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Student’s DVD revisits Klan period of Denver history

By John Gleason

A Regis University student has produced a 17-minute DVD that covers a part of Denver history that is little talked about and mostly unknown to many people who did not live through the time.

Jed Edward Marrs, 37, a 2011 graduate of Regis University College of Professional Studies, produced a video titled, “A Stand for Social Justice: Regis University and the Ku Klux Klan 1920-1926.”

The video, in Marrs words, is about poverty and discrimination at a time when the Klan was a powerful force in Colorado.  He told the Denver Catholic Register he was surprised to learn how large and well-funded the organization was here, given the small black population the city had as compared to other cities.

“Most people associate the Klan with discrimination and violence against blacks,” he said.  “But in the early 1920s in Denver, that hatred was focused against Catholics. And for a brief time, the Klan had its fingers in many things; it controlled who got jobs and who was elected.  It was one of those situations where if you wanted to get ahead professionally in Denver—in whatever field—you were a member of the KKK or you were out in the cold.”

The video opens with the story of a night in April 1924 when Regis students awoke to discover a burning cross outside their dormitory room.  In the years following the First World War, a depressed economy coupled with a scarcity of jobs and stiff competition for those jobs from recently arrived immigrants fueled the ill will that existed between members of different races and religions in Denver.  The city’s Catholic community bore the brunt of most of that ill will.

Marrs says in his video that, “the students of Regis College and High School, heeded the wisdom of their mentors, the Jesuits, and joined in solidarity, and united in the protection of their school, without the use of violence or giving the Klan any attention which they were so desperately seeking.”

In his research, Marrs used archives of the Denver Catholic Register and of The Brown and Gold (Regis College student newspaper) and interviewed Jesuit Father Barton Geger, superior for the Regis Jesuit community, as well as Jesuit Father Michael Sheeran, president of Regis University.  He also consulted local historians Thomas Noel, Dennis Gallagher and Phil Goodstein. 

The Klan had a relatively short run of influence here in the 1920s. Their leader, John Galen Locke, was targeted by the Internal Revenue Service for non-payment of taxes and eventually served time in Leavenworth Penitentiary.

“There were people who spoke out against the Klan and the violence they advocated,” Marrs told the Register, “and one of the most vocal was Msgr. Matthew Smith, the publisher of the Register.  Others who stood up to the organization were Mayor Benjamin Stapleton, himself a former Klansman.”

One popular story is that Regis students heard the Klan was planning a march on the campus to burn a cross. They stood together in a circle surrounding the campus in order to defend their school and its grounds.  The Klan, hearing of the potential standoff, backed down.

“The story, which so far cannot be confirmed in any written records, may only be folklore,” Marrs says in the video, “but the social issues present at this time in Denver suggest that the incident could have transpired.”

Pictured above: Msgr. Matthew Smith holds a copy of the Denver Catholic Register, which he used to fight the Ku Klux Klan.

Today, a plaque on the Regis campus marks the students stand against the Ku Klux Klan.

Msgr. Smith, Mayor Stapleton and others’ efforts speaking out against the Ku Klux Klan, coupled with demonstrations preaching tolerance and nonviolence, were paramount in the eventual demise of the Klan.

“In 1925 there was a march from Regis to the Shrine of St. Anne Church in Arvada,” Marrs said.  “This march would be the apex of a united Catholic stand against the Ku Klux Klan in Denver.”

The DVD and accompanying paper on the topic are available for viewing at the Dayton Memorial Library at Regis University, 3333 Regis Blvd. in northwest Denver.  

But beyond the video’s availability from the library, Marrs wants to make the “Stand for Social Justice” DVD available to school teachers and groups who want to know more about the Klan and those who stood up to them.  He said that soon people will be able to order the program from him.

“It’s an important part of Denver’s history for anyone who is studying the early years of the 20th century,” Marrs said.

Those who wish more information about the video, and its date of availability, can email Marrs at marrs498@regis.edu.