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Black Legion (political movement)
| Black Legion (Terrorist Group) | |
|---|---|
&sq=&lang=&file=File:Black_Legion_Uniforms_with_Skull-and-Crossbones_Insignia.png) Black Legion's uniform and weapons, posed by policemen after arrests | |
| Founder | William Jacob Sheperd [1] |
| Leader | Virgil Effinger |
| Foundation | c. 1925 |
| Dates of operation | 1925–1937 |
| Split from | Ku Klux Klan |
| Country | United States |
| Headquarters | Detroit, Michigan |
| Active regions | Primarily Michigan and Ohio |
| Ideology | |
| Political position | Far-right |
| Major actions | Murders of as many as 50 people |
| Status | Defunct |
| Part of a series on the |
| Nadir of American race relations |
|---|
&sq=&lang=&file=File:Le_Petit_Journal_7_Oct_1906_(cropped).jpg) |
The Black Legion was a white supremacist terrorist organization and hate group which was active in the Midwestern United States in the 1920s and the 1930s. It split off from the Ku Klux Klan and grew to prominence during the Great Depression. According to historian Rick Perlstein, the FBI estimated that its membership numbered "at 135,000, including a large number of public officials, including Detroit's police chief."[2] Historian Peter H. Amann put the number at between 60,000 and 100,000, while John Earl Haynes said that it had at most only a few hundred members.[3][4]
The Black Legion is widely viewed as an even more violent and radical offshoot of the Klan.[5] In 1936, the group was suspected of having killed as many as 50 people, according to the Associated Press, including Charles Poole, an organizer for the federal Works Progress Administration. Eleven men were found guilty of Poole's murder.[2] At the time of Poole's murder, the Associated Press described the organization as "a group of loosely federated night-riding bands operating in several States without central discipline or common purpose beyond the enforcement by lash and pistol of individual leaders' notions of 'Americanism'."[6] Based on testimony which was heard during the trial of Poole's killer, Dayton Dean, Wayne County Prosecutor Duncan McRae conducted a widespread investigation and prosecuted dozens of other Legionnaires suspected of committing murders and assaults. Overall, nearly 50 Legionnaires were convicted of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, kidnapping, arson, and perjury. Additional convictions were obtained against Legionnaires and their sympathizers for contempt of court for refusing to cooperate with the investigation. Within a year, the organization had been crushed.[7] The prosecutions and associated negative publicity resulted in a rapid decline in Legion membership. The sensational cases inspired two related films, one starring Humphrey Bogart, and two radio show episodes which were produced from 1936 to 1938.
- ^ Amann, Peter H. (1983). "Vigilante Fascism: The Black Legion as an American Hybrid". Comparative Studies in Society and History. 25 (3): 493. doi:10.1017/S0010417500010550. JSTOR 178625. S2CID 143477268.
- ^ a b Perlstein, Rick (2017-04-11). "I Thought I Understood the American Right. Trump Proved Me Wrong". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-04-12.
- ^ Amann, Peter H. (1983). "Vigilante Fascism: The Black Legion as an American Hybrid". Comparative Studies in Society and History. 25 (3): 491. doi:10.1017/S0010417500010550. JSTOR 178625. S2CID 143477268.
- ^ Red Scare or Red Menace? American Communism and Anticommunism in the Cold War Era. p. 20.
- ^ Programming, Station (2016-06-23). ""Terror In The City Of Champions" Explores Violence in Depression-Era Detroit". WDET 101.9 FM. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
- ^ "Declared Organization Doomed". The New York Times. Associated Press. 31 May 1936. p. 10.
- ^ "Black Legion convictions". The Escanaba Daily Press. 1937-05-12. p. 10. Retrieved 2023-12-14.
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