Author Visit - Arley Fadness - The Ku Klux Klan in South Dakota

In the 1920s, a reborn Ku Klux Klan slithered into South Dakota. Bold at times, the group intimidated citizens in every county. KKK anti-Catholic sentiment resulted in the murder of Father Arthur Belknap of Lead. Idealized Gutzon Borglum, sculptor of Mount Rushmore, operated as a white supremacist and KKK leader. In 1925, animosity between the KKK and Fort Meade soldiers came to a clash one night in Sturgis. The clatter of two borrowed .30-caliber Browning cooled machine guns split the air over the heads of a Klan gathering across the valley. Author Arley Fadness follows the Klan’s trail throughout the Mount Rushmore State.

A retired draftsman and clergyman born and raised in Webster, South Dakota, Arley Kenneth Fadness has authored several historical and religious books. Among them are Capturing the Younger Brothers Gang in the Northern Plains: The Untold Story of Heroic Teen Asle Sorbel; A Long, Long Road Back to Love; Balloons Aloft: Flying South Dakota Skies; and Six Spiritual Needs in America Today. He is an active writer and presenter of history/cultural programs for the South Dakota Humanities.