It exposed how much Klan authority depended on people believing the costume.

When the intended targets refused to believe it, the performance could collapse very quickly.

The Lumbee Celebration After The Field

After the Klan fled, the mood among many Lumbee participants shifted from tension to celebration.

The captured symbols became central to that celebration.

People carried the banner away from the field.

Photographs preserved smiles rather than fear.

The images mattered locally because they represented a community defending itself.

They mattered nationally because they punctured a powerful visual myth.

The Klan usually controlled its own iconography.