Klan activities in Mississippi during the 1960s. Receiving a set of materials that includes both administrative records and propaganda from a local chapter of a national organization known for its secrecy is particularly significant.' Processing the documents could take months.
Officials also found folders containing news clippings about the Freedom Riders, the 1961 protests challenging segregation laws on interstate buses. The clippings referenced T.B. Birdsong, former head of the DPS and Mississippi Highway Patrol, who claimed the protests were 'directed, inspired and planned by known Communists', according to a 1961 New York Times article.
