The Ku Klux Klan

I remember nothing about the KKK, but my husband John says,

“My father wasn’t a member of the KKK. Early in the 1920s, I was 10 or 12 years old, they had a big KKK rally in Sulphur Springs. Everybody went to town to see the parade. There were a whole bunch of them dressed in white robes like overcoats with white hoods. The group leaders were on horses. The others walked.

“The main group leader was on a bay stallion – a beautiful animal. My buddy and I recognized that stallion. He belonged to the Binghams, who lived next door west of us. We concluded that the hooded man riding the stallion was Bascom Bingham, our next door neighbor. We kids thought it was fun to know that.

“They were just parading down the street. Lots of people were on the sidewalks looking at them. There may have been speeches, but I don’t remember them.

“At that time the black people were very much subdued in our area. A black, middle-aged lady named Fannie Cook was probably the best nurse in the area. People sent for her when the situation was desperate. She could keep a new baby alive or a sick grown person alive if anyone could.

“But she ate in the kitchen. She thought that was the way it was supposed to be and so did everyone else.”