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Lesser Known Civil Rights Moments That Changed Everything

Khalid Elhassan February 23, 2024 27 min

Volunteers at a Nashville lunch counter sit-in. Mississippi Today

Rise of Black Armed Resistance

19 White Mob Assaulting A Black Journalist In Little Rock, Arkansas. The Guardian — A white mob assaults a black journalist in Little Rock, Arkansas. The Guardian

1964’s “Freedom Summer” saw intensive efforts by volunteers to register black voters in the South. One organization, the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) set up a Freedom House as a base for its volunteers in Jonesboro, Louisiana. In response, the local KKK harassed and attacked volunteers and blacks. It burned five black churches, a Baptist center, and a Masonic lodge. So some local black World War II and Korean War veterans founded a self-defense group. It aimed to protect civil rights workers and their families, and the black community in general. It was led by Earnest “Chilly Willy” Thomas, and Frederick Douglass Kirkpatrick, a Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) activist and an ordained minister.

In a nod to the members’ religiosity, the group came to be known as the Deacons for Defense and Justice. Most were practicing Christians, and they aimed to serve their community in a Christian manner. The Deacons had strict membership requirements. They accepted only male citizens twenty one or older, preferably married, and with prior military experience. They rejected those with a reputation for “hotheadedness”, demanded discipline in the face of provocation, and a commitment to act only in self-defense. Their charter explained that the goal was “the defense of civil rights, property rights, and personal rights … by any and all honorable and legal means to the end that justice may be obtained“. Every Deacon had to pledge his life to the defense of justice, civil rights activists, and the people of their community.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.