38. The Deacons for Defense and Justice
“The Freedom Summer” in 1964 saw intensive efforts by volunteers to register as many black voters as possible 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, the local KKK went on a terror spree, harassing and attacking volunteers and blacks, and burning five black churches, a Baptist center, and a Masonic lodge.
So some local black WWII and Korean War veterans founded a self-defense group to protect civil rights workers and their families, and the black community in general. It was led by Earnest “Chilly Willy” Thomas, and Frederick Douglass Kirkpatrick, a Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) activist and an ordained minister. In a nod to the members’ religiosity, the group came to be known as the Deacons for Defense and Justice: most were practicing Christians, and they aimed to serve their community in a Christian manner.