On this day 102 years ago, the parishioners of Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Lawrenceburg witnessed an unusual masquerade.

As the Lawrence ‘News’ reported, Dr. John R. Morris was ending his sermon that night when “five white-robed men came in at the south door of the church, marched down the aisle, passed in front of the preacher, placing a sealed envelope on the table which was in front of the pulpit and quietly marched out of the north aisle of the church and out of the door.”

Visiting the church that night was Rev. A.P. Moore, the pastor of First Baptist Lawrenceburg. Dr. Morris asked Rev. Moore to open the envelope. Inside he found a typewritten letter “wrapped around a roll of bills” totaling $50. The letter said that the money was “a token of our appreciation” from the Ku Klux Klan of Lawrenceburg.

This was one of the oldest tricks in the Klan’s playbook, and it happened again and again throughout the United States in the early 20th century. By staging dramatic visits to Protestant churches, the Klan sought to bolster its reputation as a Christian organization and fill its ranks with the faithful.

Three weeks later, on October 7, the routine was repeated at First Baptist Church Lawrenceburg. This time, twenty-nine of the “white-robed men” interrupted the church’s revival service to deposit the same typewritten note and $50 in the guest preacher’s hand.

The Klan of the early 20th century in Lawrence County had a ladies’ auxiliary and a post office box. It sponsored public lectures in churches and school gymnasiums, and organized public cross-burnings which ended with fireworks demonstrations. They wore matching robes and went to great lengths to make prospective members think that they were an upright and civically-conscious organization. There is also evidence that some of the city’s most prominent and powerful leaders were members of the organization.

Make no mistake, however, despite their cultivation of a “good-guy” image, the Klan was a reprehensible organization whose aim, both nationally and locally, was the subjugation and degradation of people of color, immigrants, and other marginalized people.