The Suffolk County Historical Society and Southampton History Museum are suspending their executive directors and pledging to increase the diversity of their leadership after apologizing to members of the Black community for featuring Ku Klux Klan-related content on their websites during Black History Month.
The Eastern Long Island Branch of the NAACP held a press conference Friday at Riverhead Free Library, where members of the civil rights organization were joined by local Black leaders, government officials and representatives of the two historical organizations to discuss the harm of the material and a way forward.
The Suffolk County Historical Society used an advertisement for a 1926 KKK rally in Riverhead as its newsletter’s “photo of the week” Feb. 12. The Southampton History Museum held a talk on the history of the 1915 film “The Birth of a Nation” and the novel it was adapted from, “The Clansman,” which portrays the KKK as heroes.
Leadership of both organizations apologized during the press conference and said their executive directors will be suspended for two weeks in connection with the incidents. They promised to develop new partnerships with the NAACP and expand the diversity of their organizations, which are led by white people, to avoid similar incidents in the future.
NAACP Eastern Long Island President Lawrence Street started the press conference by condemning both organizations for showing KKK “propaganda” during Black History Month.
“This was offensive, repulsive and insulting,” Street said. “These acts of discrimination further adds to the divisiveness in our society and opens up a door for those white supremacist groups to use the East End as a place to continue their racist propaganda and protest.”
The Suffolk County 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 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. The image was accompanied by a short essay about the KKK in Suffolk County.
[See prior coverage: Suffolk County Historical Society issues apology over use of image depicting KKK]
“After doing a thorough investigation, I found that this was a presentation that occurred previously. It was presented in a way with proper content and context,” Street said. “But however, to post this piece is reprehensible and unacceptable because it was not in context. Why would someone go back in the archives and post this insulting flyer now?”
Street said a meeting between the NAACP and both historical organizations was held Thursday night to discuss the incidents.
The Suffolk historical society’s Executive Director Victoria Berger formally apologized in a letter to the community this week, taking full responsibility for the email and pledged to pursue “improved education and sensitivity training” for the organization’s staff and herself.
Berger, holding back tears, spoke to the crowd Friday at the press conference. “As executive director for the Suffolk County Historical Society Museum, I bear the weight of the responsibility for this action. And I want to look into the eyes or have the opportunity to look into the eyes of the members of this community that I love that we have so grievously injured,” she said. “I apologize. I’m heartbroken. And I am impassioned to make this better. This is not who we are as an organization. And we will never be in this place again. We will be better. We will grow from this,” Berger said.
“The photo of the week that was distributed from our museum was insensitive and ill-timed,” she said. “It contained a description that failed to admonish acts of racism. And it failed to reverse a narrative of hate. We understand the egregious mistake that both my employee and myself are responsible for and are deeply remorseful. I at this time accept and understand the call for my temporary suspension. I think it’s appropriate.”
Berger said she will use her suspension to reflect on the incident, open dialogue with the community, and visit museums across New York State to review their diversity strategic plans. She said the museum currently does not have a diversity plan and she will present a plan to the board for adoption on her return.
Street said Berger volunteered to be suspended after he suggested the librarian who posted the newsletter be suspended. Street commended her courage, tenacity and sincerity in her apology.
Bob Barauskas, president of the historical society’s board of trustees, read an apology from the board. He said the museum will start a series of talks led by local, regional and national experts immersed in the understanding of the African American experience. He said the board is having conversations around adding two new members to the board who are African American.
The board will start to review photos that are sent out in the newsletters, Barauskas said.
The Southampton History Museum hosted a virtual lecture on Feb. 10 titled “The Clansman: A Novel that Reignited the KKK” given by literary critic Joan Baum. The event was advertised as a talk about how “The Birth of a Nation” and “The Clansman” could be used “to expand civil discourse” and to teach about white supremacy in classrooms across the country.
“The Birth of a Nation” romanticizes the Ku Klux Klan and uses racist and derogatory depictions of African Americans, many who are being played by white people in blackface. The film was notoriously shown in the White House during the term of President Woodrow Wilson.
The advertisement for the event posted on Feb. 3 pictured a Klan member in front of a burning cross and was displayed both on the homepage of the Southampton Historical Society’s website and on its Instagram page.
Street said the reasoning for the talk “did not make sense” to him. “This is Black History Month. Why would someone decide to promote, to showcase this propaganda?”
“I’m tired of apologies and teachable moments,” Street said. “If this is a teachable moment, let me ask you a question: what did you learn that you already didn’t know? I’m not ready to listen to watered-down unacceptable excuses for their misguided denial and ignorance.”
Father Patrick Edwards, president of the Southampton History Museum, apologized to the group. He said the program was created with good intentions and “as a critical examination of that infamous book, its influences on and reflections of the calcifying racism associated with that era, but also with the ongoing wounds of racism evident in our own age.”
“We hoped that this would teach our communities about the troubling parallels between these two centuries and their societies” Edwards said. The image that inspired the presentation was the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection, when Confederate flags were brought into the Capitol by rioters after an American president addressed them at a rally — and remembering that “The Birth of a Nation” was endorsed by a sitting American president, Edwards said. “With these good intentions at heart, however, we utilized images and materials that with the help of the broader community — and after thoughtful reflection and hindsight — we now recognize as obviously insensitive, offensive and hurtful.”
Southampton History Museum Executive Director Tom Edmonds was away and could not attend the meeting.
Street said he was hit personally by the depictions of the Ku Klux Klan. He told the crowd how he reported to the police a flyer advertising the KKK while living in Hampton Bays. He said his car tires were slashed following the report. The incident caused him to move out of Hampton Bays.
Members of the Black community emphasized that these incidents are only one of the many Black people still deal with today.
“It’s important to understand that for me and for Black people, for African Americans, this is another incident that is in a line, a chain of 400-plus years, even though we’ve had a Black president, we have a Black vice president and Black elected officials all across the country,” said Saba Mchunguzi, the president of the Central Long Island NAACP. “We still have to deal with issues like this. We still have to take time out of our lives to confront racism, to confront insensitivity, on the part of other people.“
Mchunguzi said the incidents would have been prevented if a Black person was a part of the decision-making process. “So if you’re well-meaning as people say that they are well-meaning, what you need to do is to think twice and thrice. You need to pick up the phone, you need to reach out to double check to confirm what it is that you are thinking about doing or saying. And yes, unfortunately, this is a teaching moment. But it’s a teaching moment for everyone in this country.”
There are no Black members on either of the historical organizations’ boards of trustees. Both their executive directors are white.
“Birth of a Nation does not have to come up in some sort of discussion now. It’s inappropriate,” said the Rev. Charles Coverdale of The First Baptist Church of Riverhead. “It’s [Black History] month and so many great achievements by so many outstanding people ought to be highlighted, lifted up and brought to people’s attention, who don’t know much about Black American people.”
Coverdale called on the historical society to tell the stories of Black people living in Riverhead and the struggles they’ve gone through because of discrimination.
Cindy Clifford, chair of Riverhead Town’s Anti-Bias Task Force said the Suffolk County Historical Society’s photo “serves as a warning, linking the hatred and danger of the 1920s 100 years ahead with the present day attacks on the teachings of diversity, equity and inclusion in our school districts. The fact that we’re here at this moment, points to the continuous need to educate current and future generations,” she said.
“We’re grateful to have the Suffolk County Historical Society as the caretaker of our history. We need to remain aware of what came before and to have that knowledge served as both a guiding light and a warning signal so the history of our darkest times is no longer repeated,” Clifford added.
Elected officials, including Suffolk County Legislators Kara Hahn and Bridget Fleming and Southampton Village Mayor Jesse Warren, also gave statements in solidarity with the NAACP.
“After a summer of racial unrest and protest, it was best, upon our advisement, that the Suffolk County Museum remove the post and postpone any postings that, depending on who is asked, would either show tension, or deepening understanding of societal problems of systemic injustice,” said Marylin Banks-Winter, president of the African American Educational and Cultural Festival and a Riverhead Free Library trustee.
Street pledged that the NAACP’s doors are always open and the organization is willing to have a seat on the table if asked. “When there’s a fire, we’re there to go put the fire out. We’re always on call,” he said.
Correction: A photo caption that miscorrectly identified Georgette Grier-Key has been amended.
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