UTEP Knights of Columbus Del Norte Council - 1928

UTEP KOC Del Norte Council - 1928 (Special Collections) El Paso's Knights of Columbus Was First Council in Texas and First Spanish- Speaking Council in the United States – Fought the Ku Klux Klan and Established KC Huts During World War I. In the 1920s, the Knights of Columbus were instrumental in resisting the takeover of local government in El Paso by the Ku Klux Klan. In April 1922, the Klan successfully ran a slate of candidates for the school board. Once in control, they used secret meetings to fire Catholic school principals and several Catholic staff. Attorney William H. Fryer, a member of the Knights, spearheaded the effort to remove Klan members from the school board. Fryer and other anti-Klan activists followed KKK members to secret meetings and wrote down license plate numbers and then made public the names of Klansmen.

Area: Central / El Paso High