Former KKK Leader Now Pastors Historic Black Church

Richard Harris spent his teenage years climbing the ranks of the Ku Klux Klan, becoming the youngest Grand Dragon north of the Mason-Dixon Line at just 18 years old. Today, he's the first white pastor in the 140-year history of Good Hope Missionary Baptist, a historically Black church in Bartow, Florida.

The transformation started with loneliness. Harris was bullied as a child in Indiana, and when his school desegregated in the late 1960s, he made a heartbreaking choice: he decided to become the bully instead. "I looked at the African-Americans in my school, and I realized that they were displaced," he told the Herald-Tribune. "I thought, 'Maybe I could be the bully for once.'"

The KKK noticed. They recruited him at 16, offering the sense of family and protection he desperately wanted. Within two years, he was leading the Indiana chapter.

Everything changed when Harris feared for his life after learning one of his own guards was plotting to kill him. Searching for answers, he turned to the Bible and started reading the gospels. When he reached the story of the Samaritan woman at the well, something clicked.

"The whole point of the Samaritan woman at the well story was Jesus accepted Samaritans, race mixers," Harris told LADBible. "And he loved them, and they believed in him. That's when the light bulb went on. The Klan has been lying to me."

At 20 years old, Harris called the Imperial Wizard and quit. The Klan let him walk away with a threat: keep your mouth shut. But Harris didn't stay quiet.

Instead, he devoted his life to fighting the hatred he once spread. He served as a senior pastor in the Free Methodist Church for 31 years across Illinois, Indiana, and Florida. In 2012, he wrote an award-winning book about his time in the KKK called "One Nation Under Curse."

Why This Inspires

Harris didn't just walk away from hate. He spent decades actively working to undo the damage he caused. He now teaches at Southeastern University in Lakeland, Florida, and developed a framework called R.A.C.E. to help others reduce racial bias.

"I'm not that guy anymore, thank God," he said in a 2023 TEDx Talk. "But I know that I caused pain and hurt to so many that today, my life's purpose is to help others radically reduce racial bias."

His story proves that even the deepest prejudices can be unlearned when someone is willing to face hard truths.