Grand Wizard was the title given to the leader of the Reconstruction-era Ku Klux Klan which existed from 1866 to 1871.
In 1915, the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan was created, initially as a fraternal organization. The highest-ranking leader of the latter organization was the Imperial Wizard. National officers were "Imperial" officers. State or "Realm" officers were "Grand" officers. A "Grand Dragon", for example, was the highest-ranking Klansman in a given state.
Following World War II, dozens of people have assumed the "Wizard" title as leaders of the numerous, independent, Klan-oriented organizations that have existed since then, the majority of which lack historical significance.
Read more about Grand Wizard: Grand or Imperial Wizards
Famous quotes containing the words grand and/or wizard:
“As a science of the unconscious it is a therapeutic method, in the grand style, a method overarching the individual case. Call this, if you choose, a poet’s utopia.”
—Thomas Mann (1875–1955)
“The fabulous Wizard of Oz
Retired from his racket because,
What with up-to-date science,
To most of his clients
He wasn’t the Wizard he was.”
—Anonymous.