KKK TAKES OVER LANIER UNIVERSITY
Atlanta, Georgia (JFK+50) On August 18, 1921, Lanier University* located in the Morningside-Lenox Park area here in Atlanta, was taken over by the Ku Klux Klan.
The New York Tribune reports that "Dr. C. Lewis Fowler has resigned as president and William J. Simmons**, head of the Klan, named as his successor."
The university trustees announced that "there was no cash consideration involved," but the KKK "assumes all obligations of the institution."
*Lanier University, named after poet Sidney Lanier, was founded by Charles Lewis Fowler, a Baptist minister in 1917. It became Georgia's first co-educational Baptist college. KKK ownership lasted one year as the school failed & closed on Sept 1, 1922.
**William Joseph Simmons (1880-1945) founded & led the Second Ku Klux Klan. Born in Harperville, Alabama, WJS was educated at Johns Hopkins University.
SOURCE
"KU-KLUX ACQUIRES UNIVERSITY AT ATLANTA," The New York Tribune, August 19, 1921, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/
