In addition to his commitment to the Anglo-Israelite movement, Sawyer participated in the construction of the Oregon Ku Klux Klan of which he was leader from 1921 to 1924.[4][2] Sawyer's participation was mainly as a speaker whose appearances sometimes addressed audiences of several thousand. In 1922 he also took on the leadership of the Women's Organization of the Invisible Empire, founded by the leader of the Klan in Oregon, Fred Gifford. In 1924 he fell out with Gifford and left the Klan.[3]