--- title: Joining the KKK: Photos From a Ku Klux Klan Initiation in 1946 Georgia description: In May 1946, LIFE magazine ran a series of remarkable -- and creepy, and pathetic -- pictures from a Klan initiation in Georgia. canonical: https://time.com/3746389/bigotry-in-the-usa-photos-from-a-ku-klux-klan-initiation/ author: Ben Cosgrove article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2013-03-05T19:14:02.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:05:02.891Z og:title: Joining the KKK: Photos From a Ku Klux Klan Initiation in 1946 Georgia og:description: In May 1946, LIFE magazine ran a series of remarkable -- and creepy, and pathetic -- pictures from a Klan initiation in Georgia. og:url: https://time.com/3746389/bigotry-in-the-usa-photos-from-a-ku-klux-klan-initiation/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4458863e79bf8571/698783c0428a9ed726cc7a48/150316-ku-klux-klan-14.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2100 og:image:height: 1181 og:image:alt: Ku Klux Klan 1946 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Joining the KKK: Photos From a Ku Klux Klan Initiation in 1946 Georgia twitter:description: In May 1946, LIFE magazine ran a series of remarkable -- and creepy, and pathetic -- pictures from a Klan initiation in Georgia. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4458863e79bf8571/698783c0428a9ed726cc7a48/150316-ku-klux-klan-14.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Bigotry in the USA: Photos From a Ku Klux Klan Initiation > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Mar 5, 2013 7:14 PM UTC  A Ku Klux Klan member demonstrates ritualistic aspects of a KKK meeting, Georgia, May 1946. A Ku Klux Klan member demonstrates ritualistic aspects of a KKK meeting, Georgia, May 1946. Ed Clark—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Mar 5, 2013 7:14 PM UTC According to [a recent report](http://news.yahoo.com/u-hate-groups-decline-radical-ideas-mainstream-222302746.html) by an Alabama-based civil rights group, the Southern Poverty Law Center, the number of extremist and anti-government “patriot” groups in the United States declined to around 2,000 in 2013 — after reaching an all-time high of almost 2,400 in 2012\. Rather than a positive development, however, the SPLC notes that the lower number of hate groups might well be the result of the mainstreaming of far-right ideas into state legislation across the U.S. But even if the number fluctuates by a few hundred year over year, the fact remains that Neo-Nazis, “Christian Identity” cults, white supremacist militias and other anti-Semitic, anti-foreign nativist groups exist in all 50 states. When it comes to extremist groups in America, of course, the longest-lived and most readily identifiable remains the [Ku Klux Klan](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ku%5FKlux%5FKlan), which has been operating at varying degrees of influence and strength for close to 150 years. Hundreds of Klan groups are actively working and recruiting in the U.S., with more than two dozen in Texas alone. The KKK’s fortunes as a cultural and political force have waxed and waned over the decades, with Klan membership peaking in the 1920s, during the era of the “Second Klan.” (The First Klan, in the post-Civil War South, lasted from 1865 to 1874; the Second Klan from 1915 until about 1944; and the Third from roughly the end of WWII until today.) The Klan claimed literally millions of members at the height of the Second Klan era; today, Klan watchers estimate that number to be fewer than 10,000\. The good news is that’s a precipitous drop, to say the least, in the number of people officially associated with the KKK; the bad news is that many thousands of Americans who might have joined the Klan in the past have instead aligned with a host of extremist splinter groups, militias and other organizations, making the far-right fringe as dangerous as it’s ever been. In May 1946, LIFE magazine ran a series of remarkable pictures from a Klan initiation in Georgia, at the start of the Third Klan era. Titled “The Ku Klux Klan Tries a Comeback,” the article noted that the KKK pledged initiates “in a mystic pageant on Georgia’s Stone Mountain.” The language that accompanied photographer Ed Clark’s pictures, meanwhile, made clear that, as newsworthy as the story of this particular initiation might have been, LIFE’s editors considered the figures in their white robes and hoods to be rather laughable — if their rhetoric and arcane, pseudo-mystic shenanigans weren’t so unsettling. --- > “” --- As mentioned in one of the captions in the gallery above, the Stone Mountain ceremony was put off several times during the preceding year because of wartime sheet shortages. Or at least that’s what LIFE reported at the time. The magazine also made a point of characterizing the garb and actions of members at Klan meetings (slides #10 through 15) as both creepy and pathetic. “Childish ritual and secretiveness,” the magazine noted, “have always been the great attractions for the kind of people who make good Klansmen.” The more things change. . . .  The scene at a Ku Klux Klan initiation ritual in Georgia, May 1946. Ed Clark—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  The Grand Dragon of the Fulton County, Ga., Ku Klux Klan, an Atlanta doctor named Samuel Green, surrounded by his assistants, May 1946. Ed Clark—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  The scene at a Ku Klux Klan initiation ritual in Georgia, May 1946. Ed Clark—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  The scene at a Ku Klux Klan initiation ritual in Georgia, May 1946. Ed Clark—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  The scene at a Ku Klux Klan initiation ritual in Georgia, May 1946. Ed Clark—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  New Klan members march in lock step up to the Klan's big altar on Stone Mountain in Georgia, 1946\. The Klan exultingly announced they had initiated 600 new members in one night; observers best guesses were from 150 to 200. Ed Clark—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Klan initiates (including some Atlanta policemen) kneel before the local Grand Dragon during a ritual in Georgia, 1946. Ed Clark—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  White-sheeted Ku Klux Klan members stand by a burning cross, May 1946\. This Stone Mountain, Ga., ceremony was put off many times, Klansmen allegedly said, because of wartime sheet shortages during WWII. Ed Clark—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Klan initiates (including some Atlanta policemen) stand before a burning cross during a ritual in Georgia, 1946. Ed Clark—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A Ku Klux Klan member demonstrates ritualistic aspects of a KKK meeting, Georgia, May 1946. Ed Clark—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A Ku Klux Klan member demonstrates ritualistic aspects of a KKK meeting, Georgia, May 1946. Ed Clark—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A Ku Klux Klan member demonstrates ritualistic aspects of a KKK meeting, Georgia, May 1946. Ed Clark—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A Ku Klux Klan member demonstrates ritualistic aspects of a KKK meeting, Georgia, May 1946. Ed Clark—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A Ku Klux Klan member demonstrates ritualistic aspects of a KKK meeting, Georgia, May 1946. Ed Clark—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A Ku Klux Klan member demonstrates ritualistic aspects of a KKK meeting, Georgia, May 1946. Ed Clark—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  The scene at a Ku Klux Klan initiation ritual in Georgia, May 1946. Ed Clark—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Klan members with KKK regalia, Georgia, May 1946. Ed Clark—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Certified Statement for Annual Registration of a Corporation for the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Inc., Fulton County, Ga., 1946. Ed Clark—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  The Grand Dragon of the Fulton County, Ga., Ku Klux Klan, Dr. Samuel Green, May 1946. 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