The Civil Rights movement of the 1960’s was a time of much bloodshed and violence across the country. In the Deep South, that reality was magnified. Lance Hill’s book, The Deacons for Defense: Armed Resistance and the Civil Rights Movement, lays out the progression of both whites and blacks throughout the movement as a country navigated through violence of the time.
Jonesboro, Louisiana is the birth place of the Deacons. In chapter one, Hill introduces the civil rights movement and differences in between the north and south. Martin Luther King Jr. preached nonviolence at the cost of pride, physical harm and even death in hopes of a brighter future for the black man. CORE, a prominent movement in Louisiana at the time, was fundamentally committed to nonviolent direct action and advocated moral conversion through love and suffering (p.16.)
It became increasingly difficult for men to remain nonviolent when women and children were routinely being assaulted. It is in chapter two that the Deacons form. Fenton, a leader of CORE was opposed to violence (p.43.) After his activism led to a stint in prison, where he was routinely beaten and tortured, he returned to the Freedom House on Cedar Street in Jonesboro. Returning led to the realization that adherence to strict passivism wasn’t going to work for most African American men who refused to protest without a way to defend themselves along with the women and children. A two-part initiative was formed. First a Fenton would assist in organizing a formal self-defense organization. After it was established, and he had the groups confidence, he would move the group toward nonviolent community organizing (p.44.) With their first meeting under their belt on a Tuesday evening in November 1964, the Deacons were born as a political organization.
As the Deacons of Jonesboro established their place in the Civil Rights movement, others began to take notice. The FBI noted that the Deacons were similar to CORE in their goals but were more militant and weren’t opposed to meeting violence with violence with the purpose of self-defense. The Deacons became one of the first groups that didn’t require government funding (p.57.) The locals funded and maintained them. With the assassination of Malcom X, the Deacons spread to Bogalusa giving birth of a regional political organization (p.59.)
March of 1965 was a turning point for the Deacons. The actions of the Klan in Selma, Alabama during the protest strengthened the determination of the Deacons to prevent the same things from happening in Jonesboro (p.65.) Many blacks wanted nothing to do with the Civil Rights movement. Associating with anyone involved with the movement placed a target on their back. With segregation still, a constant battle a full year after being put into law and CORE members flooded the town to help causing the Deacons to have their hands full keeping white liberals and black folk safe. The Deacons and Klan faced off multiple times and each time the Deacons stood their ground, leaving the Klan to retreat.
Hill uses chapters five and six to explain the lead up and development of the Deacons in Bogalusa. It was in 1964 that CORE determined the organizing potential of Bogalusa was substantial (p.84.) With a strong black working class at the paper mill and enough registered blacks to sway an election, CORE tried to move in to organize a drive to desegregate and increase black voter registration. Klan members met CORE, the Community Relations Committee and anyone else Civil Rights oriented with cross burnings, phone line tampering, death threats and other standard Klan intimidation tactics. They rained down terror, unrestricted by local government, upon anyone in support of the movement so much so that liberals dubbed it Klantown, USA (p.85.) It was the absence of federal intervention that ultimately lead to the Bogalusa civil rights and what would become the largest and most famous Deacons chapter of the movement (p.88, 95.)
While the Deacons of Jonesboro and Bogalusa both served as mechanisms for defense, their composition was quite different. Hill used his seventh chapter to highlight the differences between both towns. The climate in each city was different. The Deacons of Jonesboro were primarily law-abiding citizens while the Bogalusa Deacons were comprised of black men that could get things done (p.110). Many had history with the law and weren’t really considered good ole’ boys. The difference in Klan branches helped make the Deacons what they needed to be where ever they were. When CORE members finally made their way into Bogalusa for a rally, it was only by way of the Deacons that they were kept safe. In every account of Hill, it was the Deacons that caused the Klan to flee.
With CORE members in and out of Bogalusa and tension between the Deacons, the Klan, and everyone in between at an all-time high, the Deacons gained national attention. One paper labeled them as a defense organization that had the right to protect their home, while another painted a very bleak picture of their militancy and suggested they were the opposite of the Klan, just with guns (p.136.) One thing was for certain, the Deacons, though intended for self-defense didn’t all have the same goals. Hill uses chapter eight to explore this and the relations between local political figures and the Klan as well as the differences between CORE and the Deacons and how they contributed to the movement.
In chapter nine the southern blacks are still fighting a battle of southern lawlessness. Governor McKeithen, a segregationist, organized a meeting to attempt to end the racial conflict. This was a moot point because any demands from the Deacons were over looked and the Klan members were never held accountable for their actions. The laws put into action to restrict the carrying of firearms were only enforced if it was a black individual. After much time and bloodshed by the late summer of 1965, the Deacons finally had a national public platform to debate nonviolence and whether it was enough. This exposure showed the nation that black men were not the same as they once were and would not back down without a fight.
According to Hill’s tenth chapter, 1965 helped move the Deacons from merely a protector of the movement to a legitimate political staple of the movement. In Louisiana alone, the Deacons were formally established in 9 different towns (p. 167.) The Minden chapter was formed in 1965. The Klan had little presence in the area, but police protection was lacking and the concern for activist in the area was worrisome. From there the deacons organized a group in Homer, Louisiana. CORE’s presence was allowed to increase now that protection to its members was brought to the area. In many cases the presence of the Deacons was enough to prevent racial conflict.
Chapter 11 leads into the growth of the Deacons outside of the boot. On 27 August 1965, George Met-calfe, President of the Natchez, Mississippi NAACP fell victim to a car bomb. Though many thought this event would lead to fear, it instead lead to combative consciousness and anger (p.184.) Natchez was a very traditional town that had failed miserably at implementing the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Civil rights activist boycotted white businesses and after the bombing demanded more than just equal rights. They demanded respect. In light of the events, they still embraced nonviolence but warned that if anything else happens, they would find the culprit and the results would not be pleasant. Natchez needed defenders and Natchez got the Deacons.
In attempts to gain funding, the Deacons developed chapters in northern cities like Detroit and Chicago. In the twelfth chapter of Hills book, the nonviolent focus of activist like Martin Luther King and the defense-oriented deacons clash. Blacks in the south had taken a stand against violent acts. Rather than having the passivist attitude of those with Ghandian principles willing to be beaten and killed in hopes of winning over whites, they no longer subjected themselves to that type of abuse. Earnest Thomas, Deacons organizer, at one point warned that for every Deacon killed, the Deacons would respond by killing three whites (p.228.)
As time progressed, the movement shifted from a campaign for civil rights to one of black empowerment. As the movement made this shift and the people took on the values the Deacons helped to instill of courage, pride and self-reliance becoming more willing to defend itself, the Deacons became less necessary (p.238.) By the end of 1965 the Klan was virtually dead in Louisiana and the Deacons had helped black folk create a new self-image which translated to the rest of the nation (p.245.) By 1968 the Deacons were no longer needed and essentially disbanded though many Deacons insisted they never really did.
The Deacons were organized to defend a movement, and, in a way, they became a movement in themselves. In Hill’s book The Deacons for Defense: Armed Resistance and the Civil Right Movement, he portrays a group of armed men for the sole purpose of protecting African Americans as they fought for civil rights and equality. In the end, they helped to create a whole new mentality among a people group. The road from passive activist to courageous, self-reliant black Americans is paved with countless sleepless nights of Deacon members as they guarded homes and families against radical attacks.