United Klans of America

During the Civil Rights Movement in the Southern United States, members of the United States Klan Georgia Knights, and Carolina Units, forming the United Klans of America (UKA). The UKA disseminated its messages through a newsletter known as The Fiery Cross, which was printed in Swartz, Louisiana. However, membership began to slip once the group was linked to criminal activity, and after Shelton served a one-year term in prison for contempt of the United States Congress in 1969. In the early 1970s, UKA membership dropped from tens of thousands to somewhere between 3500 and 4000. Some members continued to enact violence. By the 1980s, membership dropped to around 900. In the 1990s the UKA experienced a resurgence of activity of members who returned to teachings of William Joseph Simmons, who had founded and led the second Ku Klux Klan from 1915 to 1922. Simmons taught a kind of fraternal organization that is practiced by the UKA in the 21st century. It has several Klaverns active in twenty nine states, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. The UKA's membership is not precisely known. Its leadership is believed to be weak and its activities are limited to ceremonial practices with no clear political agenda. ==16th Street bombing==

The 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama had a strong congregation and was a center of activism for many people involved in the Civil Rights Movement in the city, including members of the SCLC who came to help with organizing. Many marchers departed from the church in 1963 protests against the city's segregation of businesses and public places. On a Sunday in September 1963, a bomb exploded in the church during services, killing four young girls: 11-year-old Denise McNair, 14-year-old Carole Robertson, 14-year-old Cynthia Wesley, and 14-year-old Addie Mae Collins. More than 20 other parishioners were injured. Addie Mae Collin's sister lost an eye from injuries of the bombing. In 2001, Thomas E. Blanton Jr., was sentenced to life in prison following his trial, in which he was charged with murder. In 2002, Bobby Frank Cherry also was tried for murder and he, too, received life in prison. ==Murder of Viola Liuzzo==

In 1965, 39-year-old Viola Liuzzo, a white woman from the North, decided to help support the movement for voting rights in Selma, Alabama. She assisted the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in a variety of ways. During the third march, in which thousands of people came to Selma to participate, she helped drive marchers to catch up with the walkers along the route, as it took a few days. Finally she drove marchers back to Selma after the completion of the march to the capital, Montgomery. On March 25, 1965, as she was making her last trip to Montgomery with 19-year-old Leroy Moton to pick up the marchers, four members of the UKA saw Liuzzo sitting at a red light with Moton, a young black man. They followed the pair in their car, eventually driving up beside her, and shot at the car. Moton survived the shots, pretending to be dead, but Liuzzo died of her wounds. Collie Wilkins, William Orville Eaton, Eugene Thomas, and Gary Thomas Rowe were taken into custody the next day. Wilkins, Eaton, and Thomas each were convicted under the new Civil Rights Act of 1964, receiving 10-year prison sentences. Rowe was revealed as an informant for the FBI. ==Lynching of Michael Donald==

A mistrial in the case of a black man who was accused of shooting a white police officer in Alabama in 1981 was the erstwhile "reason" which three murderers gave for the lynching of Michael Donald, a 19-year-old black man, on March 21, after Josephus Anderson, a black man in Mobile, Alabama, was charged with the murder of a white police officer but received a hung jury. UKA member Bennie Hays blamed the jury, claiming that the acquittal was due to the presence of African-American members. Hays said he would kill a black man in retaliation. On March 21, his son Henry Hays, and another younger member of the UKA, James Knowles, decided to take action and drove around to find a victim. They found Michael Donald walking along the street and made him get into their car. Unable to come up with the $7 million in damages awarded by the jury, the UKA was forced to turn over its national headquarters to Donald's mother, who sold the property. This lawsuit resulted in the bankruptcy of the UKA. The organization split up in 1987. During the civil trial, Knowles said that he was "carrying out the orders" of Bennie Jack Hays, Henry Hays's father, and a long time Shelton lieutenant. The trial ended with a guilty verdict, and Knowles, charged with violating Donald's civil rights, received a sentence of life in prison. Henry Hays was charged a few months later with the murder of Donald, he was found guilty, and sentenced to death. Hays was executed on 6 June 1997. ==Other activities==

In the spring of 1979, 20 UKA members were indicted in Birmingham, Alabama for violent racial episodes in Talladega County, Alabama. Three members pleaded guilty, while 10 others were found guilty. After she unsuccessfully tried to sue Frankhouser, the SPLC decided to represent Jouhari. On June 29, 2013 leaflets bearing the same message were also left overnight in the driveways of several homes in Burien, Washington, 10 miles south of Seattle. The incident was reported to the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Burien Police. According to a regional Anti-Defamation League official, the incarnation of the UKA responsible for the flyers was unconnected to the older, defunct organization. ==See also==