The 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education decision brought hopes for long-term social progress but also an offensive revival of racial prejudice and bigotry. With the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act, egregious expressions of racial ignorance reached a crescendo as a resurgent Ku Klux Klan responded to the end of the white-male dominant Jim Crow system with a spree of well-publicized rallies, parades, and cross burnings intent on intimidating those seeking to advance the cause of Civil Rights. North Carolina was no exception: in the 1960s, Klan membership in the state was reportedly the highest in the South, and Pitt County led the state with the highest number of active chapters. Nor was Greenville immune. One photograph taken by a journalist, Roy Hardee, documents the presence of a pro-Klan billboard along one road leading into town announcing KKK presence and literally welcoming visitors to Greenville. The same photograph also relates that the billboard was subsequently burned to the ground by others unwilling to have the town defined by hatred and bigotry.
As a leader in school desegregation in eastern North Carolina, East Carolina College, desegregated as of 1962 and with a small but growing African American student body, was targeted in Klan rhetoric. Most conspicuously, such targeting occurred during a night rally attended by 1,500-2,000 people, held on Saturday, March 27, 1965, just outside the Greenville city limits in a corn field off the New Bern Highway (now Charles Blvd.). Not surprisingly, the Klan rally was the subject of frontpage, above the fold coverage in the student newspaper, East Carolinian, accompanied by a two-column picture, captioned “KKK,” of a flaming cross, in front of which a crowd of spectators, their backs to the camera, watching the fiery spectacle. The blurb beneath the picture added, “Many students with their avid curiosity made the scene.”
Reportedly, several “Protestant ministers” spoke at the rally. One speaker castigated the recently murdered Civil Rights activist, Viola Liuzzo (1925-1965), for her alleged relations with African American men, while a “hooded speaker” linked Martin Luther King and those in the Civil Rights Movement to the Communist Party. Speakers also reportedly spoke of East Carolina “in a derogatory vein even to the point of calling individuals by name.” It was stated that “East Carolina College had traditionally been a conservative school – but now even it is integrated.” The article went on to describe “the ritualistic cross burning” and attempts by Klan members to distribute Klan literature and collect funds for future Klan activities.
Perhaps reflecting the naivete of the student journalists or their confident sarcasm that despite the fiery cross, the Klan was more laughable than threatening, the East Carolinian headline read “Ku Klux Klan Holds Rally; Entertains 2000 Spectators.” Needless to say, “entertains” was an odd choice of words. The choice was not isolated. The lead editorial, “Klan Klamor,” added, somewhat whimsically, “Well, there’s constantly something different and usually exciting going on about East Carolina. But this was entertainment at its best. Yes, the Klan moved in … did their little song and dance (literally) … and left?” Along more serious lines, the editorial described that Klan as expressing views of “the absurd right … the radical idiot extreme” that “give ignorant and deprived, poor white, who stand at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder a chance to ‘belong’ and to maintain their white supremacy myth.” More forthrightly, the editorial declared that the Klan had and would continue “to fail miserably.” Noting that the Klan rally had called out East Carolina and referred to its African American students in offensive ways, the editorial judged it “easy to understand why President [Lyndon] Johnson has asked for legal action against this group.” Johnson had also denounced the Klan as “a hooded society of bigots.”
Four letters, published in the April 6 edition of East Carolinian, give a sampling of student opinion on the rally. One by William J. Morris, Jr., expressed enthusiastic agreement with the earlier East Carolinian editorial and hope that all students would endorse it. Morris, an African American student, called on the student body “to pull away the veil of obnoxious ignorance” of the past and to pioneer a better future for all. Another student, Richard Olsen, congratulated the East Carolinian on its “informative and unbiased editorial, adding that prejudice, the roots of so many problems in American society, must be uprooted. Kathy Davis expressed disgust with reports that the Klan rally had invoked Christianity in support of racial segregation, declaring that “God could not, and does not, condone and ‘bless’ the actions of this group.” David McLemore and Bob LeCour took a more sarcastic line, calling the Klan rally “pure comedy,” and offering “a tip of the East Carolina hat to the local Klan” for providing it. The two even expressed their hope, no doubt facetiously, that the Klan stage another rally soon so that the world “can enjoy Southern humor at its best.”
The Greenville newspaper, the Daily Reflector also covered the rally. It noted that of the 1500-2,000 spectators, there were approximately 50-60 Klan members in hooded robes along with green-shirted security guards. Rather than cast the rally as “entertainment,” the Reflector noted that a WNCT-TV journalist, Roy Hardee, covering the event was injured when an unidentified object thrown his way hit him. Otherwise, the event was described as one wherein those addressing the crowd preached “race hatred” and criticized the federal government.
More forcefully, the Daily Reflector ran an editorial stating that the “Ku Kluxers” had left “the usual seeds of hatred that have become the trademark of the organization.” It added that “Pitt County has no need for the Klan and the venom it spews out to all who will listen to its messages. There is nothing constructive in the sparks of racism the Klan seeks to strike in every area.” Instead, the Reflector suggested that Pitt County had “enjoyed good relations between its races” because “extremists on neither side of the racial issue has been successful in gaining a foothold here ….” The editorial endorsed continuation of “the moderate course” followed thus far as the best for the future.
Nearly a month later, the campus welcomed Josh White, Jr., an African American folk musician, performing before a crowd of 3,500 in Wright Auditorium. Josh Jr. performed in place of his ailing father, Josh Sr., who had performed at ECC four times in the last three years. Josh Sr., despite doctor’s orders, still came to campus, briefly spoke with students, and reportedly related, among other things, that “When a young child, I saw my father beaten to death by members of the KKK, and I myself have been beaten twice by the Klan.” For many, White’s personal accounts of the brutality of the Klan better conveyed the serious threat that group represented to the basic liberties of Americans and all people, to life, liberty, and happiness. Moreover, that personal account by a well-respected musician and Civil Rights activist who had substantial ties to the campus perhaps best shaped East Carolina’s thinking about the seriousness of Klan rhetoric and activity.
Sources
- “Burning Cross/KKK Rally.” Oct. 16, 1964-Oct. 19, 1964. University Archives # 0741-b34-fb-v34.b.48. Seeds of Change: The Daily Reflector Image Collection. J. Y. Joyner Library. East Carolina University. Greenville, N.C. http://digital.lib.ecu.edu/7529, http://digital.lib.ecu.edu/7530, http://digital.lib.ecu.edu/7531
- “Cross Burning.” Tampa Tribune. November 21, 1966. P. 7.
- Cunningham, David. Klansville, USA: The Rise and Fall of the Civil Rights-Era Ku Klux Klan. New York: Oxford University Press, 2013.
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- Hardee, Roy. “Rural, Urban Feud Causes Pitt Klan Rift.” News and Observer. January 27, 1966.
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- Justice, John. “Kluxers Gather to Burn Cross.” Daily Reflector. October 18, 1965.
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- “KKK Rally.” Oct. 18, 1965-Oct. 19, 1965. University Archives # 0741-b38-fa-v38.a.61. Seeds of Change: The Daily Reflector Image Collection. J. Y. Joyner Library. East Carolina University. Greenville, N.C. http://digital.lib.ecu.edu/8600, http://digital.lib.ecu.edu/8601, http://digital.lib.ecu.edu/8602, http://digital.lib.ecu.edu/8603
- “Klan Klamor.” East Carolinian. March 30, 1965. P. 2. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/38871
- “Klan Rally.” March. 5, 1966-March. 7, 1966. University Archives # 0741-b39-fc-v39.c.18. Seeds of Change: The Daily Reflector Image Collection. J. Y. Joyner Library. East Carolina University. Greenville, N.C. http://digital.lib.ecu.edu/8831.
- “Klan sign in Ayden welcomes visitors.” Aug. 29 1966 – Aug. 30 1966. University Archives # 0741-b40-fd-v40.d.66. J. Y. Joyner Library. East Carolina University. Greenville, N.C. http://digital.lib.ecu.edu/9052
- “Klan Rally Here.” October 18, 1965 – October 19, 1965. University Archives # 0741-b38-fa-v38.a.61. J. Y. Joyner Library. East Carolina University. Greenville, N.C. http://digital.lib.ecu.edu/8604
- “Kluxers Left Only Seeds Of Hatred.” Daily Reflector. March 30, 1965.
- Laughinghouse, J. J. “Organization of Ku Klux in Pitt County.” Daily Free Press (Kinston). Nov. 6, 1922. P. 4.
- Marlow, James. “Violent, Cruel & Lawbreaking.” Daily Reflector. March 30, 1965.
- McLemore, David and Bob LeCour. “KKK Komedy.” East Carolinian. April 6, 1965. P. 2. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/38873
- Morris, Jr., William J. “Our Future.” East Carolinian. April 6, 1965. P. 2. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/38873
- “Newsman Injured At Rally Of KKK.” Daily Reflector. March 29, 1965.
- Olsen, Richard. “Open Forum.” East Carolinian. April 6, 1965. P. 2. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/38873
- Roy Hardee Papers (#1161), East Carolina Manuscript Collection, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA.
- Savage, Stuart. “Un-American Activities Body Told of Local Klan Functions.” Daily Reflector. January 29, 1966.
- Savage, Stuart. “H. F. Lawson Sworn in as New Chief of Police.” Daily Reflector. March 4, 1965.
- Tucker, Christina. “Ku Klux Klan expert speaks on Pitt County’s Klan activity.” East Carolinian. October 17, 2013. Updated May 12, 2020. Posted on Pirate Media 1. http://www.piratemedia1.com/news/article_54bfca02-628e-5f52-9b5e-1461c7eb889d.html
Citation Information
Title: Reactions to Desegregation: ECC and the KKK, 1965
Author: John A. Tucker, PhD
Date of Publication: 5/10/2021