The year 1923 brought the realization that “yes, it can happen here” to many who had avoided facing a problem that was sweeping the nation. The story really begins eight years earlier.

Wikipedia explains, “In 1915, the second Klan was founded atop Stone Mountain, Georgia, by William Joseph Simmons. While Simmons relied on documents from the original klan and memories of some surviving elders, the revived Klan was based significantly on the wildly popular film The Birth of a Nation.