Event Details

Learning Forum: "KKK in the Black Hills"

April 14, 2019 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm

Learning Forums are thought-provoking presentations on a wide variety of topics. Each program features a 45-minute presentation, followed by an open forum with questions and discussion about the topic.

This week, Chuck Rambow presents, "KKK in the Black Hills." This is our last learning forum before the summer series.

Rambow’s hope is for people to recognize the dangers of a white supremacist attitude as he talks about the very real history of the Ku Klux Klan in the area. He will discuss the rise and fall of the KKK in the Black Hills, along with infamous actions taken right in our backyard.

Shocked to find out that his own grandparents were Klan members, Rambow set about learning as much as he could about the Klan’s history. With no written material available on the subject, he interviewed both former members and victims in the early 1970s. He learned that every Black Hills community had a Klan and that members used threats and violence against anyone who didn’t conform to their ideals.

“If you allow this philosophy to grow, the ultimate conclusion will be another Holocaust,” Rambow says.

Charles “Chuck” Rambow was born in Sturgis, South Dakota. He taught Black Hills Native American History, American History and World History at Sturgis High School and later taught history at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee and at Black Hills State University. After retiring from formal teaching, he served as director of the Old Fort Meade Museum.

Rambow spent over 30 summers as a naturalist at Bear Butte State Park, and he is a founding member of the Black Hills Archeology Society. Rambow is also the sheriff of the Westerners Corral #8, a local group of Western writers. You can read his book, “Bear Butte: Journeys to the Sacred Mountain.”

Admission is $12 for adults, $10 for seniors, half-off for members. Call 605-394-6923 to reserve tickets.

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