Retropod is sponsored by Tito's handmade vodka. Drink responsibly.

Hey, history lovers. I'm Mike Rosenwald with Retropod. Let's show about the past. Rediscovered.

These days, the toxic hatred of white supremacists is spread out among a number of right-wing groups.

Many of those groups gathered two years ago in Charlottesville, Virginia,

at the Unite the Right rally, which erupted in chaos.

Dozens were injured. One woman died.

Of course, the Clu Klux Klan was there, but not with the strength and stranglehold

on hatred that it once held. Like, in the summer of 1925, when 30,000, yes, 30,000 clansmen

marched down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C.

White residents in the highly segregated city greeted them warmly.

Though the KKK's membership numbers have declined to about 8,000, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

In 1925, the organization was at the height of its popularity. The clan boasted a national

dues-paying membership of nearly 5 million men and 500,000 women. The March on Washington is one of its proudest, most hate-filled moments.

The group booked 18 trains for their march.

Hotels filled with hooded men.

Lunch stands and tobacco shops quickly sold out. The clan even brought their own ambulances

to escort those felled by the August heat. Many of the hooded marchers showed their faces, a

rather telling indication that the group responsible for lynchings and other acts of terror, could operate

with impunity.

Some in the group felt that showing their faces would grant their organization added

legitimacy and respectability.

According to Ebrom X. Kendi, author of Stamped from the Beginning, the definitive history of racist ideas in America,

...