Bozeman's hidden history with the Ku Klux Klan
Bozemans hidden history with the Ku Klux Klan
By Gail Schontzler Chronicle Staff Writer Sep 17, 2017
In the summer of 1926, the weekly Bozeman Courier published a mid-sized advertisement inviting the public to a picnic at Bozeman Hot Springs put on by the Ku Klux Klan.
The ad promised a public lecture by Dr. Hiram W. Evans, Imperial Wizard of the KKK, its national leader, at the picnic on Monday evening, Aug. 9.
Bring your lunch basket and your family and friends, the ad read. Dr. Evans will enlighten you as to the purpose of the Klan. Everybody Welcome.
....
The fact the Klan came to Bozeman doesnt surprise Christine Erickson. ... She has done decades of research and is writing a book, Fraternity on the Frontier: The Ku Klux Klan in Montana during the 1920s. Raised in Missoula, Erickson is an associate history professor at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne. ... In the archives of the Montana Historical Society, Erickson found reports on Bozeman Klan No. 10.