TheCloistered Order of Conclaved Knights of Sophisticracy,[1] more commonly known as theKnights of the Clock, was an interracialhomophile social club based inLos Angeles, California. The Knights were founded by Merton Bird, an African-American man, andW. Dorr Legg, his white lover. Sources differ as to the founding date of the organization, variously citing it as 1949,[2] 1950,[3] and 1951.[4] Regardless of the exact date, the Knights was one of the earliest gay organizations in the United States, with only theSociety for Human Rights (established 1924),[5] theVeterans Benevolent Association (established 1945)[6] and possibly theMattachine Society (established 1950)[7] pre-dating it.
The Knights were primarily a social club, including people of both sexes and family members of couples.[2] They also tried to address social problems that affected interracial couples, including employment counseling[8] and locating integrated housing for same-sex couples.[1] To that end, the Knights discussed the possibility of establishing communes throughout its existence, although no such communes were ever established.[2]
Although social functions routinely attracted as many as 200 participants,[2] at its core the Knights always remained a numerically small group and eventually disbanded in the mid-1950s. Several Knights, including Bird and Legg, went on to joinONE, Inc., another early homophile organization.[9] SociologistLaud Humphreys cited the Knights as an example of the ability of people of different races to cross racial barriers through commonality of sexual identification.[10]