11/17/2025
When we discuss the Civil Rights Movement, The Deacons for Defense are usually left out. The fact is if had not been for Negroes with guns there wouldn't have been a Civil Rights Movement. -Michael Imhotep
Most of them were veterans of World War II and the Korean War. Their aim was to protect members of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) against Ku Klux Klan violence.
Attacks were so frequent that many Civil Rights Workers armed themselves for self-protection. Even the home of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had so many guns during the 1950s that one visitor called it an “arsenal.”
And when it became pretty clear that some cooperation existed between the Ku Klux Klan and local law enforcement agencies, denying civil rights workers in some areas police protection, a group emerged to protect Black lives.
On July 10, 1964, a group of African-American men in Jonesboro, Louisiana, led by Earnest “Chilly Willy” Thomas and Frederick Douglas Kirkpatrick founded the group known as The Deacons for Defense and Justice.
Their aim was to protect members of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) against Ku Klux Klan violence.
Most of the “Deacons” were veterans of World War II and the Korean War.
SOURCE:
https://face2faceafrica.com/article/the-deacons-the-black-armed-christians-who-protected-mlk-civil-rights-supporters-before-black-panther
