Eldon Edwards

Eldon Lee Edwards ( born June 8, 1909 in Georgia; † August 1, 1960 ) was an American Ku Klux Klan leader.

Involvement in the Ku Klux Klan

Early 1950, after a long pause, the Ku Klux Klan in the United States grew stronger again. A court decision of the Supreme Court 1954 on the abolition of segregation in schools ( Brown v. Board of Education) outraged some of the white population in the South.

A year earlier founded Eldon Edwards, an automotive painter at General Motors, the U.S. clan, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in Atlanta, Georgia. This gathered the remnants of the former Association of Georgia clans that were previously under the leadership of Samuel Roper.

In September 1956 he was an organizer of the largest Klankundgebungen his time. Approximately 3,000 Klansmen gathered at Stone Mountain, the birthplace of the second Klan in 1915.

On March 5, 1957 Eldon Edwards appeared on a talk show of Mike Wallace. Eldon tried to portray the Klan as a social charity. Nevertheless occurred under his leadership riots, especially intimidation against African Americans and civil rights.

By 1958, Edwards was able to gain members ' 12000-15000. Thus, the group became the largest clan of his time. When Edwards died of a heart attack in 1960, fell into the Klan and went on to a great extent in the United Klan of America by Robert Shelton.