Which towns in Texas have had kkk activity most recently?
Executive summary
Recent reporting and extremism-tracking data indicate that Ku Klux Klan activity in Texas has most often been reported in East Texas towns and a few North Texas and metro locations; specific places repeatedly cited in recent sources include Maud, Marshall, Simms, Texarkana, Canton, Tyler, Fort Worth and Dallas, while historically notorious towns such as Vidor, Gilmer, Waco, Quitman, Boston and Marshall remain part of the record [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]. National trackers and watchdogs caution that Klan groups are secretive and geographically fluid, and that mapping captures chapters and incidents unevenly, so any snapshot of “most recent” activity is necessarily imperfect [7] [8] [9].
1. Where reporting and hate‑group maps point: East Texas clusters
Multiple local and national counts point to a concentration of Klan chapters and related hate groups across East Texas—names that recur in contemporary listings include Maud, Marshall, Simms, Texarkana, Canton and Tyler—locations specifically identified in reporting that compiled SPLC and hate‑group data [1] [2] [3]. The Southern Poverty Law Center’s mapping project underpins many compendia of active groups and has shown persistent activity in the corridor where Texas meets Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana, a region media and researchers repeatedly flag as a Klan hotbed [8] [2].
2. Metro and North Texas presence: Fort Worth, Dallas and scattered chapters
Beyond small towns, reporting from the last decade documents Klan chapters near larger urban areas: articles and state reporting note multiple chapters in Fort Worth and Dallas and occasional presences near Austin, San Antonio and Houston, underscoring that Klan activity is not limited to rural pockets [2] [3]. These listings reflect chapter locations and hate‑group registrations compiled over time rather than a record of frequent public rallies, and they were captured in surveys that date from the mid‑2010s through recent SPLC updates [2] [3] [8].
3. Historical flashpoints that still shape perceptions: Vidor, Gilmer, Waco and others
Several Texas towns retain strong historical associations with the Klan that continue to factor into modern reporting: Vidor was long known as a sundown town and has a pronounced reputation for past Klan activity (though local officials have argued that organized Klan activity is not present today), and historical accounts identify Gilmer, Canton, Quitman, Boston and Marshall among communities that experienced Klan violence and public parades during the 20th century [6] [4] [5]. These histories are well documented in state historical handbooks and local archives and are frequently cited when journalists discuss “notorious” Klan towns [4] [5] [6].
4. Why “most recently” is hard to pin down: secrecy, reorganization and data limits
Experts and watchdogs stress that Klan activity is clandestine, that groups splinter and reconstitute frequently, and that headline counts track chapters or known cells rather than hidden adherents—factors that make it difficult to assert a definitive, up‑to‑the‑week list of towns with “recent” activity [7] [9] [8]. The SPLC noted major reconfigurations among Klan factions in 2024–2025, with some chapters collapsing and others emerging, which creates churn in where activity is visible [9]. Media and state summaries draw on that uneven mapping—meaning a named town in one dataset may reflect a historical klavern, a recent registration, or an intermittent small group rather than sustained, public Klan operations [7] [8].
5. What the evidence supports and what it does not
Taken together, the best-supported conclusion in current reporting is that East Texas towns (Maud, Marshall, Simms, Texarkana, Canton, Tyler) plus some North Texas and metro chapters (Fort Worth, Dallas, occasional Austin/San Antonio/Houston entries) appear most often in contemporary lists of Klan chapters and hate‑group mapping [1] [2] [3]. Sources also document historically significant towns—Vidor, Gilmer, Waco, Quitman, Boston and Marshall—as part of the record, though historical notoriety does not equate to continuous modern activity and local officials sometimes dispute current presence [4] [5] [6]. Watchdog caveats about secrecy and organizational flux mean that any present‑day list should be treated as an informed, but partial, picture [7] [9] [8].