Adam Driver 'always' saw KKK rallies in Indiana? Historians weigh in

Show Caption Hide Caption Indianapolis has two monuments to 1,616 Confederate soldiers The first memorial was built in 1912.

Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect clarification from a source regarding information previously provided to IndyStar.

It would seem that actor Adam Driver wasn't wrong after all when he said the Ku Klux Klan held frequent rallies during his adolescence in Northern Indiana.

Travis Childs, education director at the History Museum in South Bend, told IndyStar that his assertion that Driver was wrong was, perhaps, not entirely right. He said the South Bend Tribune had since approached him with a list of incidents related to the Klan and other hate groups that took place around the time Driver would have been living there.

Childs acknowledged he was not aware of all of the incidents when first interviewed by IndyStar.

"I stand chastened and rebuked," he said.

Read more here.

Original story: "If anything, I was more aware of it as a kid growing up in Indiana, because there were always Klan rallies, like, every summer. There were people in the Klan who were in our neighborhood." — actor Adam Driver.

There is a lot to unpack in that quote, not the least of which is that Driver, who has received critical acclaim for his portrayal of Kylo Ren in the most recent reboot of "Star Wars," was referring to his hometown: Mishawaka.

First, some context. Driver's quote was during an interview with USA Today about his role in the new Spike Lee movie "BlaKkKlansman," which hit theaters earlier this month. Driver said in the interview that living in New York has helped distance himself from the views of hate groups.

Now, the unpacking.

It's not surprising that Driver's quote has raised questions about its veracity — Mishawaka, a hotbed of the KKK? — as well as a few eyebrows back in his hometown.

'Injun Andy': That time the Indiana State Fair used an offensive mascot to draw a crowd

Retro Indy:KKK in Indiana and the rise of D.C. Stephenson

Is there truth to what Adam Driver said?

Travis Childs, director of education at the History Museum in South Bend, is among those questioning Driver's statement.

"I’m not calling him a liar or anything," he said. "Lord knows I've taken a little liberty with historical events a little bit and remembered them incorrectly, you know, that sort of thing. But I mean, if they were as active as he said they were active, they’d have been in the paper every other week."

IndyStar sent messages to a representative of Driver, but they were not returned.

Also, there is this. While the specifics of Driver's quote might be chalked up to hyperbole, the truth also is that the area around Mishawaka — like so many other parts of Indiana — has had its brushes with the Klan.

A 2002 report by the Southern Poverty Law Center indicates there was a Klan rally in South Bend around 2001, but it wasn't well-attended. An article that appeared in the L.A. Times indicates there were about 30 KKK supporters fending off about 150 counter-protesters. Also, about 10 minutes east of Mishawaka, Indiana Grand Dragon Richard Loy was known to host unity rallies on his Osceola farm.

James H. Madison, professor emeritus at Indiana University, said he has no doubt Driver may have been exposed to the Klan, though he doubts it's likely he saw many rallies, if any.

"Most of the memories of this sort tend to be grossly exaggerated, but at the same time, it’s quite possible that he saw men and women in robes and sheets," he said. "It’s quite possible that he saw a burning cross. But not a lot of it.”

Finally, there is this to unpack: The Klan's historical roots ran so deep in Indiana for so long that the general sense of Driver's quote might very well ring true for many. In that regard, Driver's quote is a teaching moment — a reminder of a dark past Hoosiers would like to put behind them but can't entirely escape.

KKK in Indiana 'created a hell of a lot of chaos'

From around 1923 to 1925, the Ku Klux Klan had a vice-like grip on Indiana.

“It’s a very short time,” said Madison, who is writing a book about the Indiana Klan. “They created a hell of a lot of chaos."

After the Civil War, a second wave of the Klan re-emerged in 1915, making its way to Evansville in 1920 as then-Secretary of State Ed Jackson granted the Klan a business certificate.

At its height, historians estimate 30 percent of all native-born white Hoosier Protestant men had Klan membership, Madison said. Klan attorneys reported more than 200,000 due-paying members to a Marion County court in 1928.

The Indiana Klan displayed its share of hatred toward African-Americans, but the Klan here had a particular focus on what Madison referred to as "hyphenates." Immigrants; non-native-born, non-Protestants. And they were staunchly anti-Catholic.

"Those who are not white, native-born Protestants are 'them,' the others, those people," Madison said. "And the Klan was really good in creating that tribal identity among white Protestant Hoosiers against the enemy who are threatening them, to tear down America, who are causing America to be in severe moral decline.”

Their rapid growth allowed them to exert enormous power not only in the political arena, but in everyday life. Klansmen would boycott businesses owned by Catholics, Jews and non-sympathizers.

"If you were a businessman selling jewelry on Washington Street in Indianapolis," Madison said, "it would have been very difficult to oppose the Klan."

It's important to note, Madison said, that while the Klan exerted an enormous amount of influence, it was always met with opposition by Democrats, Republicans, members of the clergy and residents.

Still, the Klan continued its reign. Led by Grand Dragon D.C. Stephenson, a man who was known to have friends in high and low places, Klansmen elected an Indianapolis mayor and ensured the gubernatorial election of 1924 went to Jackson, the former Secretary of State and a Klan sympathizer.

Indiana University:Lecture hall with mural featuring KKK rally will no longer be a classroom

"The victory there is really impressive," Madison said. "And the assumption there is that this is just the beginning.”

In the 1925 General Assembly, the Klan was prepared to fight for an agenda that supported their views of Americanism, but were unable to do so.

"They did not succeed in their agenda in the 1925 session of the general assembly, and so the Klan leaders assume, 'Well, we’ll come back the next time and we’ll ram this through and we’ll get what we want, finally,' Madison said. "Well before next time, Stephenson is in the Michigan City penitentiary and the Klan is going down the rat hole."

The Klan's influence quickly dissipated after Stephenson was convicted of the vicious rape and murder of 28-year-old Madge Oberholtzer in 1925. The conviction destroyed the Klan's image, and Klansmen were quick to reject their former leader.

The Klan would more or less disappear from the state until the 1940s, Madison said, but its membership would never again match that of its heyday.

Hate groups still exist in Indiana

Today, more than 30 hate groups operate in Indiana, and only three of them are affiliated with the Klan. Although the KKK has a waning presence in the state, there are plenty of other groups gaining support in its place, said Heidi Beirich, director of the Southern Poverty Law Center Intelligence Project.

"There’s research that’s been done, that a history of hate groups — going all the way back to the '20s Klan — also lasts through history, and you see more hate groups in places like that," she said. " ... History plays a role here."

Notably, Paoli resident Matthew Heimbach, leader of a white nationalist group known as the Traditionalist Worker Party, drew national attention in 2017 for his role in promoting the deadly Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville, Va.

But his group splintered earlier this year, she said, after he was charged with domestic battery after an altercation with his father-in-law and TWP spokesman, Matt Parrott.

"We’ll have to see what happens with the members of these organizations," Beirich said. "When the leadership fractures like that and things collapse, sometimes people join other organizations; sometimes people leave the movement.”

Feds: Cloverdale man arrested in connection to vandalism at Carmel synagogue

SPLC: These 30 hate groups operate in Indiana

As for the Ku Klux Klan, Beirich said she expects the group will eventually disappear. Its attention-grabbing outfits, bizarrely named ranks and intimidating cross burnings don't appeal to the younger generation of white supremacists.

"Given that we’ve had them since 1865, that would be quite something," she said.

Madison concurred, cautioning that other groups will take the Klan's place.

"The Klan is more your grandfather’s organization today," he said.

The Klan may be disappearing, but it can never be forgotten, Childs said.

"It’s not like us historians can ignore it. You can’t, it's too big," he said. "It’s part of our history as much as the Indianapolis 500, car manufacturing, basketball, that sort of thing. It’s just unfortunate, but you can’t ignore it."

Driver's quote is just one more reminder of that truth.

Call IndyStar reporter Holly Hays at 317-444-6156. Follow her on Twitter: @hollyvhays.

IndyStar photo coordinator Dawn Mitchell contributed to this story