This Week in Texas Methodist History February 27 KKK Interupts Methodist Church at Brenham with $100 Donation for Methodist Home February 26, 1922 As the nation struggles with another outburst of White Christian Nationalism, it is well to remember a similar expression of the racist sentiment that was in full flower one hundred years ago. I am referring to the Ku Klux Klan of the post-World War I world. The racist, nativist urge had surged. The rise in lynchings, the deportation of radical immigrants, the tightening of Jim Crow laws all preceded the Klan of the 1920s. It is difficult for us moderns to realize how “mainstream” the Klan was. The Texas State Fair sponsored a “Klan Day” at which members in regalia were given discounts on admission. The Klan was not confined to the South. It influenced legislation in Oregon that resulted in anti-Catholic laws and Kokomo, Indiana, was a favorite site for meetings because of the K’s in its name. On Sunday night February 26, 1922, as the service in the MECS church in Brenham was underway, a group of 8 Klansmen in full regalia, and fully masked walked in. They went to the pulpit and handed the pastor, G. Z. Sadler, an envelope. In the envelope there was $100 and a note that it was intended for the Methodist Home in Waco. The church had designated a special offering that night for the Home. They had raised $32 for the Home that housed about 300 children at the time. The Klansmen walked out without saying a word, but the next day Rev. Sadler asked the local newspaper to acknowledge the gift with thanks. When I ran across this news item, it resonated with part of my personal family history. Our family tradition has the story that about the same time a similar event occurred in Malakoff, Texas---but with different results. According to multiple witnesses from whom I have heard this story My mother’s family was woshipping one Sunday night in Malakoff. The family consisted of my grandparents, Dwight and Dorcas Carson and their two daughters, Sara Alice and Martha (my mother). The Malakoff Klan marched to church steps, but Dwight stopped them and told them that they were welcome if they would remove their Klan regalia and come as ordinary worshipers. The Klansmen dissolved into the darkness. I am proud of the courage of my 26 year old grandfather---a lay man and local merchant whose business depended upon the good will of the community. The family lore states that the family did not own a car, but another family member insisted on driving the Carson family home that night.