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B38 - Fascists, Terrorists, Cultists: Unveiling the Black Legion in Detroit
In May of 1936, a white WPA worker was killed near Detroit by a white supremacist group formed in the 1920s known as the Black Legion.
B38 - Fascists, Terrorists, Cultists: Unveiling the Black Legion in Detroit
Mentor: Stephen Siff, Ph.D.
In May of 1936, a white WPA worker was killed near Detroit by a white supremacist group formed in the 1920s known as the Black Legion. The murder marked the start of the fall of the organization, as police uncovered and investigated the group. Estimates of membership varied widely from 3,000 to 135,000 in Michigan alone. By the end of the investigation, members were found within political positions, and multiple were convicted of varying charges, from kidnappings and floggings, to bombings and murder.
The findings displayed are not an attempt to break down and explain the history of the Black Legion – as reports on that are few and far between. Rather, it is a chronicling of the gradual unveiling of the group through newspaper coverage – just as the public experienced.