Suffolk County Historical Society issues apology over use of image depicting KKK

The Suffolk County Historical Society has issued an apology for featuring an image depicting an advertisement for a 1926 “Monster Klan” gathering of the Ku Klux Klan in Riverhead in August 1926.

The image, selected as the historical society’s “photo of the week,” depicted robed Klan members standing in the bed of a pickup truck from which large U.S. flags flew, riding along an unidentified road. The image was accompanied by a short essay about the Ku Klux Klan in Suffolk County. It was circulated in the organization’s “Photo of the Week” email and posted on its website.

The advertisement was placed by the Riverhead Klan No. 31 in a Klan magazine called Klorero to announce a new date for the “Monster Klan” gathering in Riverhead, set for Aug. 21, 1926, according to the “Photo of the Week” essay.

The gathering was to take place at the Riverhead fair grounds — a site now owned by the Riverhead Central School District and used as its central campus, but once used for the Suffolk County Fair and other large events. The Riverhead Klan gathering would offer “Dinner and Supper on Grounds” and excellent camping facilities. The ad invited “all of New York State and New Jersey” to attend the gathering, hosted by the women and knights of the KKK of Riverhead.

The historical society’s apology came after the Eastern Long Island Branch of the NAACP objected to the publication of the image and essay. NAACP Eastern Long Island Branch President Lawrence Street said the publication of the image and essay was offensive, “especially during Black History Month.” The NAACP Eastern Long Island Branch has called a press conference to discuss its objections on Friday afternoon at Riverhead Free Library.

In a letter to the community, Suffolk County Historical Society Executive Director Victoria Berger said the “Photo of the Week” email sent out on Feb. 12 “depicted a racially insensitive image.” The image, Berger wrote, had previously been displayed in a 213 exhibit “Hidden and Forbidden,” and was “presented in the delicate context of educating and addressing the presence of racism on Long Island.”

The photo in Sunday’s email was “regrettably presented insensitively, with a description context that failed to challenge past acts of racism and reverse a narrative of hate,” Berger wrote. “We got this gravely wrong. We are profoundly remorseful and regret having hurt and disrespected the community we love, and serve. “

Berger said she takes full responsibility for the email.

“I am heartbroken to have caused pain and insult to the community, and the many relationships and partnerships I have cultivated through our Society in my years here,” Berger wrote.

She said she is “pursuing improved education and sensitivity training” for the organization’s staff, including herself.

“I am committed to creating a more inclusive Society that will do better to honor, respect and support people of color,” Berger wrote.

There were numerous KKK groups on Long Island in the 1920s and many held parades, rallies and other gatherings. One held in East Islip in June 1923 was attended by 25,000 people and said to be the largest Klan gathering ever staged in New York State, according to a June 23, 1923 report in the New York Times.

The Ku Klux Klan was established in Tennessee in 1865, at the end of the Civil War, by Confederate veterans. It was formed as a vigilante group to mobilize a campaign of violence and terror against the progress of Reconstruction. It used used violent intimidation, including lynchings, to prevent Black people from voting and holding political office. Its membership and organizational strength have both varied over the past 150+ years, but the KKK and related groups persist to this day, including on Long Island, where recruitment flyers were dropped in Hampton Bays as recently as 2018.