Dan Moody vs. the KKK: The Texas Case That Led to the Klan's Demise

Pictured: An early portrait of Dan Moody
Credit: Bain News Service, publisher, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

An Unstoppable Force

Pictured: A KKK initiation in Galveston (1922)
Credit: Amybebeme, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The headline from the Taylor Daily Press marking the successful end of the trial
Credit: The Taylor Daily Press, January 17, 1924, via newspapers.com

The Easter Sunday Attack

The Trial Begins

Pictured: Guided tours led by the Williamson Museum allow visitors to enter the courtroom where the Klan was tried.
Credit: Visit Georgetown.
“The Ku Klux Klan (in Texas) is ‘as dead as the proverbial doornail’.”
Gov. Dan Moody, Time magazine, July 11, 1927

Who Was Dan Moody?

Pictured: Attorney General Dan Moody with his fiancé Miss Mildred Paxton
Credit: Texas State Archives from Austin, Texas, USA, No restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons

History in Person

Day 1: Taylor

See where Moody was born and how the town of Taylor has changed since the events of 1923.
Downtown Taylor Stroll along Taylor Main Street, enjoying the various dining and shopping opportunities available in this charming…
Dan Moody Museum Take a closer look into Dan Moody’s childhood by visiting his family home. The Moody Museum…

Day 2: Georgetown

Explore the legal legacy and see where the trial took place.
Williamson County Jail The Old 1889 Jail is the likely location where trial defendants were held. While the building…

Author

Isabella Estrada

Preservation Scholar