The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) stands as one of the most infamous secret societies in American history. The white robes and pointed masks symbolize prejudice, terror, and fear to Americans nationwide. Waco itself, and the greater McLennan County area, served as a hotbed of Klan activity at various times over the last century.

The KKK was founded in Tennessee in 1866, but by 1868, Texas had multiple Klan chapters all loosely organized under the statewide leadership of Roger Q. Mills. As Reconstruction played out across the state, their goal was the preservation of white supremacy and white-Democrat control of the government. This first wave of Klan presence stayed mostly relegated to North and East Texas, with Klansmen wreaking havoc on communities by burning homes and fields, beating and killing African Americans, and terrorizing politicians and community leaders until its dissolution in 1871. No evidence exists of a Waco KKK chapter in the late nineteenth century, but the KKK’s official arrival in Waco came with the reconstituted Klan of the twentieth century.

At the beginning of the century, resentment toward “foreign” peoples in America such as Catholics, Jews, and African Americans grew as World War I fostered white-nativist and isolationist sentiments across the country. Popular movies such as The Birth of a Nation then further normalized the existence of the Klan and its racial ideology. This led to the reorganization of the KKK in 1915 by the son of a Reconstruction-era Klansman, William J. Simmons, in Georgia. The reconstituted Klan spread like wildfire across the country, including new klaverns in every corner of Texas by the early 1920s. Though the exact date of the chapter's founding is unknown, Erwin J. Clark soon emerged as the leader of Waco's Saxet Klan Number 33 around 1921. He served as the Great Titan of the Waco Province and attorney for the Realm of Texas. Under his leadership, the Waco Klan set out policing the town and surveilling “immoral individuals,” sometimes even chasing them out of town with threats of tar and feathering. At least one man, Kennedy Cummings, actually fell victim to tar and feathering in 1921 after he did not heed a warning from the Klan to leave Waco. Outside of these extralegal measures, the Waco Klan allied itself with local law enforcement, even helping pay bounties for fugitives.

The Waco Klavern also set about recruiting Protestant pastors, thereby legitimizing Klan presence through religious associations and strong fundamentalist rhetoric. Klansmen often paraded into local churches, offered the preacher free membership and a “Kludd”—or chaplain—position, and made a donation in front of the entire congregation. The Waco Klan was known to even give pastors up to one hundred dollars, a sizable sum in the early 1920s. The pastor usually accepted and then preached a pro-Klan sermon about preserving the moral integrity of the nation, though some like First Baptist pastor Joseph Dawson refused to join or associate with the Klan. The Klan would also make appearances at community church events, such as the 1921 Clay Street Methodist Church’s Christmas celebration, where they passed out free gifts and treats.

These actions functioned as an effective recruitment technique, as the 1921 initiation ceremony inducted 937 men, with another 210 turned away because the building was full. With its numbers continuing to swell, the Klan soon had a tight hold on the Waco community. It controlled commerce by declaring that Klansmen were required to shop at Klan-owned stores and also to harass businesses owned by Catholics and Jews. To make these distinctions clear, a white card with black bars was displayed in the windows of Klan-friendly businesses around town.

An incident known as the Lorena Riot further bolstered the Klan’s influence and hampered that of official law enforcement. After a successful parade in Mart, the Klavern looked to march in Lorena on October 1, 1921. Four thousand residents of Waco and Lorena turned out to watch the spectacle. McLennan County Sheriff Bob Buchanan approached the parade and asked the leaders to identify themselves. The leaders, as with any Klansmen, refused to reveal their identities. Lorena locals tried to reason with the sheriff, but he refused to let the parade continue. At 9:30 p.m. the parade began regardless, with Klansmen marching two by two, led by a burning cross and an American flag. Sheriff Buchanan tried to pull the mask off of one Klansman and suddenly a shot rang out. Then multiple shots were heard and Sheriff Buchanan armed himself with a knife. In the scuffle of guns and knives, Buchanan suffered a gunshot wound to his right arm, five men were stabbed, and one other was shot in the neck. One of the stabbing victims, Louis Crow, later died of his wound. The community quickly backed the Klan and demanded legal action against the sheriff, known to be the man who stabbed Crow. Judge Richard Munroe called upon the McLennan County grand jury to investigate, and it indicted Buchanan for Crow’s murder. The next McLennan County election in 1922 then witnessed the victory of the “Ku Klux Klan ticket,” for positions such as county sheriff and county attorney. By the next year the Klan was bold enough to parade two thousand members through town. The riot strengthened the Klan’s hold on Waco public opinion, and as a result Waco politics as well.

The KKK then set its sights on higher political office: the state senate. In what was known as the “Waco Agreement,” four Grand Titans met in Waco at the Raleigh Hotel to decide which senate candidate the Klan would support. Three different Klansmen were in the running at the time, so it was not a straightforward decision. They decided to let the Klan choose by declaring an open race with the understanding that the trailing Klansmen would drop out when the time came. One of the candidates, Wacoan Robert Henry, ran openly as a Klansman, showing the legitimacy of the KKK at the state and national level. Klan officials ended up reneging the Waco Agreement and supporting Earle Mayfield, who did not run openly as a Klansman, over Henry and the third candidate Sterling Strong because of his ties to big business. Mayfield went on to win the Democratic primary. But the agreement and Henry’s candidacy show the extent to which Waco was a center for Klan authority.

Yet the KKK’s day in the sun left as quickly as it arrived. Klansman Felix D. Robertson decided to run for governor against Miriam “Ma” Ferguson in 1924. Though not running openly as a Klansman, Robertson had long alluded to his membership by his public defense of the organization. His first campaign stop was Waco in February 1924. Robertson won the first Democratic primary, and the Waco Klan held a massive parade down Austin Avenue in celebration. But the Klan itself experienced problems as upper-class and lower-class members fought over the purpose of the organization, the former wanting more political control and the latter still focused on vigilantism and extralegal violence. Communities like Waco were also growing apprehensive about the rise in mob violence that accompanied the influx of lower-class individuals to the Klan. Robertson was unwilling to condemn Klan violence and assuage these fears, so he lost the primary runoff to Ferguson as a result. This proved to be the death knell for KKK dominance in Waco and the state at large. By 1927 the Waco Klan had sold all its property.

The 1920s proved to be the first wave of KKK activity in Waco, but not the last. By the 1950s, Klan ideology was alive and well in Waco once more. Horace Sherman Miller joined the KKK after Brown vs Board of Education in 1954 and was a Texas Kleagle until 1957. That same year, he decided to start a mail-order chapter, the Aryan Knights of the KKK. His home served as the headquarters, as tuberculosis had made him an invalid, and he wrote the newsletter with a typewriter set up over his bed. Though based in Waco, his newsletter had readership across the country as civil rights challenged the racial ideas of the nation. Miller’s newsletter enjoyed success until it ended with his death in 1964.

The KKK would not come around again officially until the 1990s, though it is possible that the organization existed in some form underground. Dallas Klansmen came out into the public eye again in 1993 to criticize the FBI’s handling of the Branch Davidian siege. They traveled to Waco and claimed the Klan had a much more effective plan for extricating the Davidians, but they refused to elaborate on any extralegal measures. Further, the Texas Knights of the KKK, led by Michael Lowe, gained prominence in the mid-1990s and had a base in Waco.

The KKK has a long and controversial history in Waco. But there have also always been Wacoans willing to fight back against the Klan and the prejudice it preaches. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Traditional American Knights of the KKK have a headquarters in Waco today, but membership is extremely small and incidents very infrequent.

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For most of their history, the Davidians and later the Branch Davidians had lived in isolation from the Waco community. As a city with deep religious roots, Branch Davidians were generally accepted and allowed to practice their religious beliefs without interference. The group had garnered some attention from local media in 1987 due to a shootout at the new Mount Carmel Center. But five years later, the Branch Davidians were thrust into the national spotlight.

Vernon Howell, who changed his name to David Koresh in 1990, had assumed leadership of the Branch Davidians and increasingly incorporated radical ideas into his messages. He claimed that God instructed him to build an Army of God to prepare for the end of days, and encouraged the stockpile of ammunition and weapons. Koresh also stated he was told by God to procreate with the women in the group to establish a “House of David,” and to this end took several wives. While never directly claiming to be Jesus himself, Koresh had proclaimed that he was the final prophet.

On a routine delivery to the compound in 1992, local UPS representative Larry Gilbreath discovered firearms, inert grenade casings, and black powder in a broken package. Gilbreath contacted authorities, and in May, Chief Deputy Daniel Weyenberg of the McLennan County Sheriff’s Department contacted the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF). A formal investigation was launched in June that year, and the ATF began surveillance from a house across the road from Mount Carmel Center. In addition to allegations that Koresh and his followers were stockpiling illegal weapons, Koresh was also accused of sexual abuse. On February 27, 1993, the Waco-Tribune Herald began publishing “The Sinful Messiah” series, which alleged that Koresh had physically abused children at Mount Carmel and had committed statutory rape by taking several underage women as brides.

The ATF obtained search and arrest warrants for Koresh and other followers on weapons charges, noting the many firearms the group had accumulated. The ATF originally planned their raid of Mount Carmel for Monday, March 1, 1993, using the code name “Showtime.” The date was changed to February 28 in response to the Waco Tribune-Herald’s series on Koresh, which the ATF had tried to prevent from being published. Any advantage of surprise was lost early that morning when a KWTX-TV reporter, who had been tipped off about the raid, asked a mail carrier for directions, who was actually Koresh’s brother-in-law. The ATF commander ordered the raid move forward, despite being informed that the Branch Davidians were aware that ATF agents were coming. At 9:45 a.m., a gun battle began. ATF agents stated they heard shots coming from within the compound, while Branch Davidian survivors claimed the first shots came from ATF agents outside. By the time a ceasefire was announced at 11:30 a.m., four ATF agents had been killed, and another sixteen had been wounded. Five branch Davidians were killed, and later that day, a sixth was killed by ATF agents. That evening, four children were permitted to leave Mount Carmel, and Koresh, who had been wounded, was interviewed by CNN and spoke to KRLD in Dallas.

For the next forty-nine days, the FBI Hostage Rescue Team worked to negotiate a peaceful end to the siege. In the first few days, a supposed breakthrough was made when Koresh agreed that the Branch Davidians would leave the compound in return for a message, recorded by Koresh, being broadcast on national radio. But Koresh told negotiators that God had instructed him to remain in the building and wait. Despite this, nineteen children were released. As time passed, the FBI used increasingly aggressive techniques, such as sleep deprivation by means of all-night broadcasts and recordings of loud noises and pop music, to try to force all the Branch Davidians out. Koresh later forced a group of eleven followers to leave, and they were arrested as material witnesses, with one person charged with conspiracy to murder.

On April 19, US Attorney General Janet Reno approved recommendations by the FBI to mount an assault. Explosives were used to puncture holes in the walls of the buildings of the main compound so tear gas could be pumped in, in hopes of flushing the Branch Davidians out without harming them. Around noon, three fires broke out in different parts of the building and spread quickly. While the government maintains that the fires were started deliberately by Branch Davidians, others, including some Branch Davidian survivors, believe that the fires were started either accidentally or deliberately by the FBI. Only nine people left the building during the fire. The remaining seventy-six Branch Davidians, including children, were killed either by rubble, suffocation from the effects of the fire, or shot. Footage of the blaze was broadcast live by television crews, who had remained near the compound throughout the siege.

Extensive investigations took place following the siege, and the events that transpired in Waco transformed the way federal officials conducted future operational tactics. Four months after the fire, a federal grand jury indicted twelve of the surviving Branch Davidians for aiding and abetting the murder of federal officers, along with the unlawful possession of firearms. Four members were acquitted, and the remaining eight were convicted, but only for firearms-related offenses. By 2007, all members had been released from prison. Nothing remains of the original compound, but a new Branch Davidian community now exists on the property called Branch, The Lord Our Righteousness.

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Often confused with the Davidians, the Branch Davidians are a splinter group organized in 1955 by Ben Roden following the death of Davidian founder Victor T. Houteff. Houteff had founded the Davidians, a small Adventist reform movement, in 1929. Six years later, Houteff and thirty-seven of his followers resettled two miles from Waco, where they established the Mount Carmel Center. The community flourished there, growing to around ninety people by 1955. Houteff had complete authority, viewed by his followers as the only person who could reveal Biblical secrets about the end of time. Among his teachings, Houteff stated that he would not die, but would lead his people to old Jerusalem and therefore to the heavenly Canaan. Because of this, Houteff’s sudden death at Hillcrest Hospital, caused by heart failure, came as a huge shock to the Davidians. The loss of their leader led to instability within church organization leadership, along with the formation of several splinter groups.

Prior to his passing, Houteff had appointed his second wife, Florence Houteff, to lead the Davidians until the Lord chose another prophet to take charge. Under her leadership, the community sold their property near Lake Waco for residential development and resettled in 1957. They resettled on a 941-acre farm located nine miles east of Waco near Elk, which they called New Mount Carmel. Florence Houteff and the other leaders predicted the imminent establishment of God’s Kingdom on April 22, 1959. They called on members to gather at New Mount Carmel before that date, which coincided with Passover. About nine hundred gathered, but when signs did not appear, the Davidians began to disperse quickly.

While this gathering took place, Benjamin Roden, a former Seventh-day Adventist who had accepted the teachings of The Shepherd’s Rod in 1946, announced that he was the sign the Davidians were seeking. The failure of the prophecy discredited Florence Houteff, and a small following looked to Roden as their new prophet. Roden’s Branch Davidians claimed the New Mount Carmel property, which was now seventy-seven acres. Roden centered his teachings on the significance of the restored state of Israel, which would be a sign of preparation for Christ’s return to earth. Roden traveled to Israel and established a small community of followers there prior to his death in 1978.

Lois Roden assumed leadership of the Branch Davidians following her husband’s death. Her teachers centered on the female nature of the Holy Spirit and the co-dominion of women and men in the church. This corresponded with ideas circulating from the Feminist Movement in the 1970s and the growing egalitarian teachings of many Adventist sects. Beginning in 1979, Roden began publishing Shekinah, a short-lived journal on women’s place in religion. She also often spoke to media outlets about the femininity of the Holy Spirit, hoping to spread her teachings to a wider audience.

 Throughout Lois Roden’s leadership, her son George Roden claimed to be the next heir apparent of the Branch Davidians. However, he was not widely respected within the community, and his own mother did not support his claim. She had aligned herself with Vernon Howell, a young, charismatic Bible teacher who had first arrived at Mount Carmel in 1981. After briefly leaving, he had returned in the mid-1980s and gained support and a growing following among the Branch Davidians. Despite this, George Roden was able to gain control of Mount Carmel in 1985, expelling Howell’s rival faction at gunpoint. Howell and his followers resettled in Palestine, Texas, but returned to Mount Carmel two years later to gain control of the Mount Carmel property. Eight men, including Howell, exchanged gunfire with Roden on November 3, 1987, before being arrested and charged with attempted murder. Howell’s followers were all acquitted, and Howell’s case was declared a mistrial. Because Roden owed thousands of dollars in unpaid taxes on Mount Carmel, Howell and his followers were able to raise the funds and reclaim the property.

Howell perpetuated many distinct Davidian traditions, including an authoritarian leader, communal life separate from society, and the anticipation of the imminent end of the world. In 1990, he changed his name to David Koresh, signifying his messianic role in carrying out a divinely commissioned task of defeating the enemies of God. While previous leaders of the Davidians, such as Houteff, had been pacifists, Koresh began stockpiling weapons and ammunition to defend the faithful. Authorities suspected the Branch Davidians possessed illegal firearms, and on February 28, 1993, the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms raided the compound, beginning the fifty-one day Branch Davidian Siege.

Today, both Davidians and Branch Davidians exist in scattered communities in the United States and around the world. A small group of Branch Davidians live and worship at Mount Carmel today, called The Branch, The Lord Our Righteousness. This group claims David Koresh twisted Biblical teachings, but other Branch Davidians—some also living at Mount Carmel—still align themselves with Koresh and his version of the Branch Davidian faith.

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