Last semester, art students in Brett Colley’s GVSU class on printmaking, invited me to come talk about the Grand Rapids People’s History Project. The intent of the class was to have students investigate their own part of a People’s History of Grand Rapids and then make a print based upon an individual social movement or a particular moment in Grand Rapids history.

This print is by Alexis Nixon and focuses on the July 4, 1925 parade of 3,000 Klan members marching in a parade on the westside of Grand Rapids. The print is based on that march by the Klan in 1925 and the imagery reflects how the Klan hide behind the flag and the cross.

For a more detailed article on the history of the KKK in Grand Rapids, go to this link.