Black Legion (political movement)

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Members of the Black Legion in uniform

The Black Legion was a political organization that split off from the Ku Klux Klan and was active in the United States in the 1930s. The organization was founded by William Shepard in eastern Ohio and represented the racist ideology of White Supremacy . In total, the group consisted of 20,000 to 30,000 members and was based in Detroit , Michigan . Besides Michigan, the Black Legion was also very active in Ohio and one of its leaders, Virgil "Bert" Effinger, lived and worked in Lima , Ohio.

The Associated Press described the Black Legion on May 31, 1936 as:

"A group of loosely federated night-riding bands operating in several States without central discipline or common purpose beyond the enforcement by lash and pistol of individual leaders' notions of" Americanism "."

"A group of loosely connected gangs that ride out at night and operate in numerous states without central discipline or a common goal to enforce the ideas of individual leaders of" Americanism "with whip and gun."

The death of WPA worker Charles Poole, who was kidnapped and murdered in southwest Detroit, resulted in the authorities ultimately arresting and sentencing a group of twelve men belonging to the Legion. The Black Legion then disbanded.

Ritual murders

An article in The Sydney Morning Herald on May 25, 1936 suggested that the Black Legion was a secret society that carried out ritual murders .

Reception in the media

  • The film Black Legion Secret Society is based on this organization. It was produced by Warner Brothers in 1937 , with Humphrey Bogart in the lead role .
  • The April 1, 1937 episode of the radio show True Detective Mysteries is based on the Black Legion and the assassination of Poole.
  • The episode of the March 20, 1938 radio show The Shadow was titled "The White Legion" and was loosely based on the Black Legion. Orson Welles finds himself in the lead role
  • The Legion is mentioned in Malcolm X's autobiography , in the context that it was active in Lansing , Michigan in the 1920s and 30s .
  • In the Netflix production Damnation , the Black Legion appears as an adversary to the preacher

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Black Legion: American Terrorists by Nathaniel Turner, Retrieved August 4, 2013
  2. ↑ The Sydney Morning Herald : Black Legion, May 25, 1936, p. 1, Retrieved August 4, 2013