While packing for a transition to their new headquarters in Rankin County, officials at the Mississippi Department of Public Safety stumbled upon a forgotten blue suitcase that had been tucked away in a storage closet for decades.
Inside, they discovered a collection of artifacts belonging to the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, the state’s most notorious and violent white supremacist faction from the 1960s. The cache included a handwritten charter, a ceremonial robe, and detailed ledgers tracking member dues. “If only that robe could talk,” remarked George Malvaney, a former Klansman turned environmental executive, who noted the suitcase’s role as a silent witness to a dark era.
The discovery has prompted an immediate transfer of the materials to the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. Public Safety Commissioner Sean Tindell stated that the find offers a chance to “shed light on the darkness in which groups like the Ku Klux Klan chose to operate.
Among the items was a “Kloran” handbook, which outlined the group’s militant rituals and their “Intelligence Committee” used to monitor civil rights workers. Incoming archives director Barry White emphasized the rarity of finding both administrative records and propaganda in one place, noting that these documents “deepen our understanding of Ku Klux Klan activities in Mississippi during the 1960s.”
The records highlight the extreme violence led by Imperial Wizard Sam Bowers, whose group was responsible for the 1964 murders of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner. The handwritten charter, dated “98 A.K.” (referencing the years since the Klan’s 1865 origin), described a “Sacred Responsibility” to destroy those they deemed enemies of their civilization. Memos found in the suitcase even suggested using “mad dogs” and “tear gas” against activists. Despite their efforts to remain hidden, using code names like “No. 16” and wearing gloves to hide fingerprints, the recovered ledgers contained the actual names of many members.
Beyond the Klan materials, the Department of Public Safety also recovered Highway Patrol folders labeled “Communist Agitators” and “Freedom Riders.” These files contain surveillance photos and reports on the 1961 activists who challenged segregation.
At the time, Highway Patrol head T.B. Birdsong pushed a false narrative that these nonviolent riders were trained by Russians. By making these records digitally accessible, officials aim to ensure that the history of this violence is preserved as a warning.
As Commissioner Tindell put it, preserving these artifacts helps “ensure that future generations are never led astray by such hate.”
