Description
In this letter, dated June 3, 1921, an unnamed official of the Ku Klux Klan in Newport News writes to thank Walter Scott Copeland, president of the Daily Press, Incorporated, for his papers impartial coverage of a speech given by J. Q. Nolan, a Klan member from Atlanta who traveled the country giving lectures. Nolan spoke at the Imperial Theater in Newport News on May 25, 1921, and, according to reports by the Klan, he attracted a standing-room-only crowd of 800. Editorials concerning the speech published in Copelands two newspapers, the Newport News Times-Herald and theNewport News Daily Press,pleased local Klan members. They offered Copeland a warm and sincere invitation to become one of us because [t]he sentiments you expressed could only come from the heart of a real Klansman. In fact, Copeland denounced the organization in the 1920s. Citation: Walter Scott Copeland Papers, 1880-1954. Accession #5497. Special Collections, University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.
