Postcard showing Imperial Palace, Stone Mountain, GA surrounded by seven Klansmen brandishing torches, mounted on horseback. A portrait of William Joseph Simmons, founder and leader of the second Ku Klux Klan, appears at upper right corner.
Portrait caption: "Col. W. J. Simmons, Founder and Imperial Wizard."
Text:
"Imperial Palace, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Atlanta, GA.
Stone Mountain, Largest Solid Stone in the World, one mile from Base to Summit. On its highest pinnacle the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan Oranized at Midnight, Nov. 25th, 1915."
On reverse: "Published by a Klansman"
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The birth of the
second Ku Klux Klan was partly inspired by D. W. Griffith's 1915 film,
The Birth of a Nation.
The face of Stone Mountain became the site of the Confederate Memorial Carving, the largest bas-relief sculpture in the world. This bas-relief depicts the three Confederate leaders of the Civil War: President Jefferson Davis and Generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson. The sculptor was Gutzon Borglum, whose next major project was Mount Rushmore.
In his
"I Have A Dream" speech (28 August 1963),
Martin Luther King, Jr. invoked the imagery of "My Country 'Tis of Thee" saying,
Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.
From every mountainside, let freedom ring.