When people think of the Ku Klux Klan, they often imagine hooded mobs and night riders from the era of Reconstruction. What is less widely known is that the most powerful version of the Klan was not created in the aftermath of the Civil War, but in the early twentieth century, by a man who saw himself not as a criminal, but as a religious leader.
Simmons was born in 1880 in Alabama, during the height of Jim Crow. He trained as a Methodist minister and spent his early adult life moving between preaching, public lectures, and fraternal organizations. This background gave him an intimate understanding of ritual, ceremony, and organizational hierarchy, tools he would later exploit to give the Klan a sense of sacred authority and moral legitimacy.
By the early twentieth century, the original Reconstruction-era Klan had effectively collapsed. It existed only in memory and historical accounts. Simmons believed it could be reborn, not as a small, secret vigilante group, but as a mass movement with national reach and social respectability. In 1915, he officially re-founded the Ku Klux Klan.
On Thanksgiving night of that year, Simmons led a small group of loyal followers to Stone Mountain, Georgia, where they staged a symbolic ceremony. A burning cross, prayers, and oaths were part of this ritual.
Simmons described the Klan as a “Christian fraternity” tasked with defending “100 percent Americanism.” In practice, this meant white Protestant dominance. Black Americans were portrayed as threats to God’s order. Simmons used biblical language to justify segregation and racial hierarchy. Initiation ceremonies, robes, titles, and meetings were designed to feel like church services, making members believe they were carrying out God’s will.
Under Simmons, the Klan did more than grow in numbers, it also intimidated and terrorized Black communities. Members carried out night raids, threatened individuals who tried to vote or organize, and used physical violence against those who challenged segregation.
Black churches, central to community life and political organization, were burned or attacked to instill fear. Families and businesses faced economic pressure, with some forced off their land or targeted with boycotts. Written threats signed “K.K.K.” warned communities to comply with white supremacy or risk punishment. Even while Simmons publicly presented the Klan as a moral and Christian organization, these acts of terror were an integral part of its structure.
The organization’s influence grew rapidly. By the early 1920s, the Klan had millions of members across the United States, including in states like Indiana, Ohio, Oregon, and Colorado.
Politicians, businessmen, pastors, and community leaders joined, drawn by the mix of religion, patriotism, and bigotry. Public rallies, parades, and ceremonies reinforced its legitimacy and gave the impression of a respectable movement, even as it used terror to enforce its ideology.
Simmons’s Klan thrived by mixing ritual, mass membership, and targeted violence. Ordinary white citizens could join without feeling guilty, because attacking Black Americans was framed as a righteous duty. The organization presented itself as a moral and patriotic force, even as its actions spread fear. In this way, the Klan’s terror worked on two levels, both psychological and physical, solidifying white supremacy across communities.
Ironically, Simmons did not remain in control of the movement he created. By the early 1920s, professional organizers and financiers pushed him aside. Men who were more interested in money and political power took over the organization. Simmons was reduced to a ceremonial figure and eventually became irrelevant.
William Joseph Simmons died in 1945, largely forgotten and sidelined by the very empire he built. He did not die celebrated or honored. He died as a discarded founder whose creation no longer needed him.
His true historical significance lies in what he proved. Simmons demonstrated that racism could be institutionalized through religion. By using Christianity as moral cover, he made white supremacy feel righteous instead of brutal.
Sources:
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Ku-Klux-Klan/Revival-of-the-Ku-Klux-Klan#ref136543
https://www.bunkhistory.org/resources/making-sense-of-the-second-ku-klux-klan
