Results tagged “KKK” from York Town Square

Anna Olmeda of Dover recently discovered this KKK certificate in the back of a framed photograph. Background posts: Criticism of Geno's leads to 'commie' claim and Leonard Pitts speaking in York, Pa.: Sometimes, history hurts and York, Pa.: 'It's a midsize city with an interesting history'.

Signs of the Ku Klux Klan's presence in early 20th-century York County are pretty common around here.

The various chapters held regular picnics, cross burnings and parades in small towns throughout the county. So, this secret society left a public trail.

A reminder of those days came recently when Dover Township's Anna Olmeda found a certificate in an old picture frame granting Claude A. Slyder, presumably from York County, membership in the Klan... .

A Pennsylvania college student, working on an independent study project, recently wrote seeking information on the Ku Klux Klan. Her primary interest was the hate group's activities in the Hanover area.

The Klan's attraction to York County goes way back, and hate groups became particularly evident in the past 15 years in response to unfortunate racial incidents .

The Hanover area suffered through a Klan march after a racial disturbance in its Center Square in 1991. A couple of years ago, the racists swept into York on several occasions in the aftermath of homicide trials for the white men who killed a black woman in 1969.

These were not York County's finest hours. But one county Klan story should bring satisfaction to many.

In the 1980s, Albert P. Lentz, leader of York County's White United Party, was prone to saying Hitler was a great man and other such nonsense.

Well, when Lentz died of a heart attack in 1992, his body wasn't discovered until two weeks later.

Popular guy.

The following is a summary from "Never to be Forgotten" about Klan activity in the county through the decades: