Plymouth, North Carolina is a small town in the eastern part of the state. Plymouth, North Carolina played a huge part in the history of the Civil Rights Movement. There are not many books that discuss it, perhaps because of the location or because of the violence.
I found a documentary and a book written by David Cunningham. Cunningham is an author who writes about the history of the Klan. The documentary mentions various places where the Klan was dominant. In the small towns of Eastern Carolina, there was a large group near Greensville, North Carolina. In the Summer of 1965, the Black protestors would come face to face with their members. Events that took place in Williamston, North Carolina was the start of incidents that took place in Plymouth.
In 1964 Frinks wrote a telegram to the Governor about the Klan in Williamston. Frink wrote this in the telegram, "Unlawful elements including Ku Klan threatening the security of Civil Rights workers in Williamston. Police Chief out of town. The Police Commissioner out of town. Mayor can't be reached. Sheriff without jurisdiction. Community relations committee without authority to act. Local protection inadequate. Request immediate supplementary (p.116)."
Frinks speaking the truth angered the white establishment. Martin County commissioner J. H. Thigpen told state officials, "know Frinks as a notorious liar who specializes in spreading hate and damning North Carolina its laws (p.116).
In October of 1964, Frinks was arrested. Police used a bad check charge against him. The Klan drew strength and was angered by Frinks' campaigns (p.116).
Southern Christian Leadership Conference and The Summer Community Organization and Political Education. SCLC and SCOPE leaders' mission was to make sure Black people in rural North Carolina registered to vote. Southern Christian Leadership Conference was a civil rights organization based in Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. Martin Luther King established SCLC. The Summer Community Organization and Political Education (SCOPE) was a voter registration in 120 counties in six southern states. Washington County (Plymouth) was one of the counties picked.
SCOPE began that Summer because the government claimed the Voting Rights Act would be enacted by June 1965. The three objectives were to use local recruitment and community grass-roots organizations, voter registrations, and political education. SCOPE had over 1,200 workers which included 650 students from across the United States, 150 SCLC staff members, and 400 local volunteers. Workers were to help African American voters across six states to register to vote (SCOPE).
President Lydon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act on August 6. Three days after it was the enactment in Congress. According, to the federal government, it was legal for Black Americans to vote. It was the state of places like North Carolina that said otherwise.
This event was a month-long campaign. The SCLC president of Plymouth, Samuel Garrett “We plan on marching until we get the voter registration books opened to us (Plymouth to be Battleground ,1965).” Each night protestors would march downtown Plymouth to register the vote. Before violence had broken out, they were already leading marches to the courthouse downtown. A newspaper from Dunn, North Carolina may explain what changed. The writer of the paper mentions that Plymouth, North Carolina would be a battleground.
Michael Farley a young teen from San Fransico said “North Carolina had never a strong movement for equal rights and Plymouth had been chosen as one of SCLC’s major battlegrounds. He went on to say that “Dr. Martin Luther King decided on Plymouth himself.” SCLC poured volunteers and funds into this campaign. Golden Frinks of Edenton, North Carolina was heading the event. They wanted to make it “an example for the whole state and even the world (Plymouth to be Battleground, 1965, August 18, The Daily Record, 1).” Plymouth would soon be an example of how much people in the South had a hatred for progress. The Klan wanted to make Plymouth an example of how violent they could get if civil rights leaders continued to pursue equal rights.
According to one of the protestors, Chester Lee Small Smith, the protestors had a permit to march downtown. The Klan also obtained a permit to march downtown. Frinks claimed, "When the Klan marches, we march (p.116)." Through tips from the local police, the Klansmen were twice called to go to Plymouth to deal with Frink's threats. The Klan claimed the Black people would "make another Los Angeles (p.116)." out of the South. This was not true the protest was going to be peaceful. It was the arrival of the Klan that caused the violence.
Smith received calls and was told that she “better stay home or else something was going to happen to me, they would kill me or get rid of me (Cunningham,D, American Experience, A Near Massacre).” She claimed that they called President Johnson for protection. Protection was ordered. The protestors were supposed to be protected from the march at the Freewill Baptist Church to the march downtown. They had made their way to New Capel Baptist church when they saw a group of people.
Small stated, “Well, an army like of people dressed in gray fatigues. And so, we thought that these were the persons who were going to protect us because we had already made contact with the downtown officers that we were going to march, and they gave us the protection that they had, of course. So, we thought they were there to protect us (Cunningham,D, American Experience, A Near Massacre).” They soon realized that they were members of the Klux Klux Klan.
SCOPES report mentioned the August 26, 1965, event. They mentioned how voters left Free Will Baptist Church in Plymouth, North Carolina (Washington County) to march downtown. 175 people from the area were going to march. One of these people is Annie Williams. The protestors were marching to the Court House. They never got a chance to get that far. There were 150 Klansmen in robes and helmets. People were hit with bricks. The Klan had held a rally two miles south of the town that attracted an estimated 5,000. A large group went to Plymouth to assault the protestors. 27 people were injured that night (Cunningham, D, American Experience, A Near Massacre).
“And then when we got up from Madison Street, turning into 3rd Street, and got up to Washington Street, this is when they had surrounded us. And up ahead-- sort of up ahead of me turning…some persons had already been hit and there were some [Klansmen] up in the trees like to do whatever they had planned to do with us. […] And right in the middle of Washington and 3rd, we had one person who was driving the car in case -- you know, we always, when we marched, we had a person who would come with us with the car in case somebody got sick or something and needed a ride. And [the Klansmen] went to her car, lifting it, and were going to turn it over (Cunningham, D, American Experience, A Near Massacre).” Chester Smith
Mr. Hooker was beaten by the Klansmen. Samuel Garrett mentions this in his interview with Cunningham. “They tried to make [Bill Hooker] run, but he said he won't want to run. And he didn't run. And they cut him. But they didn't cut to kill him, they let him know that he had been cut. Spread the word that “we going to get you,” but that didn't stop us. And it didn't stop him, either. He still went on. So, we still went out, and we still were on the move to try to change things in the town (Cunningham, D, American Experience, A Near Massacre).”
Days after the event demonstrators according to The Daily Record claimed that they would continue to demonstrate (Troopers to Plymouth, 1965). Another call was made to the Klan. Frinks postpone the event. However, thousands of Klansmen came that night and attacked the protestors downtown. The violence that night was terrible. It caused one Klansman to be stabbed and another shot (Cunningham, D, American Experience, A Near Massacre).
These were days when leaders such as Golden Frinks met with Governor Dan K Moore about stopping the Klan and securing rights for the people of North Carolina. Major C. R. Williams claimed that they would send the State Troopers to Plymouth North Carolina. Robert Murphy stated the FBI was looking into the violations of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 regarding the treatment of the people in Williamston North Carolina. Moore told the leaders of the Movement that “all grievances should be carried to the conference table and not to the streets (Troopers to Plymouth, 1965).”
In Dunn Daily Record from September 2, 1965. Governor Dan K. Moore claimed he had a solution to the incident that happened in Plymouth, North Carolina. He promised that every citizen of North Carolina would be able to vote. He stated civil rights demonstrations were “a completely superfluous issue (Plymouth still tense today, 1965).” He claimed that everything “was peaceful and quiet” in Plymouth, North Carolina. He goes on to blame the tensions mostly on Civil Rights Leaders trying to get publicity for the right to vote.
It placed most of the blame on the Black leaders and their supporters instead of the hate that was in the Klan. They hate that they wanted to wipe a whole town out. The hate that wanted to burn down buildings. That was going to use the recent bombing of a Church in Greenville, North as an example of what should have happened in Plymouth. The governor believed it was a local problem that the town should work out.
On September 13, 1965, the Klan and SCLC held a meeting near Plymouth. The Klan on the outskirts of town. SCLC held one in a large church in Plymouth, North Carolina. Vice-president Ralph Abernathy packed the church (p.117).
Conclusion:
Eventually, things did cool down in Plymouth, North Carolina. Scope ended its project three weeks later. The Black people of the town eventually were able to vote. They ended up having nothing but white mayors until 2019. Some have completely forgotten what took place there. Others still remember. When doing my internship few people from the surrounding counties would even speak of it. The violence that happened may be one of the major reasons. It could also be fear that prevents people from speaking about what happened.
Whatever the reason why this incident is not discussed in history books and by people, I hope to let people know that occurred in this small town in the 1960s. I want to give credit to people like Smith and Garrett. I am glad that Cunningham interviewed them. His book called Klansville, U.S.A. gives some background into how powerful the North Carolina Klan was during that period. It focuses mostly on the Klans' power more so than the unsung heroes of the Civil Rights movement. Maybe one day someone would write a book about what took place in Plymouth, North Carolina.
Sources:
Cunningham, D. (2014) Klansville, U.S.A.: the rise and fall of
the civil rights-era Ku Klux Klan. New York. Oxford University
Press
Summer Community Organization and Political Education (SCOPE) Project | The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute (stanford.edu)
Sources:
Cunningham, D.
(2014) Klansville, U.S.A.: the rise and fall of
the civil rights-era
Ku Klux Klan. New York. Oxford
University
Press
Summer Community
Organization and Political Education (SCOPE) Project | The Martin Luther King,
Jr. Research and Education Institute (stanford.edu)
Plymouth to be Battleground (1965, August 18, The Daily Record, 1.
State Troopers to Plymouth. (1965, August 31. The Daily Record, 1.
Plymouth still tense today. (1965, September 2). The Daily Record, 1.
Tr
SCOPE Incidents Reports,
August 1965. (crmvet.org)
A Near Massacre | American
Experience | Official Site | PBS
