A Major aspect of American history that I did not know about
included interactions between the Native Americans and the Ku Klux Klan. “Victory
Over the Ku Klux Klan” spoke about the demonstration held by the KKK during
which the local Native population decided to attend. The event was feared by many in the community
that were not KKK, even those that were related to the KKK. Because of the prior adverting efforts of the
event many knew when it was going to happen.
This was both a good and a bad thing.
Before the event the Natives met with some of the Blacks (African-Americans)
to discuss presenting a united front. The
Natives were convinced that they didn’t need the extra support and decided to
attend the event on their own terms.
What I find interesting about reading this information from
the University of Pembroke website is that I never thought about the Natives
having to encounter a racist group such as the KKK. Being a black American I always think of my
ancestors and those a few generations ahead of me (still alive) and how they
had to deal with racist groups here in America.
Being that I simple-mindedly assumed they were an anti-Black group it became
clear that they just didn’t like any other groups beside their own.
When I read about this instance I found a few other web
entries and found out that the Maxton meeting was supposed to happen on a
Friday night and was actually moved to another night that was not previously
advertised. Alas, most of those that
wanted to attend went the following night and that’s when then “standoff”
happened with the KKK. I say stand off
because no one was hurt although shots were fired. When I looked on YouTube for more information,
I was able to locate this elder discussing the event as he had attended it that
evening and the night before when no one showed up. Mr. Sanford claims to be
related to the person that shot out the infamous light bulb that evening.
This is the video – Sandford Locklear talks about Lumbee
uprising of KKK, Maxton 1958 - http://youtu.be/NbikXpIRxlA
References:
Victory Over the Ku Klux Klan: Indians Rout the Klan
Sanford Locklear talks about Lumbee uprising of KKK, Maxton
1958
I too was not aware the the KKK was against other groups such as Native Americans. I think that they were very brave and smart to go about attending the meeting the way they did. Thank goodness no one got hurt.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great one - lost to history until a great historian found the story and wrote an article on it! Good choice.
ReplyDeleteDid you by chance read Sara BowenIsaac's post? She wrote on the same topic, it may be of interest to you.
ReplyDelete