The opposition to civil rights:
- KKK founded by ex-confederate soldiers in 1866
- Congress passes the Klan act, allowing federal governments to intervene and arrest Klan members
- D.W. Griffin’s ‘Birth of a Nation’ (1915) led to resurgence of KKK ⇒ march on Washington
- 1925 ⇒ membership reaches 6 million but grand dragon is arrested and membership declines, not invincible
The Third Klan
- When supreme court declared ‘separate but equal’ unconstitutional in 1954, began seeking out those registering to vote
- ‘Let the nigger be wise in leaving the ballot in the hands of the dominant sympathetic race’
- Membership rose from 15,000 to 50,000 due to direct action in the South
Methods employed by Opposition
- The white Knights had only 7000 members at its peak but was most bloodthirsty, killing core activists in freedom summer
- Klan bombing King, opposite effect on Coretta King ‘lost her fear of dying. She committed herself more deeply to the freedom struggle”
- Famous Birmingham Street Baptist church bombing in 1963. Explosion killed 4 girls and injured 22 others. King, “one of the most vicious and tragic rimes ever perpetrated against humanity.”
- Campaign of terror against the civil rights movement resulted in almost 70 bombings in Georgia and Alabama, arson of 30 black churches in Mississippi and 10 racial killings in Alabama alone
- Worked with Birmingham police sergeant tom cook. Allowing them 15 minutes
- Targeted white supporters such as journalists, jews and ‘communists’
- Influenced white juries and police collusion. Rowe mentions how he would judiciously show his KKK membership card to police
End of the Klan
- FBI began counterattack against KKK, of 10000 members, 2000 were informants