167-753: The Greensboro massacre was a deadly confrontation which occurred on November 3, 1979, in Greensboro, North Carolina , US, when members of the Ku Klux Klan and the American Nazi Party (ANP) shot and killed five participants in a "Death to the Klan" march which was organized by the Communist Workers Party (CWP). The event had been preceded by inflammatory rhetoric. The Greensboro city police department had an informant within
334-495: A natural gas processing plant. In 1999, the city council of Charleston, South Carolina , passed a resolution declaring the Klan a terrorist organization. The existence of modern Klan groups has been in a state of consistent decline, due to a variety of factors: from the American public's negative distaste of the group's image, platform, and history, infiltration and prosecution by law enforcement, civil lawsuit forfeitures, and
501-556: A 1933 interview, William Sellers, born enslaved in Virginia, recalled the post-war "raids of the Ku Klux, young white men of Rockingham County who would go into the huts of the recently freed negroes or catch some negro who had been working for thirty cents a day on his way home from work...and cruelly whip him, leaving him to live or die." Seemingly random whipping attacks, meant to be suggestive of previous condition of servitude, were
668-451: A 4,500-seat mini-arena, and eight meeting rooms. The 30,000-square-foot (2,800 m ) Pavilion is adjacent. The complex hosts "a broad range of activities, including athletic events, cultural arts, concerts, theater, educational activities, fairs, exhibits, and public and private events of all kinds including conventions, convocations and trade and consumer shows". The Greensboro Aquatic Center, which hosts national swimming and diving events,
835-534: A January daily average of 38.9 °F (3.8 °C). On average, there are 75 nights per year that drop to or below freezing, and 4.3 days that fail to rise above freezing. Measurable snowfall occurs nearly every winter, and accumulates to 7.5 inches (19.1 cm) on average, usually in January and February and occasionally December and March; the amount varies considerably from winter to winter. Cold-air damming (CAD) can facilitate freezing rain , often making it
1002-498: A Nation , which mythologized the founding of the first Klan, it employed marketing techniques and a popular fraternal organization structure . Rooted in local Protestant communities, it sought to maintain white supremacy , often took a pro- Prohibition stance, and it opposed Jews , while also stressing its opposition to the alleged political power of the pope and the Catholic Church . This second Klan flourished both in
1169-487: A caravan of nine cars and a van filled with an estimated 40 KKK and American Nazi Party members drove back and forth in front of the housing project at around 11:20 AM. The two groups heckled each other, and some marchers beat the cars with picket sticks and kicks. The first shot came from the head of the KKK caravan, although it wasn't clear who fired the shot. Several witnesses reported that Klansman Mark Sherer fired first, into
1336-417: A center of protests and change. On February 1, 1960, four black college students sat down at an "all-white" Woolworth's lunch counter , and refused to leave after they were denied service. They had already purchased items in other parts of the store and kept their receipts. After being denied lunch service, they brought out the receipts, asking why their money was good everywhere else in the store but not at
1503-536: A chance to participate in the process. Hundreds of Klan members were fined or imprisoned during the crackdown, "once the national government became set upon a policy of military intervention whole populations which had scouted the authority of the weak 'Radical' government of the State became meek." Klan leader Nathan Bedford Forrest boasted that the Klan was a nationwide organization of 550,000 men and that he could muster 40,000 Klansmen within five days' notice. However,
1670-706: A congressional committee which took testimony from 52 witnesses about Klan atrocities, accumulating 12 volumes. In February, former Union general and congressman Benjamin Butler of Massachusetts introduced the Civil Rights Act of 1871 (Ku Klux Klan Act). This added to the enmity that Southern white Democrats bore toward him. While the bill was being considered, further violence in the South swung support for its passage. The governor of South Carolina appealed for federal troops to assist his efforts in keeping control of
1837-542: A conspiracy charge for firing the first shot. In 1980, the surviving protesters, led by the Christic Institute , filed a separate civil suit against 87 defendants. The suit alleged civil rights violations, failure to protect demonstrators, and wrongful death. Eight defendants were found liable for the wrongful death of the one protester who was not a member of the CWP. A third federal criminal civil rights trial in 1984
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#17327722854812004-585: A convergence of American neo-Nazi and Ku Klux Klan movements, which previously operated without cooperation. The Communist Workers' Party (CWP) had its origin in 1973 in New York as a splinter group of the Communist Party USA . "The CWP was one of several groups which were established as part of a Maoist revival within the radical community. To the Maoists, the pro- Soviet Communist Party USA
2171-690: A detailed recounting of Klansmen's beatings and murders of freedmen and their white allies. Milder encounters, including some against white teachers, also occurred. In Mississippi , according to the Congressional inquiry: One of these teachers (Miss Allen of Illinois), whose school was at Cotton Gin Port in Monroe County , was visited ... between one and two o'clock in the morning in March 1871, by about fifty men mounted and disguised. Each man wore
2338-619: A detective followed the Klan and neo-Nazi caravan to the site, but they did not attempt to directly intervene in events. Edward Dawson, a Klansman-turned FBI/police informant was riding in the lead car of the caravan. He had been an FBI informant since 1969 as part of the agency's COINTELPRO program. He was among the founders of the North Carolina Knights of the Ku Klux Klan when the North Carolina chapter of
2505-460: A federal prosecution. Based on additional evidence, a federal grand jury indicted nine men on civil rights charges in 1983. In 1983, Sherer pleaded guilty to a federal conspiracy charge for firing the first shot. He was sentenced to six months in a community treatment center and five years of probation. He was the only person found guilty of a crime in the case. The case brought by the US attorney "charged
2672-571: A few freedmen and white Republicans who allied with Democratic whites or had criminal agendas of their own. Indeed, all they had in common, besides being overwhelmingly white, southern, and Democratic , was that they called themselves, or were called, Klansmen. Historian Eric Foner observed: "In effect, the Klan was a military force serving the interests of the Democratic party, the planter class , and all those who desired restoration of white supremacy. Its purposes were political, but political in
2839-498: A few weeks prior to the Presidential election of November 1868. Although St. Landry Parish had a registered Republican majority of 1,071, after the murders, no Republicans voted in the fall elections. White Democrats cast the full vote of the parish for President Grant's opponent. The KKK killed and wounded more than 200 Black Republicans, hunting and chasing them through the woods. Thirteen captives were taken from jail and shot;
3006-440: A formal and decisive disbandment". A Georgia-based reporter wrote in 1870: "A true statement of the case is not that the Ku Klux are an organized band of licensed criminals, but that men who commit crimes call themselves Ku Klux". In many states, officials were reluctant to use Black militia against the Klan out of fear that racial tensions would be raised. Republican governor of North Carolina William Woods Holden called out
3173-640: A group of private citizens founded the Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission . They appealed to the Mayor and the City Council for their endorsement, but failed to gain support. The Greensboro City Council, led by mayor Keith Holliday, voted 6 to 3 against endorsing the work of the group. The three African-American members of the Council voted in favor of the measure. The mayor at the time of
3340-845: A half-buried pile of 25 bodies was found in the woods. The KKK made people vote Democratic and gave them certificates of the fact. In the April 1868 Georgia gubernatorial election, Columbia County cast 1,222 votes for Republican Rufus Bullock . By the November presidential election , Klan intimidation led to suppression of the Republican vote and only one person voted for Ulysses S. Grant . Klansmen killed more than 150 African Americans in Jackson County, Florida , and hundreds more in other counties including Madison, Alachua, Columbia, and Hamilton. Florida Freedmen's Bureau records provided
3507-542: A local KKK chapter. Hostility between the groups flared up in July 1979, when protesters in China Grove, North Carolina , disrupted a screening of The Birth of a Nation , a 1915 silent film by D. W. Griffith which portrays the end of the era of Reconstruction and the formation of the KKK in heroic terms, and portrayed blacks in a demeaning, racist way. Taunts and inflammatory rhetoric were exchanged between members of
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#17327722854813674-402: A long white robe and his face was covered by a loose mask with scarlet stripes. She was ordered to get up and dress which she did at once and then admitted to her room the captain and lieutenant who in addition to the usual disguise had long horns on their heads and a sort of device in front. The lieutenant had a pistol in his hand and he and the captain sat down while eight or ten men stood inside
3841-458: A modern business system of using full-time, paid recruiters and it appealed to new members as a fraternal organization, of which many examples were flourishing at the time. The national headquarters made its profit through a monopoly on costume sales, while the organizers were paid through initiation fees. It grew rapidly nationwide at a time of prosperity. Reflecting the social tensions pitting urban versus rural America, it spread to every state and
4008-656: A more pressing concern than snow. Summers are hot and humid, with a daily average in July of 78.5 °F (25.8 °C). On average, 32 days per year have highs at or above 90 °F (32 °C), but, as in much of the Piedmont South, 100 °F (38 °C)+ readings are uncommon. Autumn is similar to spring in temperature but has fewer days of rainfall and less total rainfall. Extremes in temperature have ranged from −8 °F (−22 °C) on January 21, 1985 , to 104 °F (40 °C), on June 12, 1911, June 12, 1914, and July 17, 1914. Thunderstorms are common during
4175-510: A painfully slow pace, and the verbal commitments from white leadership in 1963 were not implemented in substantial ways. In May 1969, students of James B. Dudley High School were outraged when the administration refused to let a popular candidate, Claude Barnes, run for student union class president, allegedly due to his membership in Youth for the Unity of Black Society. After their appeals to
4342-501: A planning meeting to using pipe bombs for possible assaults at the rally, and that he took no further action. The Christic legal team was led by attorneys Lewis Pitts and Daniel Sheehan , together with People's Law Office attorney G. Flint Taylor and attorney Carolyn McAllaster of Durham, North Carolina . A Federal jury in Winston-Salem, North Carolina , found two Klansmen, three neo-Nazis, two Greensboro police officers, and
4509-561: A police informant liable for the wrongful death of Dr. Michael Nathan, a non-CWP demonstrator, and for injuries to survivors Paul Bermanzohn and Tom Clark, who had been wounded. It awarded two survivors with a $ 350,000 judgment against the city, the Ku Klux Klan, and the American Nazi Party for violating the civil rights of the demonstrators. The widow Dr. Martha "Marty" Nathan, was paid by the City in order to cover damages caused by
4676-502: A police informant), Roland Wayne Wood, Roy Clinton Toney, Coleman Blair Pridmore, and Rayford Milano Caudle On April 15, 1984, all nine defendants were acquitted . The government had a burden to prove the defendants were motivated by racial hatred in order to bring them to federal charges. The CWP believed that the indictment was drawn too narrowly, giving the defense an opportunity to argue that political opposition to Communism and patriotic fervor, rather than racial motivations, prompted
4843-495: A reputation as a well-planned community with a strong emphasis on education, parks, and a profitable employment base. Greensboro has two major public research universities, North Carolina A&T State University , a historically black college established in the late 19th century, and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro . During the height of the civil rights movement in the early 1960s, students from A&T were
5010-490: A result of these efforts, the CWP came into conflict with a local Ku Klux Klan chapter and the American Nazi Party . Some CWP members also worked in the textile mills, including James Waller, who left his medical practice to do so. He became president of the local textile workers union. WVO members were active in Durham and Greensboro. The WVO resisted the continuation of racial discrimination in North Carolina by confronting
5177-406: A shotgun from fellow marcher Tom Clark's truck during the confrontation. Klansman Roy Toney spotted him and struggled with Waller for control of the shotgun, which went off during the struggle. The first shots wounding and killing individuals were discharged soon after, primarily by caravan members. Six caravan members equipped themselves with long guns from the trunk of a Ford Fairlane and fired at
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5344-483: A success in terms of "restoring order, reinvigorating the morale of Southern Republicans, and enabling Blacks to exercise their rights as citizens". Historian George C. Rable argues that the Klan was a political failure and therefore was discarded by the Democratic Party leaders of the South. He says: The Klan declined in strength in part because of internal weaknesses; its lack of central organization and
5511-583: A village to a city within a decade. By 1900, Greensboro was considered a center of the Southern textile industry, with large-scale factories producing denim , flannel , and overalls . The resulting prosperity was expressed in the construction of notable 20th-century civic architecture, including the Guilford County Courthouse , West Market Street United Methodist Church by S. W. Faulk, several buildings designed by Frank A. Weston, and
5678-569: A widespread aspect of the early Klan; for example in 1870–71 in Limestone Township (now Cherokee County ), South Carolina, of 77 documented attacks, "four were shot, sixty-seven whipped and six had had their ears cropped ." Klan members adopted masks and robes that hid their identities and added to the drama of their night rides, their chosen time for attacks. Many of them operated in small towns and rural areas where people otherwise knew each other's faces, and sometimes still recognized
5845-634: Is also in this complex. In 1998, FedEx built a $ 300 million mid-Atlantic air-cargo and sorting hub at Piedmont Triad International Airport , after an intensive competition for the hub among other regions of the state, as well as locations in South Carolina . The project was challenged in court based on the quality of planned noise and pollution abatements from neighborhoods near the site. The hub opened in 2009. Originally projected by FedEx to employ 750 people in its first two years of operation and eventually 1,500, local FedEx employment has been nearly
6012-482: Is the only defense." Communist organizers publicly challenged the Klan to attend the march. Four local TV news camera teams arrived at Morningside Homes at the corner of Carver and Everitt streets to cover the protest march. Members of the CWP and other anti-Klan supporters gathered to rally the march, which was planned to proceed through the city to the Greensboro City Hall. As the marchers collected,
6179-590: The 2020 census , its population was 299,035; it was estimated to be 302,296 in 2023. It is the third-most populous city in North Carolina , after Charlotte and Raleigh , and the 69th-most populous city in the United States . The population of the Greensboro–High Point metropolitan statistical area was estimated to be 789,842 in 2023. The Piedmont Triad region, of which Greensboro is
6346-543: The 2020 census , there were 299,035 people, 118,046 households, and 69,420 families residing in the city. At the 2019 U.S. census estimates, there were 296,710 people living in the city, up from the 2019 American Community Survey 's 291,303. At the 2010 U.S. census , there were 269,666 people; 111,731 households; and 63,244 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,131.7 people per square mile (823.1 people/km ). There were 124,074 housing units at an average density of 980.8 per square mile (378.7/km ). Of
6513-714: The Atlantic Coast Conference headquarters for 70 years, until the league relocated to Charlotte, North Carolina , in 2023. Prior to the arrival of Europeans, the inhabitants of the area that became Greensboro were the Saura, a Siouan -speaking people. Other indigenous cultures had occupied this area for thousands of years, typically settling along the waterways, as did the early settlers. Quaker migrants from Pennsylvania, by way of Maryland , arrived at Capefair (now Greensboro) in about 1750. The new settlers began organized religious services affiliated with
6680-472: The Boom Supersonic factory at the airport. The future site will be used as a final assembly line and test site for its supersonic passenger aircraft, Overture . Construction on the factory is expected to finish in 2024. Like much of the southeastern United States , Greensboro has a humid subtropical climate ( Köppen Cfa ), with four distinct seasons. Winters are short and generally cool, with
6847-772: The Cane Creek Friends Meeting in Snow Camp in 1751. Three years later, 40 Quaker families were granted approval to establish New Garden Monthly Meeting. The action is recorded in the minutes of the Perquimans and Little River Quarterly Meeting on May 25, 1754: "To Friends at New Garden in Capefair", signed by Joseph Ratliff. The settlement grew rapidly over the next three years, adding members from as far away as Nantucket , Massachusetts. It soon became North Carolina's most important Quaker community and
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7014-855: The Civil War , during the Reconstruction of the South. The group was known for a short time as the "Kuklux Clan". The Ku Klux Klan was one of a number of secret, oath-bound organizations using violence, which included the Southern Cross in New Orleans (1865) and the Knights of the White Camelia (1867) in Louisiana . Historians generally classify the KKK as part of the post-Civil War insurgent violence related not only to
7181-512: The Confederate army : Frank McCord, Richard Reed, John Lester, John Kennedy, J. Calvin Jones, and James Crowe. It started as a fraternal social club inspired at least in part by the then largely defunct Sons of Malta . It borrowed parts of the initiation ceremony from that group, with the same purpose: "ludicrous initiations, the baffling of public curiosity, and the amusement for members were
7348-689: The Greensboro Grasshoppers of the South Atlantic Baseball League , the Greensboro Swarm of the NBA G League , and the semi-professional Carolina Dynamo soccer club of USL League Two . Amateur teams include Greensboro Roller Derby and college teams in four NCAA programs. The Sedgefield Country Club is currently host to the annual PGA Tour event Wyndham Golf Championship . Greensboro would serve as
7515-661: The International Civil Rights Center and Museum , which opened on February 1, 2010, the 50th anniversary of the sit-ins. A section of the counter is on display at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. to mark the protesters' courage. The white business community acceded to the desegregation of Woolworth's and made other minor concessions, but the civil rights movement had additional goals, holding protests in 1962 and 1963. In May and June 1963,
7682-616: The Julius I. Foust Building of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro , designed by Orlo Epps . During the 20th century, Greensboro continued to increase in population and wealth. Grand commercial and civic buildings, many of which still stand today, were designed by local architects Charles Hartmann and Harry Barton. Other notable industries became established in the city, including Vicks Chemical Co. (known for over-the-counter cold remedies such as VapoRub and NyQuil ), Carolina Steel Corporation, and Pomona Terra Cotta Works. During
7849-549: The National Socialist White People's Party . The ANP members joined with the KKK chapter to disrupt the November 1979 protest march. At the 1980 criminal trial, the neo-Nazis claimed that Butkovich encouraged them to carry firearms to the demonstration. At the 1985 civil trial, Butkovich testified that he was aware that the KKK and ANP members intended to confront the demonstrators, but he did not tell
8016-910: The Piedmont region of central North Carolina were built to intersect at this city. Among Greensboro's many notable attractions, some of the most popular are the Greensboro Science Center , the International Civil Rights Museum , The Steven Tanger Center for the Performing Arts , the Weatherspoon Art Museum , the Greensboro Symphony, and the Greensboro Ballet . Annual events in the city include
8183-556: The Prescript , which espoused white supremacist belief. For instance, an applicant should be asked if he was in favor of "a white man's government", "the reenfranchisement and emancipation of the white men of the South, and the restitution of the Southern people to all their rights". The latter is a reference to the Ironclad Oath , which stripped the vote from white persons who refused to swear that they had not borne arms against
8350-769: The Red Shirts , which started in Mississippi and developed chapters in the Carolinas. For instance, the Red Shirts are credited with helping elect Wade Hampton as governor in South Carolina. They were described as acting as the military arm of the Democratic Party and are attributed with helping white Democrats regain control of state legislatures throughout the South. In 1915, the second Klan
8517-551: The United Klans of America split. By 1979 he was working as an informant for the Greensboro Police Department. He was given a copy of the march route by the police and informed them of the potential for violence. The police detective who trailed the caravan radioed for extra units at 11:23 AM. The first to arrive were two tactical officers two minutes later, who arrested twelve caravan members from
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#17327722854818684-435: The "Death to the Klan March"; the event was scheduled to start in a predominantly black housing project called Morningside Homes on the black side of town, and to proceed to the Greensboro City Hall. The CWP distributed flyers that called for radical, even violent opposition to the Klan. One flier said that the Klan "should be physically beaten and chased out of town. This is the only language they understand. Armed self-defense
8851-485: The "Gate City" due to its role as a transportation hub for the Piedmont. The railroads transported goods to and from the cotton textile mills. Many of the manufacturers developed workers' housing in mill villages near their facilities. Though the city developed slowly, early wealth generated in the 18th and 19th centuries from cotton trade and merchandising resulted in owners' constructing several notable buildings. The earliest, later named Blandwood Mansion and Gardens ,
9018-414: The 124,074 households in the city in 2010, 30.1% included children under age 18, 35.5% were headed by married couples living together, 16.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 43.4% were classified as non-family. Of the total households, 33.8% were composed of individuals, and 9.0% were someone living alone who was 65 or older. The average household size was 2.31, and the average family size
9185-609: The 1940s. Klan organizers also operated in Canada , especially in Saskatchewan in 1926–1928, where Klansmen denounced immigrants from Eastern Europe as a threat to Canada's "Anglo-Saxon" heritage. The "Ku Klux Klan" name was used by numerous independent local groups opposing the civil rights movement and desegregation , especially in the 1950s and 1960s. During this period, they often forged alliances with Southern police departments, as in Birmingham, Alabama ; or with governor's offices, as with George Wallace of Alabama . Several members of Klan groups were convicted of murder in
9352-401: The 2020 census, 41.42% of the population was black or African American, 38.6% non-Hispanic white, 0.33% Native American, 5.04% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 4.4% mixed or some other race, and 10.17% Hispanic or Latin American of any race. This reflected the national demographic shift and growth of nonwhite-identifying Americans. In Greensboro, Sperling's BestPlaces determined that 48.33% of
9519-458: The Commission that the Greensboro Police Department had infiltrated the Klan and, through a paid informant, knew of the white supremacists' plans and the strong potential for violence that day. The informant had formerly been on the Federal Bureau of Investigation 's payroll and maintained contact with his agent's supervisor. Consequently, the FBI was also aware of the impending armed confrontation. The Commission reported that at least one activist in
9686-454: The Greensboro commission had no official recognition and authority. It lacked both the power of subpoena to compel testimony, and the ability to invoke the charge of perjury for false testimony. The Commission reported its findings and conclusions. It noted that both the Communist Workers Party and the Klan contributed in varying degrees to the violence, especially given the violent rhetoric which they had been espousing for months leading up to
9853-411: The KKK and ANP as well. She chose to donate some money to grassroots efforts for social justice and education. The CWP gradually dissolved, and its members went on to other pursuits. In November 2004, nearly 700 people, including several survivors, marched in Greensboro along the original planned route from the housing project to Greensboro City Hall to mark the 25th anniversary of the event. That year,
10020-493: The KKK and ANP group who notified them that the Klan was prepared for armed violence. As the two opposing groups came in contact with each other at the onset of the march, both sides exchanged gunfire. The CWP and its supporters had handguns, while members of the KKK and the ANP had a variety of firearms. The people who were killed included four members of the CWP, who had originally come to Greensboro to support workers' rights activism among mostly black textile industry workers in
10187-399: The KKK and ANP members went to the rally intending to provoke a violent confrontation, and that they fired on demonstrators with intent of injury. In its Final Report, the Commission noted the importance of the Greensboro Police Department's absence from the scene. The presence of police at previous confrontations between the same groups had resulted in no violence. There had been testimony at
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#173277228548110354-648: The Klan as America's first terrorist group. There have been three distinct iterations with various targets relative to time and place, including African Americans , Jews , and Catholics . Each iteration of the Klan is defined by non-overlapping time periods, comprising local chapters with little or no central direction. Each has advocated reactionary positions such as white nationalism , anti-immigration and—especially in later iterations— Nordicism , antisemitism , anti-Catholicism , right-wing populism , anti-communism , homophobia , anti-atheism , and Islamophobia . The first Klan, founded by Confederate veterans in
10521-576: The Klan had no membership rosters, no chapters, and no local officers, so it was difficult for observers to judge its membership. It had created a sensation by the dramatic nature of its masked forays and because of its many murders. In 1870, a federal grand jury determined that the Klan was a " terrorist organization" and issued hundreds of indictments for crimes of violence and terrorism. Klan members were prosecuted, and many fled from areas that were under federal government jurisdiction, particularly in South Carolina. Many people not formally inducted into
10688-454: The Klan had used the Klan's costume to hide their identities when carrying out independent acts of violence. Forrest called for the Klan to disband in 1869, arguing that it was "being perverted from its original honorable and patriotic purposes, becoming injurious instead of subservient to the public peace". Historian Stanley Horn argues that "generally speaking, the Klan's end was more in the form of spotty, slow, and gradual disintegration than
10855-415: The Klan has an "unknown number of associates and supporters". The name was probably formed by combining the Greek kyklos ( κύκλος , which means circle) with clan . The word had previously been used for other fraternal organizations in the South such as Kuklos Adelphon . Six Confederate veterans from Pulaski, Tennessee , created the original Ku Klux Klan on December 24, 1865, shortly after
11022-477: The Klansmen and neo-Nazis with racially motivated violence and with interference in a racially integrated event." Three men were charged with violating the civil rights of the five victims: the defendants were David Wayne Matthews, Jerry Paul Smith and Jack Wilson Fowler, who had been prosecuted and acquitted in the state criminal trial. Six other men were charged with "conspiracy to violate the demonstrators' civil rights:" Virgil Lee Griffin , Sr.; Eddie Dawson (also
11189-426: The Koury Convention Center is the largest convention center in the Southeast between Atlanta and Washington, D.C. The hotel has more than 1,000 rooms. The Greensboro Coliseum is at 1921 W. Gate City Boulevard. This multipurpose complex consists of the 22,000-seat Greensboro Coliseum, the 300-seat Odeon Theatre, and the 167,000-square-foot (15,500 m ) Special Events Center, which includes three exhibition halls,
11356-400: The Ku Klux Klan , on which the film was based. When the film was shown in Atlanta in December of that year, Simmons and his new klansmen paraded to the theater in robes and pointed hoods – many on robed horses – just like in the film. These mass parades became another hallmark of the new Klan that had not existed in the original Reconstruction-era organization. Beginning in 1921, it adopted
11523-454: The Mississippi River to continue the war effort and avoid capture. Shortly thereafter, the cabinet left Greensboro and separated. Greensboro is notable as the last place where the entire Confederate government met as a group; some consider it the Confederacy's final capital city. At nearly the same time, Governor Zebulon B. Vance fled Raleigh , the capital of North Carolina, before the forces of Union General William Tecumseh Sherman swept
11690-455: The North Carolina Folk Festival, First Fridays in Downtown Greensboro, Fun Fourth of July Festival, North Carolina Comedy Festival, and Winter Wonderlights. From 2015 to 2017, Greensboro hosted the National Folk Festival. The Greensboro Coliseum Complex hosts a variety of major sporting events, concerts, and other events, including the ACC men's basketball tournament and women's basketball tournament . Local professional teams include
11857-488: The Republican Party because they were being hoodwinked by the Loyal Leagues. One Alabama newspaper editor declared "The League is nothing more than a nigger Ku Klux Klan." Despite Gordon's and Forrest's work, local Klan units never accepted the Prescript and continued to operate autonomously. There were never hierarchical levels or state headquarters. Klan members used violence to settle old personal feuds and local grudges, as they worked to restore general white dominance in
12024-584: The South that adopted similar goals. Klan chapters promoted white supremacy and spread throughout the South as an insurgent movement in resistance to Reconstruction. Confederate veteran John W. Morton founded a KKK chapter in Nashville, Tennessee . As a secret vigilante group, the Klan targeted freedmen and their allies; it sought to restore white supremacy by threats and violence, including murder. "They targeted white Northern leaders, Southern sympathizers and politically active Blacks." In 1870 and 1871,
12191-615: The Southern Poverty Law Center puts it at 6,000 members total. The second and third incarnations of the Ku Klux Klan made frequent references to a false mythologized perception of America's " Anglo-Saxon " blood, hearkening back to 19th-century nativism . Although members of the KKK swear to uphold Christian morality , Christian denominations widely denounce them. The first Klan was founded in Pulaski, Tennessee , on December 24, 1865, by six former officers of
12358-467: The U.S. Census Bureau reported Greensboro's population as 74.0% white and 25.8% black. As in the rest of the state, most blacks were still disenfranchised under state laws, Jim Crow laws and customs were in effect, and public facilities, including schools, were racially segregated by law. This was after the U.S. Supreme Court's 1954 ruling in Brown v. Board of Education that segregation in public schools
12525-585: The Union. Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest was elected the first grand wizard , and claimed to be the Klan's national leader. In an 1868 newspaper interview, Forrest stated that the Klan's primary opposition was to the Loyal Leagues , Republican state governments, people such as Tennessee governor William Gannaway Brownlow , and other " carpetbaggers " and " scalawags ". He argued that many Southerners believed that Black people were voting for
12692-474: The actions was shown worldwide, and the event became known as the Greensboro massacre . In November 1980, six KKK defendants were acquitted in a state criminal trial by an all-white jury after a week of deliberation. Families of those killed and injured in the attack filed a civil suit against the city and police department for failure to protect citizens. In 1985, a jury in this case found five police officers and two other individuals liable for $ 350,000 in damages;
12859-417: The air. A "thick blue smoke" was spotted after the first shot, consistent with the discharge from a black powder pistol Sherer owned. A second shot was fired into the air by Klansman Brent Fletcher, and shots three and four by Sherer, into the ground and a parked car. Some KKK and ANP members exited their vehicles and engaged in a physical confrontation with marchers. CWP member James Waller equipped himself with
13026-404: The area. In addition to the five deaths, nine demonstrators, two news crew members, and a Klansman were wounded. Two criminal trials of several of the Klan and ANP members were conducted by state and federal prosecutors. In the first trial, conducted by the state, five were charged with first-degree murder and felony riot. All of the defendants were acquitted , albeit one pleaded guilty earlier to
13193-555: The attackers by voice and mannerisms. "The kind of thing that men are afraid or ashamed to do openly, and by day, they accomplish secretly, masked, and at night." The KKK night riders "sometimes claimed to be ghosts of Confederate soldiers so, as they claimed, to frighten superstitious Blacks. Few freedmen took such nonsense seriously." The Klan attacked Black members of the Loyal Leagues and intimidated Southern Republicans and Freedmen's Bureau workers. When they killed Black political leaders, they also took heads of families, along with
13360-564: The battle, Cornwallis withdrew his troops to a British coastal base in Wilmington . Greensboro was established near the geographic center of Guilford County, on land that was "an unbroken forest with thick undergrowth of huckleberry bushes, that bore a finely flavored fruit." Property for the future village was purchased from the Saura for $ 98. Three north–south streets (Greene, Elm, Davie) were laid out intersecting with three east–west streets, Gaston, Market, and Sycamore. The courthouse
13527-554: The broadest sense, for it sought to affect power relations, both public and private, throughout Southern society. It aimed to reverse the interlocking changes sweeping over the South during Reconstruction: to destroy the Republican party's infrastructure, undermine the Reconstruction state, reestablish control of the Black labor force, and restore racial subordination in every aspect of Southern life. To that end they worked to curb
13694-677: The city hopes to build a new economy. Wartime and postwar prosperity brought development, and designs commissioned from nationally and internationally known architects. Walter Gropius , a leader of the German Bauhaus movement in the United States, designed a factory building in the city in 1944. Greensboro-based Ed Loewenstein designed projects throughout the region. Eduardo Catalano and George Matsumoto were hired for projects whose designs have challenged North Carolinians with modernist architectural concepts and forms. In 1960,
13861-428: The city was 48.4% white , 40.6% black or African American , 4.0% Asian American (1.6% Vietnamese, 0.7% Indian), 0.5% Native American , 0.1% Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander , 3.8% some other race , and 2.6% two or more races . Non-Hispanic whites were 45.6% of the population in 2010, compared to 70.9% in 1970. People of Hispanic or Latin American heritage, who may be of any race, in 2010 were 7.5% of
14028-560: The city was relatively untouched by the war, although residents had to deal with regional shortages of clothing, medicine, and other items caused by the US naval blockade of the South. In the war's final weeks, Greensboro played a unique role in the last days of the Confederate government. In April 1865, the commanding officer of the Army of Tennessee, General Joseph E. Johnston , instructed General P. G. T. Beauregard to prepare to defend
14195-636: The city. For a brief period beginning April 16, 1865, he and other officials maintained the state capital in Greensboro. Vance proclaimed the North Carolina Surrender Declaration on April 28, 1865. Later, he surrendered to Union officials in the parlor of Blandwood Mansion. Historian Blackwell Robinson wrote, "Greensboro witnessed not only the demise of the Confederacy but also that of the old civil government of
14362-589: The city. During this time, Confederate President Jefferson Davis and the remaining members of the Confederate cabinet had evacuated the Confederate Capital in Richmond, Virginia , and moved south to Danville, Virginia . When Union cavalry threatened Danville, Davis and his cabinet managed to escape by train, and reassembled in Greensboro on April 11, 1865. While in the city, Davis and his cabinet decided to try to split up and make their way west of
14529-803: The civil rights provisions for individuals under the constitution. The Klan refused to voluntarily dissolve after the 1871 Klan Act, so President Grant issued a suspension of habeas corpus and stationed federal troops in nine South Carolina counties by invoking the Insurrection Act of 1807 . The Klansmen were apprehended and prosecuted in federal court. Judges Hugh Lennox Bond and George S. Bryan presided over South Carolina Ku Klux Klan Trials in Columbia, S.C., during December 1871. The defendants were given from three months to five years of incarceration with fines. More Black people served on juries in federal court than on local or state juries, so they had
14696-543: The confrontation at the march. It said that the CWP did not intend to use handguns for anything other than self-defense. It said that the protesters, most of whom did not live in Greensboro or the county, had not fully secured the community support of the Morningside Homes residents for holding the event there. Many of the residents did not approve of the protest because they feared it had the risk of catalyzing violence on their doorsteps. The Commission concluded that
14863-609: The confrontation. Neither trial "investigated the actions of Federal agents or the Greensboro police." In 1980, survivors filed a civil suit in Federal District Court seeking $ 48 million in damages. The Christic Institute led the legal effort. The complaint alleged that law-enforcement officials knew "that Klansmen and Nazis would use violence to disrupt the demonstration by Communist labor organizers and black residents of Greensboro but deliberately failed to protect them." Four federal agents were named as defendants in
15030-432: The crowd fired back after the attack started. 36°3′55.81″N 79°45′49.86″W / 36.0655028°N 79.7638500°W / 36.0655028; -79.7638500 Greensboro, North Carolina Greensboro ( / ˈ ɡ r iː n z b ə r oʊ / ; local pronunciation / ˈ ɡ r iː n z b ʌr ə / ) is a city in and the county seat of Guilford County, North Carolina , United States. At
15197-588: The deaths of civil rights workers in Mississippi in 1964 and of children in the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham in 1963. The United States government still considers the Klan to be a "subversive terrorist organization". In April 1997, FBI agents arrested four members of the True Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in Dallas for conspiracy to commit robbery and for conspiring to blow up
15364-491: The deepest capitalist crisis began. The working class was awakening. The CWP 5 lived and died for all workers, minorities, and poor; for a world where exploitation and oppression will be eliminated, and all mankind freed; for the noble goal of communism . Their deaths, a tremendous loss to the CWP and to their families, are a clarion call to the U.S. people to fight for the workers' rule. In their footsteps waves of revolutionaries will rise and join our ranks. We will overthrow
15531-493: The disrupted postwar society. The historian Elaine Frantz Parsons describes the membership: Lifting the Klan mask revealed a chaotic multitude of anti-Black vigilante groups, disgruntled poor white farmers, wartime guerrilla bands, displaced Democratic politicians, illegal whiskey distillers, coercive moral reformers, sadists, rapists, white workmen fearful of Black competition, employers trying to enforce labor discipline, common thieves, neighbors with decades-old grudges, and even
15698-600: The disturbances; its 1970 report concluded that the National Guard invasion was a reckless action disproportionate to the danger posed by student protests. It criticized local community leaders for failing to respond adequately to the Dudley High School students when the issues first arose. They declared it "a sad commentary that the only group in the community who would take the Dudley students seriously were
15865-531: The door and the porch was full. They treated her "gentlemanly and quietly" but complained of the heavy school-tax, said she must stop teaching and go away and warned her that they never gave a second notice. She heeded the warning and left the county. By 1868, two years after the Klan's creation, its activity was beginning to decrease. Members were hiding behind Klan masks and robes as a way to avoid prosecution for freelance violence. Many influential Southern Democrats feared that Klan lawlessness provided an excuse for
16032-707: The downtown was stimulated by the 2006 opening of the Elon University School of Law . The law school is credited with attracting student dollars to the downtown. The Four Seasons Town Centre , at 410 Four Seasons Town Centre, is a three-story shopping mall with 1,141,000 square feet (106,000 m ) of shopping space developed by the Koury Corporation . It is adjacent to the Joseph S. Koury Convention Center and Sheraton Hotel. With over 250,000 square feet (23,000 m ) of flexible meeting space,
16199-456: The education, economic advancement, voting rights , and right to keep and bear arms of Black people. The Klan soon spread into nearly every Southern state, launching a reign of terror against Republican leaders both Black and white. Those political leaders assassinated during the campaign included Arkansas Congressman James M. Hinds , three members of the South Carolina legislature, and several men who served in constitutional conventions." In
16366-434: The event, a private organization formed the Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission with the intention to investigate the events of 1979. Though the private organization was limited in its investigation because it failed to secure authority or local sanction, its Final Report concluded that both sides had engaged in inflammatory rhetoric, but that the Klan and ANP members had intended to inflict injury on protesters, and
16533-571: The failure of its leaders to control criminal elements and sadists. More fundamentally, it declined because it failed to achieve its central objective – the overthrow of Republican state governments in the South. After the Klan was suppressed, similar insurgent paramilitary groups arose that were explicitly directed at suppressing Republican voting and turning Republicans out of office: the White League , which started in Louisiana in 1874; and
16700-520: The federal government passed the Enforcement Acts , which were intended to prosecute and suppress Klan crimes. The first Klan had mixed results in terms of achieving its objectives. It seriously weakened the Black political leadership through its use of assassinations and threats of violence, and it drove some people out of politics. On the other hand, it caused a sharp backlash, with passage of federal laws that historian Eric Foner says were
16867-666: The federal government to retain its power over the South, and they began to turn against it. There were outlandish claims made, such as Georgian B. H. Hill stating "that some of these outrages were actually perpetrated by the political friends of the parties slain." Union Army veterans in mountainous Blount County, Alabama , organized "the anti-Ku Klux". They put an end to violence by threatening Klansmen with reprisals unless they stopped whipping Unionists and burning Black churches and schools. Armed Black people formed their own defense in Bennettsville, South Carolina , and patrolled
17034-494: The first six months of the Association's national recruitment campaign, Klan membership had increased by 85,000. At its peak in the mid-1920s, the organization's membership ranged from three to eight million members. In 1923, Simmons was ousted as leader of the KKK by Hiram Wesley Evans . From September 1923 there were two Ku Klux Klan organizations: the one founded by Simmons and led by Evans with its strength primarily in
17201-494: The first three decades, Greensboro grew so rapidly that there was an acute worker housing shortage. Builders set a construction goal of 80 to 100 affordable housing units per year to provide homes for workers. Greensboro's real estate was considered "the wonder of the state" in the 1920s. Growth continued even through the Great Depression , as Greensboro attracted an estimated 200 new families per year. The city earned
17368-633: The form of localized and isolated groups that use the KKK name. They have focused on opposition to the civil rights movement , often using violence and murder to suppress activists. This manifestation is classified as a hate group by the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center . As of 2016 , the Anti-Defamation League puts total KKK membership nationwide at around 3,000, while
17535-668: The governor ordered the North Carolina National Guard into the A&;T campus, in what was described at the time as "the most massive armed assault ever made against an American university". The North Carolina National Guard swept the college dormitories, taking hundreds of students into "protective custody". The demonstrations were suppressed. The North Carolina State Advisory Committee to the United States Commission on Civil Rights investigated
17702-543: The groups during the ensuing months. In October 1979, the WVO renamed itself the Communist Workers Organization. It planned to stage a rally and a march against the Klan on November 3, 1979, in Greensboro. The county seat of Guilford County, this city had been a site of major civil rights actions in the 1960s. Sit-ins resulted in the desegregation of lunch counters. The CWP entitled their protest as
17869-541: The high number of veterans in the population, but also to their effort to control the dramatically changed social situation by using extrajudicial means to restore white supremacy. In 1866, Mississippi governor William L. Sharkey reported that disorder, lack of control, and lawlessness were widespread; in some states armed bands of Confederate soldiers roamed at will. The Klan used public violence against Black people and their allies as intimidation. They burned houses and attacked and killed Black people , leaving their bodies on
18036-482: The hospital two days later. Twelve others were wounded. The filmed coverage of the shootings was carried on national and international news, and the event became known as the "Greensboro Massacre." Smith was black, Cauce was Hispanic , and the other three men killed were white. Both blacks and whites were among the wounded, including one KKK member and two news crew members. Died: All but Michael Nathan were CWP members and rank-and-file union leaders and organizers. Nathan
18203-495: The housing development where the violence occurred, and students at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University ( A&T ), expressed shock and anger over the verdict and a feeling of hopelessness regarding the judicial system and the Ku Klux Klan. The Department of Justice through the FBI had an extensive criminal investigation underway. After the acquittals in 1980, the FBI re-opened its investigation in preparation for
18370-615: The humid spring and summer months, some severe. On April 2, 1936, around 7:00 pm, a large, F-4 tornado cut a seven-mile (11-km) swath of destruction through southern Greensboro. 14 people were killed and 144 injured by the tornado, which moved through part of downtown. The storm was part of the 1936 Cordele-Greensboro tornado outbreak . Strong tornadoes have struck the Greensboro area since then, notably Stoneville on March 20, 1998 ; Clemmons and Winston-Salem on May 5, 1989 ; Clemmons and Greensboro on May 7, 2008 ; High Point on March 28, 2010 ; and Greensboro on April 15, 2018 . As of
18537-564: The largest civil rights protest in North Carolina history took place in Greensboro. Protesters sought desegregation of public accommodations, and economic and social justice, such as hiring policies based on merit rather than race. They also worked for the overdue integration of public schools. Each night more than 2,000 protesters marched through Greensboro's segregated central business district. William Thomas and A. Knighton Stanley, coordinators of Greensboro's local CORE chapter, invited Jesse Jackson , then an activist student at A&T, to join
18704-619: The largest religion in Greensboro is Islam (0.82%), followed by Judaism (0.60%). Eastern religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism were the least common in Greensboro (0.34%). Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan ( / ˌ k uː k l ʌ k s ˈ k l æ n , ˌ k j uː -/ ), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan , is the name of an American white supremacist , far-right terrorist organization and hate group . Various historians, including Fergus Bordewich , have characterized
18871-474: The late 1860s, assaulted and murdered politically active Black people and their allies in the South . The second iteration of the Klan originated in the late 1910s, and was the first to use cross burnings and white-hooded robes. The KKK of the 1920s had a nationwide membership in the millions and reflected a cross-section of the native-born white English-speaking and Protestant population. The third Klan formed in
19038-674: The latter has been adapted and operates as a private inn. In the mid-19th century, many of the residents of the Piedmont and western areas of the state were Unionist , and Guilford County did not vote for secession . But once North Carolina joined the Confederacy , some citizens joined the Confederate cause, forming infantry units such as the Guilford Grays to fight in the American Civil War . From 1861 to March 1865
19205-522: The leaders of churches and community groups, because these people had many roles in society. Agents of the Freedmen's Bureau reported weekly assaults and murders of Black people. "Armed guerrilla warfare killed thousands of Negroes; political riots were staged; their causes or occasions were always obscure, their results always certain: ten to one hundred times as many Negroes were killed as whites." Masked men shot into houses and burned them, sometimes with
19372-488: The lunch counter. Hundreds of supporters soon joined in this sit-in, which lasted several months. Such protests quickly spread across the South, ultimately leading to the desegregation of lunch counters and other facilities at Woolworth's and other chains. Woolworth's went out of business due to changes in 20th-century retail practices, but the original Woolworth's lunch counter and stools are still in their original location. The former Woolworth's building has been adapted as
19539-564: The major force in protests to achieve racial justice, desegregation of public facilities, and fair employment, beginning with the Greensboro Four , who sat in at the segregated lunch counter at Woolworth's in 1960 to gain service. The largest civil rights protests in North Carolina history took place in Greensboro in May and June 1963. In the 21st century, the universities are leaders in new areas of research in high tech and science, on which
19706-426: The marchers, while the rest of the cars and their occupants fled. Marchers Bill Sampson, Allen Blitz, Rand Manzella, and Claire Butler fired back at the caravan members with handguns. Two of the first fatalities were Waller, shot by ANP member Roland Wood and Klansman David Matthews, and CWP member Cesar Cauce, shot by Klansman Jerry Paul Smith. Both were unarmed at the time of their deaths. Unarmed marcher Michael Nathan
19873-484: The massacre, Jim Melvin, also rejected the private commission. The private group announced that the Commission would take public testimony and conduct an investigation, in order to examine the causes and consequences of the massacre. It was patterned after official Truth and Reconciliation Commissions , generally organized by national governments, such as that notably conducted in post- apartheid South Africa . But,
20040-415: The mid 20th century, largely as a reaction to the growing civil rights movement . It used murder and bombings to achieve its aims. All three movements have called for the "purification" of American society, and are all considered far-right extremist organizations. In each era, membership was secret and estimates of the total were highly exaggerated by both allies and enemies. The first Klan, established in
20207-666: The monies were to be paid to the Greensboro Justice Fund, established to advance civil rights. Textile companies and related businesses continue into the 21st century, when most went bankrupt, reorganized, and/or merged with other companies as textile manufacturing jobs moved offshore. Greensboro is still a major center of the textile industry, with the main offices of Elevate Textiles (Cone, Burlington Industries), Galey & Lord, Unifi, and VF Corporation ( Wrangler , Lee , The North Face , and Nautica ). ITG Brands , maker of Kool, Winston and Salem brand cigarettes and
20374-489: The most populous city, had an estimated population of 1,736,099 in 2023. In 1808, Greensboro was planned around a central courthouse square to succeed Guilford Court House as the county seat. The county courts were thus placed closer to the county's geographical center, a location more easily reached at the time by the majority of the county's citizens, who traveled by horse or on foot. Three major Interstate Highways ( Interstate 40 , Interstate 85 , and Interstate 73 ) in
20541-736: The mother of several other Quaker meetings established in the state and west of the Appalachians . After the Revolutionary War , the city of Greensboro was named for Major General Nathanael Greene , commander of the rebel American forces at the Battle of Guilford Court House on March 15, 1781. Although the Americans lost the battle, Greene's forces inflicted heavy casualties on the British Army of General Cornwallis . After
20708-505: The nation's third-largest tobacco company is headquartered in Greensboro. Rail traffic continues to be important for the city's economy, as Greensboro is a major regional freight hub. Twelve Amtrak passenger trains also stop in Greensboro daily. The Crescent has its platform on the main Norfolk Southern line between Washington and New Orleans by way of Atlanta . The Carolinian and Piedmont trains have their platform at
20875-514: The occupants still inside. They drove successful Black farmers off their land. "Generally, it can be reported that in North and South Carolina, in 18 months ending in June 1867, there were 197 murders and 548 cases of aggravated assault." Klan violence worked to suppress Black voting, and campaign seasons were deadly. More than 2,000 people were killed, wounded, or otherwise injured in Louisiana within
21042-458: The only objects of the Klan", according to Albert Stevens in 1907. The manual of rituals was printed by Laps D. McCord of Pulaski. The origins of the hood are uncertain; it may have been appropriated from the Spanish capirote hood, or it may be traced to the uniform of Southern Mardi Gras celebrations. According to The Cyclopædia of Fraternities (1907), "Beginning in April, 1867, there
21209-450: The people, the 5 charged gunfire with bare fists and sticks. We vow this assassination will be the costliest mistake the capitalists have ever made, and the turning point of class struggle in the U.S. The CWP 5 were among the strongest leaders of their times. Their deaths marked an end to capitalist stabilization (1950s–1970s) when American workers suffered untold misery, yet as a whole remained dormant for lack of its own leaders. In 1980
21376-555: The police department was complicit with the Klan by allowing anticipated violence to take place. In 2009, the Greensboro City Council passed a resolution expressing regret for the deaths in the march. In 2015, the city unveiled a marker to memorialize the Greensboro Massacre. On August 15, 2017 and on October 6, 2020, the Greensboro City Council formally apologized for the massacre. The incident marked
21543-445: The police or any other law enforcement agency. A funeral for the five victims was held on November 11, 1979, followed by a procession in which 200–400 people marched through the city to Maplewood Cemetery. There was controversy over whether or not the funeral should be held, but the city had arranged for full coverage by the police force and hundreds of armed National Guard troops to protect marchers. The four white men were buried in
21710-405: The population (4.6% Mexican, 0.7% Puerto Rican). In 2019, the racial and ethnic makeup of Greensboro was 47.3% non-Hispanic white, 41.4% black or African American, 0.5% American Indian or Alaska Native, 5% Asian alone, 0.1% Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander, 2.7% from some other race, and 3.0% multiracial. Hispanics and Latin Americans of any race made up 7.9% of the local population. At
21877-551: The population was religiously affiliated as of 2017. The largest religion in Greensboro is Christianity , with the most affiliates being either Baptist (11.85%) or Methodist (10.25%). The remaining Christian populations are Presbyterian (3.97%), Roman Catholic (3.71%), Pentecostal (2.61%), Episcopal (1.17%), Latter-Day Saints (1.02%), Lutheran (0.96%), and members of other Christian denominations (11.03%) including Greek Orthodox , Quaker , Moravian , Church of Christ , and non-denominational churches. After Christianity,
22044-407: The population were living below the poverty line , including 25.9% of those under 18 and 10.5% of those 65 or older. From 2015 to 2019, the median household income increased to $ 48,964 with a per capita of $ 29,628. The median earned income for males was $ 44,974 and $ 37,937 for females. An estimated 18.5% of Greensboro residents lived at or below the poverty line in 2019. The racial composition of
22211-574: The protesters, and at one point approximately 1,400 blacks were jailed in Greensboro. The scale of protests disrupted the business community and challenged the leadership of the mayor and Governor Terry Sanford . Finally, the city and business community responded with further desegregation of public facilities, reformed hiring policies in city government, and commitments to progress by both Sanford and Greensboro's mayor. Sanford declared, "Anyone who hasn't received this message doesn't understand human nature." Significant changes in race relations still came at
22378-575: The protests. Jackson quickly rose to prominence as a student leader, becoming the public spokesman of the non-violent protest movement. Seeking to overwhelm city jails, as was done in protests led by Martin Luther King Jr. in Birmingham, Alabama , the protesters invited arrest by violating segregation rules of local businesses; they were charged with trespassing and other nonviolent actions. College and high school students constituted most of
22545-517: The radical right-wing's perception of the Klan as outdated and unfashionable. The Southern Poverty Law Center reported that between 2016 and 2019, the number of Klan groups in America dropped from 130 to just 51. A 2016 report by the Anti-Defamation League claims an estimate of just over 30 active Klan groups existing in the United States. Estimates of total collective membership range from about 3,000 to 8,000. In addition to its active membership,
22712-464: The roads. At an 1867 meeting in Nashville, Tennessee , Klan members gathered to try to create a hierarchical organization with local chapters eventually reporting to a national headquarters. Since most of the Klan's members were veterans, they were used to such military hierarchy, but the Klan never operated under this centralized structure. Local chapters and bands were highly independent. Former Confederate brigadier general George Gordon developed
22879-594: The rule of the monopoly capitalist class! Victory will be ours! November 3, 1980 Central Committee, CWP, USA FIGHT FOR REVOLUTIONARY SOCIALISM AND WORKERS RULE. The body of Sandi Smith, who was African American, was returned at her family's request to her hometown in South Carolina for burial. Forty Klansmen and neo-Nazis, and several CWP marchers were said to have taken part in the shootings. The police arrested 16 Klansmen, neo-Nazis, and several CWP members. The FBI started an investigation which it called GREENKIL (Greensboro Killings), turning over evidence it gathered to
23046-649: The same as before the facility was constructed. In March 2015, HondaJet , with a manufacturing facility in Greensboro, announced that it had received provisional type certification (PTC) from the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). This achievement indicates the FAA's approval of the HondaJet design based on certification testing, design reviews, and analyses completed to date. In 2022, construction began on
23213-659: The scapegoat and the heretic." It preached "One Hundred Percent Americanism" and demanded the purification of politics, calling for strict morality and better enforcement of Prohibition . Its official rhetoric focused on the threat of the Catholic Church , using anti-Catholicism and nativism . Its appeal was directed exclusively toward white Protestants; it opposed Jews, Black people, Catholics, and newly arriving Southern and Eastern European immigrants such as Italians , Russians , and Lithuanians , many of whom were Jewish or Catholic. Some local groups threatened violence against rum runners and those they deemed "notorious sinners";
23380-429: The school were rejected, the students asked activists at North Carolina A&T State University for support in a protest. Protests escalated and after students at A&T had thrown rocks at police, they returned on May 21 armed with tear gas canisters, using them against the crowds. The uprising grew larger, and the governor ordered the National Guard to back up local police. After there were exchanges of gunfire,
23547-407: The south and northern states; it was funded by initiation fees and selling its members a standard white costume. The chapters did not have dues. It used K-words which were similar to those used by the first Klan, while adding cross burnings and mass parades to intimidate others. It rapidly declined in the latter half of the 1920s. The third and current manifestation of the KKK emerged after 1950, in
23714-571: The southern United States, and a breakaway group led by Grand Dragon D. C. Stephenson based in Evansville, Indiana with its membership primarily in the midwestern United States. Internal divisions, criminal behavior by leaders – especially Stephenson's conviction for the abduction, rape, and murder of Madge Oberholtzer – and external opposition brought about a collapse in the membership of both groups. The main group's membership had dropped to about 30,000 by 1930. It finally faded away in
23881-489: The start of Norfolk Southern NC-Line that runs from Greensboro to Goldsboro, NC. According to the United States Census Bureau , Greensboro has an area of 136.65 square miles (353.9 km ), of which 131.41 square miles (340.4 km ) is land and 5.24 square miles (13.6 km ) (3.83%) is water. The city of Greensboro lies among the rolling hills of North Carolina's Piedmont , midway between
24048-433: The state of North Carolina for its murder trial. The state attorney prosecuted the six strongest criminal cases first, charging five Klansmen with murder: David Wayne Matthews, Jerry Paul Smith, Jack Wilson Fowler, Harold Dean Flowers, and Billy Joe Franklin. One was charged with a lesser crime. In November 1980 the jury acquitted all the defendants, finding that they had acted in self-defense. Residents of Morningside Homes —
24215-1325: The state's Blue Ridge and Great Smoky Mountains to the west and the Atlantic beaches and Outer Banks to the east. The view of Greensboro from its highest building—the Lincoln Financial tower, commonly known as the Jefferson-Pilot Building after its previous owner,—shows an expanse of shade trees in the city. Interstates 40 , 73 , and 85 intersect at Greensboro. Greensboro is 29 miles (47 km) east of Winston-Salem , 54 miles (87 km) west of Durham , 77 miles (124 km) northwest of Raleigh , 90 miles (140 km) northeast of Charlotte , and 201 miles (323 km) southwest of Richmond, Virginia . Downtown Greensboro has attracted development investment in recent years with such new construction as First National Bank Field , residential construction, and offices. The Southside neighborhood downtown exemplifies central-city reinvestment. The formerly economically depressed neighborhood has been redeveloped as an award-winning neotraditional-style neighborhood featuring walkability , compact blocks and local amenities and services. The redevelopment of
24382-471: The state. A riot and massacre occurred in a Meridian, Mississippi , courthouse, from which a Black state representative escaped by fleeing to the woods. The 1871 Civil Rights Act allowed the president to suspend habeas corpus . In 1871, President Ulysses S. Grant signed Butler's legislation. The Ku Klux Klan Act and the Enforcement Act of 1870 were used by the federal government to enforce
24549-565: The state." Once surrender negotiations were completed at Bennett Place (in present-day Durham ) between General Johnston and General Sherman on April 26, 1865, Confederate soldiers in Greensboro stacked their arms, received their paroles, and headed home. After the war, investors worked to restore the textile mills and related industry. In the 1890s, the city continued to attract attention from northern industrialists, including Moses and Caesar Cone of Baltimore . The Cone brothers established large-scale textile plants, changing Greensboro from
24716-399: The streets to protect their homes. National sentiment gathered to crack down on the Klan, even though some Democrats at the national level questioned whether the Klan really existed, or believed that it was a creation of nervous Southern Republican governors. Many southern states began to pass anti-Klan legislation. In January 1871, Pennsylvania Republican senator John Scott convened
24883-496: The students at A&T State University". On November 3, 1979, members of what would become the Communist Workers Party (CWP) held an anti- Ku Klux Klan rally at the Morningside Homes public housing project. Four local TV news stations covered it. During the protest, two cars containing Klansmen and neo-Nazis arrived. After a confrontation, the KKK and CWP groups exchanged gunfire. Five CWP members were killed. Eleven CWP members and one Klansman were injured. Television footage of
25050-465: The suit, in addition to 36 Greensboro police and municipal officials, and 20 Klansmen and members of the American Nazi Party. Among the federal defendants was Bernard Butkovich of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms , who had worked as an undercover agent in 1979 and infiltrated one of the American Nazi Party chapters about three months before the protest. He testified that a Klansman had referred in
25217-597: The traditionally all-black cemetery near Morningside. The inscription intended for their memorial was initially opposed by the city council, citing new ordinances banning political speech in that context. With support from the North Carolina ACLU , the CWP proceeded to commemorate these four with the following inscription: On November 3, 1979 the criminal monopoly capitalist class murdered Jim Waller, César Cauce, Mike Nathan, Bill Sampson, and Sandi Smith with government agents, Klan, and Nazis. Heroically defending
25384-476: The van. However, the cars and their occupants were able to escape from the scene. Some marchers were also arrested later on as other police units converged on the scene. Bernard Butkovich, an undercover agent for the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), had infiltrated a unit of the American Nazi Party (ANP) during this period. This group had been formed by Frank Collin , who had been ousted from
25551-507: The violent episodes generally took place in the South. The Red Knights were a militant group organized in opposition to the Klan and responded violently to Klan provocations on several occasions. The second Klan was a formal fraternal organization , with a national and state structure. During the resurgence of the second Klan in the 1920s, its publicity was handled by the Southern Publicity Association . Within
25718-507: The wake of the Civil War , was a defining organization of the Reconstruction era . Federal law enforcement began taking action against it around 1871. The Klan sought to overthrow Republican state governments in the South, especially by using voter intimidation and targeted violence against African-American leaders. The Klan was organized into numerous independent chapters across the Southern United States. Each chapter
25885-444: Was 3.00. In 2019, the average household size was 2.37. The 2019 American Community Survey determined Greensboro had a median age of 35.1, up from 33.4 in 2010. Approximately 6.0% of the city's inhabitants were under 5; 78.2% of the population was 18 and older, and 13.7% 65 and older. The age distribution in 2010 was 22.7% under 18, 14.5% from 18 to 24, 28.2% from 25 to 44, 23.1% from 45 to 64, and 11.5% who 65 or older. The median age
26052-400: Was 33.4. For every 100 females, there were 88.7 males, and for every 100 females 18 and over, there were 84.6 males. In 2011–15, the estimated median annual income for a household was $ 41,628, and the median income for a family was $ 53,150. Male full-time workers had a median income of $ 40,143 versus $ 34,761 for females. The per capita income was $ 25,929. About 14.6% of families and 19.3% of
26219-455: Was a gradual transformation. ... The members had conjured up a veritable Frankenstein. They had played with an engine of power and mystery, though organized on entirely innocent lines, and found themselves overcome by a belief that something must lie behind it all—that there was, after all, a serious purpose, a work for the Klan to do." The KKK had no organizational structure above the chapter level. However, there were similar groups across
26386-594: Was autonomous and highly secretive about membership and plans. Members made their own, often colorful, costumes: robes, masks and pointed hats , designed to be terrifying and to hide their identities. The second Klan started in 1915 as a small group in Georgia . It suddenly started to grow after 1920 and flourished nationwide in the early and mid-1920s, including urban areas of the Midwest and West . Taking inspiration from D. W. Griffith 's 1915 silent film The Birth of
26553-431: Was built at the center of the intersection of Elm and Market streets. By 1821, the town was home to 369 residents. In the early 1840s, the state government designated Greensboro as one of the stops on a new railroad line, at the request of Governor John Motley Morehead , whose house, Blandwood , was in Greensboro. Stimulated by rail traffic and improved access to markets, the city grew substantially, soon becoming known as
26720-473: Was built by a farmer in 1795. Additions to this residence in 1846, designed by Alexander Jackson Davis , made the house influential as America's earliest Tuscan -style villa. It has been designated a National Historic Landmark . Other significant houses and estates were developed, including Dunleith, designed by Samuel Sloan ; Bellemeade; and the Bumpass-Troy House . Since the late 20th century,
26887-495: Was founded atop Stone Mountain , Georgia, by William Joseph Simmons . While Simmons relied on documents from the original Klan and memories of some surviving elders, the revived Klan was based significantly on the wildly popular film The Birth of a Nation . The earlier Klan had not worn the white costumes and had not burned crosses; these aspects were introduced in Thomas Dixon 's book The Clansman: A Historical Romance of
27054-476: Was held against nine defendants. Again, all of the defendants were acquitted by a jury that accepted their claims of self-defense , despite reports of "vivid newsreel film to the contrary". News outlets, including The New York Times , The Washington Post , and the News & Record in Greensboro, North Carolina have remarked on the all-white juries which tried the 1979 and 1984 cases. In 2004, 25 years after
27221-482: Was prominent in many cities. Writer W. J. Cash , in his 1941 book The Mind of the South characterized the second Klan as "anti-Negro, anti-Alien, anti-Red, anti-Catholic, anti-Jew, anti-Darwin, anti-Modern, anti-Liberal, Fundamentalist, vastly Moral, [and] militantly Protestant. And summing up these fears, it brought them into focus with the tradition of the past, and above all with the ancient Southern pattern of high romantic histrionics, violence and mass coercion of
27388-439: Was shot and mortally wounded by Matthews while running towards Waller's body. Sampson was killed while firing at the caravan members. Matthews shot and killed CWP member Sandra Smith while she was taking cover near Butler, who was firing at caravan members. Smith herself was unarmed. The final shot was fired by Blitz 88 seconds after the violence first began. Four CWP members were killed at the scene and Nathan died of his wounds at
27555-635: Was soft on capitalism and it also lacked militancy ." Its leaders intended to increase activism in what they called the Workers Viewpoint Organization (WVO), along the Maoist model. In 1979, members of the CWP came to North Carolina in an attempt to organize textile workers . In the South , the communists had achieved little success with white workers, so they shifted much of their attention to black textile workers, who had long been excluded from these jobs in previous decades. As
27722-525: Was sworn into the CWP on his deathbed. Wounded survivors: By the late 1970s, most police departments had become familiar with handling demonstrations, especially in cities such as Greensboro where numerous civil rights events had taken place since 1960. CWP march organizers had filed their plans for this march with the police and gained permission to hold it. Police generally covered such formal events in order to prevent outbreaks of violence; few officers were present during this march. A police photographer and
27889-418: Was unconstitutional. Facilities reserved for blacks were generally underfunded by the state and city governments, which were dominated by conservative white Democrats. In the postwar period, blacks in North Carolina and across the South pushed to regain their constitutional rights. College students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College (A&T), a historically black college , made Greensboro
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