22. The Heroic Armed Black Volunteers Who Took on the Ku Klux Klan
In the 1950s and well into the 1960s, friendly links between the KKK and many Southern police departments gave Klansmen nearly free rein to terrorize and murder civil rights workers. The widespread violence prompted many activists to arm themselves for self-protection. Dr. Martin Luther King’s home had so many firearms, that visitors compared it to an arsenal. Police having demonstrated clearly that black lives did not matter, armed black groups emerged for self-defense. Most notable among those pioneers were the Deacons for Defense and Justice.
The Freedom Summer in 1964 saw intensive efforts by volunteers to register black voters in the South. One organization, the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) set up a Freedom House as a base for its volunteers in Jonesboro, Louisiana. In response, local Klansmen went on a terror spree. They harassed and attacked volunteers and blacks, and burned five black churches, a Baptist center, and a Masonic lodge. So some black WWII and Korean War veterans founded a self-defense group to protect civil rights workers, their families, and the black community in general.