CBS REPORTS: KU KLUX KLAN: THE INVISIBLE EMPIRE (TV)
Summary
One in this series of irregularly scheduled in-depth reports. In this program, Charles Kuralt reports on the actions of the Ku Klux Klan. Highlights of this program include the following: a review of violent acts that are thought to be linked to members of the Ku Klux Klan; Richmond Flowers, the attorney general of Alabama, discusses his views of the Ku Klux Klan; various Klansmen discuss their feelings about blacks and the civil rights movement; Klansmen explain the purpose of the KKK; Charles Kuralt explains the history behind the KKK, shows footage of various Klan acts during the early twentieth century, and explains how citizens apply for membership in the Klan; footage of a secret initiation ceremony is shown, along with footage of a Klan rally; an imperial wizard of the Klan is shown attempting to identify people in photos of civil rights demonstrations; Charles Kuralt explains how the KKK avoids responsibility for the violent acts of its members; examples of how the Klan uses intimidation; a black man, who was castrated by Klan members, recalls his horrifying experience; footage of a Klan-incited riot in St. Augustine, Florida is shown, along with footage of a Klan meeting in Ohio, where a cross is built to be burned; government officials from the House Un-American Activities Committee discuss their investigation of the Klan and the need to rid the Klan of its secrecy; and a former Ku Klux Klan member explains why he quit the organization. Commercials deleted.
Cataloging of this program was made possible by the CBS Foundation, 1998.
Preservation of the Post–World War II American Television Documentary Collection is supported in part by a Federal Save America’s Treasures grant administered by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Details
- NETWORK: CBS
- DATE: September 21, 1965 10:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:56:33
- COLOR/B&W: B&W
- CATALOG ID: T79:0276
- GENRE: Public affairs/Documentaries
- SUBJECT HEADING: Public affairs/Documentaries; Talk/Interview; Racism; Ku Klux Klan
- SERIES RUN: CBS - TV series, 1959-
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Palmer Williams … Executive Producer
- David Lowe … Producer, Writer
- Noel Parmentel … Associate Producer
- Charles Kuralt … Reporter
- James E. Chaney
- Richmond Flowers
- Andrew Goodman
- Nicholas Katzenbach
- Michael H. Schwerner