Grand Dragon uniform tied to notorious 1960s KKK leader part of memorabilia auction
An artifact from the opposing side of the civil rights movement is up for auction: a 1960s hood, satin robe and belt made for a Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan.
Starting bid: $300.
Affiliated Auctions out of Tallahassee, Florida, posted the controversial garb online this week, saying it could fetch as much as $2,000.
That’s partly because the design is “known as the Bob Jones type,” the auction house says.
Jones, a native of North Carolina, was “the most influential Grand Dragon in the country” as civil rights demonstrations began to spread across the nation in the ’60s, according to PBS.org. His official title was Grand Dragon of North Carolina, according to the auction description. He died in 1989 at age 59, according to his hometown paper, The Salisbury Post.
“In just three years, he grew the North Carolina Klan from a handful of friends to some 10,000 members — more than the Klans of all other southern states combined,” PBS says.
Two photos of Jones “wearing this type of robe” are included as part of the lot. It’s not said if the robe may have belonged to Jones or who owns it now.
Online auctions of items associated with hate groups have long been controversial, with auction giant eBay banning the sale of Nazi-related “items that promote or glorify hatred, violence, or discrimination.” Yahoo! also decided to stop offering such items in auctions nearly 20 years ago, after a French human rights group went to court to prevent the online marketer from auctioning Nazi memorabilia, The Guardian reports.
The Klan is considered “the oldest and most infamous of American hate groups,” with African-Americans, Jews and the LGBTQ community among its primary targets, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
“Jones used hate-filled, racist rhetoric but turned the group away from violence to maintain the KKK as a political force,” according to National Catholic Reporter.
The robe was designed to intimidate and is described by the auction site as “green satin with (a) large dragon chest patch” and comes with a red belt. The hood is “open faced,” something that was required by federal law, Affiliated Auctions says. It is decorated with two small dragons on either side.
Affiliated Auctions is offering the vintage clothing as part of a “Premier Military & Fine Art Auction” on April 29.
Among the 331 items in the sale are World War II German military memorabilia, including Third Reich uniforms, medals and a “German Totenkopf 3rd Panzer Division Wooden Carved Skull” valued up to $13,000.
