More than a hundred secret Ku Klux Klan chapters organized across Arkansas in the early 1920s, including ten in northwest Arkansas. That’s according to new findings by Arkansas historian Kenneth Barnes, after he discovered a rare membership roll for a KKK chapter headquartered in Bentonville. He's traced all the members of the list, as well as why and where the KKK took root in Arkansas in the early 20th century. We also meet a Bentonville Klan descendant who discusses his newfound family legacy. Kenneth Barnes has compiled his research into an article titled "Another Look behind the Masks: The Ku Klux Klan in Bentonville, Arkansas, 1922-1926," published in the fall edition of the Arkansas Historical Quarterly.
Bentonville's Early 20th Century Ku Klux Klan Unmasked
Courtesy: Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture, University of Arkansas Special Collections
