"Americana"

SOUTH CAROLINA

"The moral equivalent of the Monday Opera Club in the Baptist reaches of rural South Carolina, as described by a Blackville dispatch to the Columbia papers:

One of the most unique, unusual and important events of the season occurred here Tuesday evening, when Miss Martha Abigail Sanders and Mr. Ulysses Sill were united in marriage in the Baptist church. The symbols and color scheme of the Ku Klux Klan made beautiful decorations. The lights of the church were turned out, and the fiery cross, illuminated by many tiny electric lights, threw a lovely glow over the scene. It is estimated that there were 1,100 people present; 300 could not be seated. Promptly at 8 o'clock the wedding march began. Preceding the bridal party Klansmen began to march down both aisles, single file, turning near the rostrum and lining themselves against both walls of the large auditorium, the lines almost filling both walls of the building. Next came the bridal party, consisting of eight Klansmen and eight bridesmaids. The bride, who was never more lovely than in the robe of the order, carrying a beautiful bouquet of bride roses, entered with the dame of honor. They met on the rostrum by the groom and the officiating minister, a Klansman. All who too part in the wedding were robed, and all were masked except the bride and groom and dame of honor."

["Americana," American Mercury, March, 1925, p.303]