The Invisible Empire in the High Alleghenies: The Second Ku Klux Klan and Social Hegemony in Pocahontas County, West Virginia

Executive Summary

The presence of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) in Pocahontas County, West Virginia, during the 1920s represents a complex intersection of industrial transition, archival silence, and decentralized social policing. Unlike the highly organized, bureaucratic "Second Klan" seen in urban centers and industrial coalfields, the Klan's influence in the Appalachian highlands often manifested through informal vigilante networks known as "Regulators" or "Night Riders." These groups enforced racial boundaries and moral standards in isolated rural districts.

A significant challenge in reconstructing this history is the "archival gap" within local media; while the Pocahontas Times maintained a sanitized, folklore-heavy record, its competitor, the Marlinton Journal, suffers from a major preservation gap during the Klan's peak years (1917–1932). Furthermore, the region’s history reveals a stark cultural paradox: white musicians, such as the Hammons family, actively participated in white supremacist structures while simultaneously extracting and integrating musical innovations from the very Black artists they marginalized. This briefing examines the spatial, archival, and social dynamics of the KKK's influence in the Greenbrier Valley and beyond.

1. Navigating the Archival and Geographical Landscape

Researching the KKK in Pocahontas County requires a precise understanding of regional geography to avoid significant archival confusion. Historically, the term "Pocahontas" refers to three distinct entities with vastly different economic bases and Klan profiles.

Table 1: Distinguishing "Pocahontas" Research Entities

Entity	Geographic Region	Economic Base	Klan Character (1920s)
Pocahontas County, West Virginia	Central Appalachian Highlands	Timber extraction and agriculture	Decentralized vigilantism ("Regulators") and moral policing.
Pocahontas County, Iowa	Midwestern Plains	Industrialized commercial farming	Mass-membership civic nativism; focused on anti-Catholicism and Prohibition.
Pocahontas Coalfield	Southern WV / Southwest Virginia	Bituminous coal mining	Organized labor suppression, anti-union intimidation, and violent racial policing.

The "Burned Counties" and Media Gaps

Historians face a "burned counties" phenomenon where official local archives are incomplete. Consequently, they must rely on fragmented local court records and surviving print media.

The Pocahontas Times: Under the editorial direction of Calvin "Cal" Price, this paper focused on local folklore and agriculture. It maintained a non-confrontational stance on national politics, effectively sanitizing the public record of regional racial tensions.
The Marlinton Journal: This publication is a critical missing link. A preservation gap at the West Virginia and Regional History Center (WVRHC) covers the years 1917 to 1932, the exact period of the Second Klan’s national peak, making it difficult to confirm public Klan notices or political endorsements.

2. The Evolution of the Klan in West Virginia

The presence of the Klan in West Virginia occurred in two distinct waves, each with different motivations and methods.

The Reconstruction-Era Klan (1860s–1870s)

Motivation: A reaction to the political enfranchisement of liberated African Americans and the disenfranchisement of ex-Confederates.
Activity: Violent intimidation aimed at restoring white supremacy. Notable figures like Jane Ferguson (mother of Booker T. Washington) and educator William H. Davis faced direct threats during this era.
Decline: The movement lost momentum after 1871 when voting privileges were restored to former Confederates.

The Second Klan (1910s–1920s)

Methodology: Operated in daylight with mass parades and newspaper advertisements, presenting itself as a patriotic fraternal order.
Targets: Expanded beyond African Americans to include Catholics, Jews, immigrants, bootleggers, and organized labor.
Visibility: In industrial areas like McDowell County, the Klan's presence was highly public. For example, the 1925 funeral of prohibition officer Mack Day featured a massive procession of robed Klansmen, signaling an alliance between the Klan and the enforcement of Protestant morality.

3. Decentralized Vigilantism in the Highlands

In the isolated communities of Pocahontas County, such as Lobelia and Bruffey's Creek Sinks, racial and social control did not always rely on formal Klan chapters. Instead, it was maintained through decentralized vigilante networks.

Regulators and Night Riders: These groups patrolled mountain hollows to enforce conservative moral standards and racial boundaries through nocturnal threats and targeted intimidation.
Informal Segregation: While West Virginia lacked the explicit "Jim Crow" codes of the Deep South, a culture of segregation was maintained through "sundown" customs and economic exclusion. Business owners were not prohibited from segregating, leading to limited access for Black residents in dining and lodging.
Vulnerability: With limited access to legal protections in remote regions, the small African American population was often forced into a submissive public posture to ensure physical safety.

4. Labor, Unionism, and Industrial Friction

The rise of the Second Klan intersected sharply with the West Virginia Mine Wars. Industrialists often exploited nativist and racial divisions to break union solidarity.

UMWA Opposition: The United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) took a firm stance against the Klan to preserve its multi-ethnic workforce.
Expulsion Clause: The UMWA Constitution explicitly mandated that any member affiliated with the KKK (or the Industrial Workers of the World) "shall be expelled," effectively classifying the Klan alongside anti-union corporate organizations.

5. The Paradox of Cultural Extraction

One of the most striking findings in the regional history is the coexistence of artistic collaboration and racial hostility, exemplified by the Hammons family of Pocahontas and Webster counties.

The Hammons Family: Renowned as preservationists of Appalachian "old-time" music, family members were reportedly affiliated with the KKK and involved in localized racial violence.
Musical Borrowing: Despite their white supremacist affiliations, family members like Burl Hammons engaged in intimate artistic exchanges with Black musicians. Hammons learned complex three-fingered guitar styles from Grafton Lacy, an African American railroad worker.
Cultural Synthesis: Appalachian folk music, often attributed solely to Scots-Irish or German roots, was actually a product of intercultural synthesis. Instruments like the banjo were pioneered by enslaved people, and white musicians routinely integrated melodies from Black folk origins into their repertoire.
Commercial Erasure: In the 1920s, the recording industry institutionalized these racial divisions by categorizing shared traditions into segregated "race" and "hillbilly" music markets, obscuring the collaborative origins of the genre.

6. Late Twentieth-Century Resurgence

While the Klan's influence waned after World War II, it experienced a brief, disruptive revival during the Kanawha County Textbook Controversy (1974–1975).

The Conflict: Protests against new, diverse language arts textbooks led to school firebombings and a massive wildcat strike by 3,500 coal miners.
Klan Intervention: Led by state director Dale Reusch, the KKK latched onto the culture war, participating in rallies at the state capitol.
Outcome: The controversy subsided after protest leader Reverend Marvin Horan was imprisoned for conspiring to bomb schools. The anti-textbook leadership eventually denounced the Klan, noting that its involvement damaged the movement's credibility.

7. Conclusion: The Challenge of the "Invisible Empire"

The history of the Klan in Pocahontas County illustrates the limitations of official archives. The sanitized editorial focus of contemporary newspapers and significant preservation gaps have created a historical record that masks the reality of extrajudicial violence and vigilante control. By synthesizing oral histories, musical folklore, and fragmented court records, a more nuanced picture emerges: one where racial hegemony was maintained not just through organized political action, but through decentralized intimidation and the selective extraction of cultural capital from marginalized communities.

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