Gordon Hall and his team of volunteers would often write to extremist groups in the guise of someone interested in joining. In return groups would send them recruitment packages usually containing information about the group and some of their publications.

Below are some items from a package sent by the Texas Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. The package includes a few copies of the “White Patriot” newspaper, a hand written note from the grand dragon of the Texas Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Michael Lowe, stickers and a few party balloons.

Stickers

Balloons

Lowe gained some publicity in the mid 90s because he was represented by an African American lawyer, Anthony P. Griffin [1] in a case that involved the harassment and assault of African American residents in Vidor, Texas.[2]

It can be difficult to track the history of all of the different branches of the KKK. This history of the KKK in Texas is similar to other parts of the country in that is was started in the 1860s during reconstruction with an ebb and flow of membership and activity in the decades that followed. The Texas Knights became well known KKK in the 1990s around the time that this package was sent to Gordon Hall and often found themselves in the center of controversy in Texas. Indeed, Lowe proudly writes in his letter that his Klan group is the one the Anti-Defamation League stated “were the one to be concerned about and to watch.”

Hand Written Note from Michael Lowe

Hand Written Note from Michael Lowe Page 2

[1] http://www.nytimes.com/1993/09/10/news/a-klansman-s-black-lawyer-and-a-principle.html

[2] http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/vek02