Association of Georgia Klans

The Association of Georgia Klans, also known as the Associated Klans of Georgia was a Klan faction organized by Dr. Samuel Green in 1944, and led by him until his death in 1949. At its height the organization had klaverns in each of Georgia's 159 counties, as well as klaverns in Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina and Florida. It also had connections with klaverns and kleagles in Ohio and Indiana. After Green death, however, the organization foundered as it split into different factions, was hit with a tax lien and was beset by adverse publicity. It was moribund by the time of the Supreme Court's "Black Monday" ruling in 1954. A second Association of Georgia Klans was formed when Charles Maddox led dissatisfied members out of the U.S. Klans in 1960. This group appears to have folded into James Venable's National Knights of the Ku Klux Klan by 1965. There is also a current Klan group by that name.

The Association was formed at the same klonvokation that dissolved the Second Era Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. The new group was to be an "informal, unincorporated" alliance of klaverns which would remain active in the state of Georgia. Green was elected to the post of Grand Dragon, the usual designation of a state leader of the KKK. Initially there were only twelve klaverns in the Association. In October 1945 the group conducted the first cross burning since the end of World War II atop Stone Mountain. At the time Green told the press that cross burning had been suspended during wartime because "all factions had to unite to win the war". At the time of the cross burning the Association claimed 20,000 members. On March 21 the Klans attorney, Morgan Telser, filed a corporate registration with the Georgia Secretary of State for the "Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Inc" and paid up the dues for the period 1943-6. On May 9, 1946 Green held the first large scale initiation ceremony on Stone Mountain. Approximately 1,000 on-lookers watched as 227 aliens were naturalized by 1,000 robed Klansmen under the light of five burning crosses. Green triumphantly announced "We are revived." The initiates included a bus load of visitors from Tennessee. The presence of women among the assembled Klan members was also noted. Some altercations broke out with journalists, as the AGK had granted Look exclusive rights to take pictures.

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