Ku Klux Klan

===== Alabama =====

In Alabama, some young, white, urban activists joined the KKK to fight the old guard establishment. [[Hugo Black]] was a member before becoming nationally famous; he focused on anti-Catholicism. However, in rural Alabama the Klan continued to operate to enforce [[Jim Crow laws]]; its members resorted more often to violence against Black people for infringements of the social order of white supremacy.{{sfn|Feldman|1999}}

Racial terrorism was used in smaller towns to suppress Black political activity. Elbert Williams of [[Brownsville, Tennessee]], was lynched in 1940 for trying to organize Black residents to register and vote; also that year, Jesse Thornton of [[Luverne, Alabama]], was lynched for failing to address a police officer as "Mister".<ref>"Sixth Lynching", ''The Crisis,'' October 1940, p. 324</ref>