Recruiting card for the Ku Klux Klan: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A wove paper recruiting card created by the Ku Klux Klan. The card shows black ink printed on a white background, landscape orientation and the top of reads: [Form P-217A 400M 4-20-23]. Largely titled in uppercase bold is: [“NON SILBA SED ANTHAR”] top center. Below the title is a statement calling on [Native Born] male American citizens to join a secret organization. The upper middle of the card lists [The Tenets of the Christian Religion.] beginning with [White supremacy.]. Towards the bottom of the card are blank spaces atop wide dotted lines, for the name, occupation, and address of the solicited. The back of the card is blank.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: ca. 1928-1933
• Created by: Ku Klux Klan, 2nd, American, 1915 - 1944
• Type: cards
• Medium: ink on wove paper
• Dimensions: H x W (Creed card): 3 3/8 × 5 1/2 in. (8.5 × 13.9 cm)
• Place used: Youngstown, Mahoning County, Ohio, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Christianity
• Topic: U.S. History, 1919-1933
• Topic: White supremacy movements
• Object number: 2019.34.1
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The underlying object's rights statement is: Public domain Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.