The last time the KKK tried to burn a cross on Stone Mountain...

[TexasTowelie]

This week, the Sacred Knights of the Ku Klux Klan was denied a permit request to burn a cross atop Stone Mountain. The event was to commemorate the KKK’s 1915 revival in the same spot.

Despite the landmark’s history, the October ceremony would have been very unusual.

The late James R. Venable, a KKK imperial wizard and Decatur attorney, had cross-burnings on his property at the base of the mountain. But as far as the Stone Mountain Memorial Association knows, the last time the KKK tried to burn a cross on top of the state-owned mountain was in 1962, said John Bankhead, spokesman for the association.

It was July 8 of that year, a night that would end with bloodshed as Klansmen fought police.

The event was intended as the Klan’s answer to the NAACP national convention in Atlanta. Gov. Ernest Vandiver knew the Klan was coming days before and ordered state troopers to stop them. At the time, the mountain organization’s leader didn’t want the Klan — or the NAACP — holding rallies at the state-owned property, according to Atlanta Journal-Constitution archives, which detailed the night.

Read more: http://www.ajc.com/news/local/the-last-time-the-kkk-tried-burn-cross-stone-mountain/8bwWRtm4Q3MD17E11VCiMK/

[japple]

1. Very interesting article, TT. Thanks for posting. Though my family lived in Ogden, UT

at the time, we would move to Georgia the following year. It was a tumultuous time.

[TexasTowelie]

2. You're welcome.

My sister lives within an hour drive and she has mentioned visiting it. I found interest in the article as to historical significance of Stone Mountain.