I don’t think I’ve told you about when the Klan came and got my mother?  She was about thirteen years old.  There was a knock at her parent’s door and when her father opened it, there were a few white-hooded Klan’s men at the door.

“We want Margie Swan,” they told him.  They were all frightened, but my mother said, “I’ll go.”  And she did.  Her parents were terrified.

They took her to a wooded area where hundreds of other hooded men were gathered and set her up on a ledge.  Two of her friends were there on the ledge as well.  

The head of the Klan told the girls, “Sing.”  The girls were part of a group that was known in the area for their musical skills, so they sang.  They were the evening’s entertainment.

“I wasn’t scared,” my mother said.  (Those of you who knew my mom would understand that!) “Until they took their hoods off--then I was scared.  I knew these men from town, businesses, church.  I was shocked that they were Klan’s men.  And it was frightening that they were involved in something like that.  But the worst was that they knew--that I now knew--who they were.  And they knew who I was. My feeling of being safe in my home was never the same after that.”