File:Ku Klux Klan member, ca 1923 (MOHAI 330).jpg

The 20th century Ku Klux Klan originated in Georgia in 1915 and soon spread to the West Coast. The group's hostility against blacks, Roman Catholics, immigrants and organized labor was well known. By the end of 1922, there were 2,000 Klan members in Seattle and smaller groups in Walla Walla, Tacoma and Spokane. Seattle-area activities reached their peak in July 1923 when some 50,000 Klan members from throughout the Pacific Northwest gathered at a rally near Renton. In this photo, probably taken between 1920 and 1925, a hooded member of the Washington Ku Klux Klan raises his arm in a salute. Klan membership in Washington dropped after a Klan-sponsored initiative to abolish private and parochial schools failed badly at the polls in 1923.

Note from MOHAI records: Robert Bermann was a P-I reporter. Handwritten on sleeve: Ku Klux Klan, with Robert Bermann. Caption by MOHAI staff.

• Subjects (LCTGM): Organizations--Washington (State); Uniforms--Washington (State); Ku Klux Klan (1915- )