Sam Bowers
Encyclopedia
Samuel Kenneth Bowers was a leader of the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan
.
, to Sam Bowers Sr., a salesman, and Evangeline Peyton, daughter of a well-to-do planter. He attended Fortier High School and was regarded as an above-average student.
After the attack on Pearl Harbor
, Bowers joined the Navy
and was honorably discharged four years later.
whites, was highly disturbed by and deeply feared the new changes that were sweeping the nation. He perceived the new civil rights legislation and forced integration as a direct threat to the "Southern way of life."
Bowers perceived the original Ku Klux Klan
as being too passive. On February 15, 1964, at a meeting in Brookhaven, Mississippi
, he convinced about 200 members of the original Knights to defect and join a highly secret Klan, to be called the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, that would not hesitate to use violence to achieve its goals.
Bowers adopted a strict code of secrecy with the purpose of preserving White supremacy
in the South.
who are directing the agitators want us to engage in pitched battles in the streets so they can declare martial law."
In an Imperial Executive Order issued at a Klan meeting June 7, 1964, and recorded by the FBI, Bowers wrote:
Weaving religion into the mix, he further declared "As Christians we are disposed to kindness, generosity, affection, and humility in our dealings with others. As militants we are disposed to use physical force against our enemies. How can we reconcile these two apparently contradictory philosophies? The answer of course, is to purge malice, bitterness, and vengeance from our hearts." (Charles Marsh, God's Long Summer, p. 61) (See also: Christian Identity
)
workers, primarily from Northern states, launched Freedom Summer
. Later that year, five of these activists: Charles Eddie Moore, James Chaney
, Henry Hezekiah Dee, Michael Schwerner
and Andrew Goodman
were murdered by Klansmen.
In January 1966, Bowers, along with a number of other members of the White Knights of the KKK, was subpoenaed by the House Un-American Activities Committee
to testify about Klan activities. Although Byron De La Beckwith
gave his name when asked by the committee (but would answer no other substantive questions), other witnesses, such as Bowers, invoked the fifth amendment
even in response to that question.
In 1966 the White Knights firebombed the house of Vernon Dahmer
. Dahmer was a Civil Rights activist with four sons serving in the United States Military, and he was working successfully to register African Americans to vote. Dahmer died of horrendous burn injuries which covered forty percent of his body after the firebombing of his home.
According to later testimony by ex-White Knights member T. Webber Rogers, Bowers gave the direct order to have Dahmer killed "in any way possible." After four previous trials ended in deadlock (a 1968 jury split 11 to 1 in favor of guilty, and in 1969 a jury split 10-2 in favor of conviction http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/05/AR2006110500920.html), Bowers was convicted for the murder in August 1998 and sentenced to life in prison.
In 1967, the White Knights began a campaign against Jewish targets in Mississippi. Beth Israel Congregation
in Jackson
and Congregation Beth Israel
in Meridian
were bombed. Also, the home of Jackson's Rabbi Perry Nussbaum was attacked. The actual perpetrators of these crimes were Thomas A. Tarrants III and Kathy Ainsworth. The pair conducted their terror campaign in complete secrecy.
The bombings were a direct embarrassment to the Jackson and Meridian police departments. The FBI became involved in the case and, working with local law enforcement, began to track down the bombers.
The break in the case came when two Klan brothers, Alton Wayne Roberts
and Raymond Roberts, met with the FBI and police in exchange for reward money and immunity. Alton Wayne Roberts previously had been sentenced to 10 years for violating the civil rights of Chaney, Schwerner and Goodman. He agreed to cooperate in order to receive a reduced sentence.
A joint FBI and local police operation ambushed Tarrants and Ainsworth. Ainsworth was killed in the gun battle and Tarrants was severely wounded.
Sam Bowers was convicted in the Chaney-Schwerner-Goodman killings and served more than six years at McNeil Island
Federal Prison in Washington. He was released in 1976. At the time of his death, the former Imperial Wizard was serving a 1998 sentence of life in a Mississippi prison for the 1966 bombing.
. Bowers was Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) #R5597. At one time he was incarcerated in the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility
. According to Chris Epps, the commissioner of MDOC, said that only one person visited Bowers during the man's incarceration. Epps said that the visitor wrote on a document that he was Bowers' brother, and that the man listed a false address and a fictitious Mississippi town as his residence. Bowers died in the Mississippi State Penitentiary
(Parchman) Hospital of cardio-pulmonary arrest on Sunday, November 5, 2006, aged 82.
After Bowers died, MDOC announced that he may be buried at one of two prison cemeteries at MSP if officials are unable to find relatives or friends willing to assume responsibility for the burial. Elie Dahmer, the widow of Vernon Dahmer
, Bowers' victim, said that she thought that Klansmen would have pooled enough funds for a burial outside of Parchman. Chris Epps, the head of MDOC, said that each headstone of a prisoner at Parchman is paid from a special fund and not from the general taxpayer funds. By November 7, 2006, an out-of-state relative came forward to claim Bowers's body. Tara Booth, a spokesperson for MDOC, said that the agency would not make any additional details about the reclamation public.
White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan
The White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan was considered the most militant as well as the most violent Ku Klux Klan in history. They originated in Mississippi in the early 1960s under the leadership of Samuel Bowers, its first Grand Wizard. The White Knights of Mississippi was formed in 1964, and it...
.
Early life
Bowers was born on August 25, 1924, in New Orleans, LouisianaNew Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
, to Sam Bowers Sr., a salesman, and Evangeline Peyton, daughter of a well-to-do planter. He attended Fortier High School and was regarded as an above-average student.
After the attack on Pearl Harbor
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...
, Bowers joined the Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
and was honorably discharged four years later.
White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan
The Mississippi of his time was a hotbed of activism. Bowers, along with many other southernSouthern United States
The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...
whites, was highly disturbed by and deeply feared the new changes that were sweeping the nation. He perceived the new civil rights legislation and forced integration as a direct threat to the "Southern way of life."
Bowers perceived the original Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...
as being too passive. On February 15, 1964, at a meeting in Brookhaven, Mississippi
Brookhaven, Mississippi
Brookhaven is a small city in Lincoln County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 9,861 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Lincoln County...
, he convinced about 200 members of the original Knights to defect and join a highly secret Klan, to be called the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, that would not hesitate to use violence to achieve its goals.
Bowers adopted a strict code of secrecy with the purpose of preserving White supremacy
White supremacy
White supremacy is the belief, and promotion of the belief, that white people are superior to people of other racial backgrounds. The term is sometimes used specifically to describe a political ideology that advocates the social and political dominance by whites.White supremacy, as with racial...
in the South.
Philosophy of the White Knights
His Klan, as Bowers wrote in one of his internal memoranda, was "a nocturnal organization that works best at night. We must remember that the CommunistsCommunism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
who are directing the agitators want us to engage in pitched battles in the streets so they can declare martial law."
In an Imperial Executive Order issued at a Klan meeting June 7, 1964, and recorded by the FBI, Bowers wrote:
- "This summer, within a very few days, the enemy will launch his final push for victory here in Mississippi. This offensive will consist of two basic salients[...]
- One. Massive street demonstrations by blacks[...]designed to provoke white militants into counterdemonstrations and open, pitched street battles[...]to provide an excuse for:
- Two. A decree from communist authorities in charge of the national government[...]declaring martial law[...]
- When the first waves of blacks hit our streets this summer, we must avoid open daylight conflict with them[...]we must counterattack the individual leaders at night."
Weaving religion into the mix, he further declared "As Christians we are disposed to kindness, generosity, affection, and humility in our dealings with others. As militants we are disposed to use physical force against our enemies. How can we reconcile these two apparently contradictory philosophies? The answer of course, is to purge malice, bitterness, and vengeance from our hearts." (Charles Marsh, God's Long Summer, p. 61) (See also: Christian Identity
Christian Identity
Christian Identity is a label applied to a wide variety of loosely affiliated believers and churches with a racialized theology. Many promote a Eurocentric interpretation of Christianity.According to Chester L...
)
Violent campaign
In 1964, Civil rightsCivil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
workers, primarily from Northern states, launched Freedom Summer
Freedom Summer
Freedom Summer was a campaign in the United States launched in June 1964 to attempt to register as many African American voters as possible in Mississippi which had historically excluded most blacks from voting...
. Later that year, five of these activists: Charles Eddie Moore, James Chaney
James Chaney
James Earl "J.E." Chaney , from Meridian, Mississippi, was one of three American civil rights workers who were murdered during Freedom Summer by members of the Ku Klux Klan near Philadelphia...
, Henry Hezekiah Dee, Michael Schwerner
Michael Schwerner
Michael Henry Schwerner , was one of three Congress of Racial Equality field workers killed in Philadelphia, Mississippi, by the Ku Klux Klan in response to their civil rights work, which included promoting voting registration among Mississippi African Americans...
and Andrew Goodman
Andrew Goodman
Andrew Goodman was one of three American civil rights activists murdered near Philadelphia, Mississippi, during Freedom Summer in 1964 by members of the Ku Klux Klan.-Early life and education:...
were murdered by Klansmen.
In January 1966, Bowers, along with a number of other members of the White Knights of the KKK, was subpoenaed by the House Un-American Activities Committee
House Un-American Activities Committee
The House Committee on Un-American Activities or House Un-American Activities Committee was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives. In 1969, the House changed the committee's name to "House Committee on Internal Security"...
to testify about Klan activities. Although Byron De La Beckwith
Byron De La Beckwith
Byron De La Beckwith, Jr. was an American white supremacist and Klansman from Greenwood, Mississippi who was convicted in the 1994 state trial of assassinating the civil rights leader Medgar Evers on June 12, 1963....
gave his name when asked by the committee (but would answer no other substantive questions), other witnesses, such as Bowers, invoked the fifth amendment
Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which is part of the Bill of Rights, protects against abuse of government authority in a legal procedure. Its guarantees stem from English common law which traces back to the Magna Carta in 1215...
even in response to that question.
In 1966 the White Knights firebombed the house of Vernon Dahmer
Vernon Dahmer
Vernon Ferdinand Dahmer, Sr. was an American civil rights leader and president of the Forrest County chapter of the NAACP in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.-Early life:...
. Dahmer was a Civil Rights activist with four sons serving in the United States Military, and he was working successfully to register African Americans to vote. Dahmer died of horrendous burn injuries which covered forty percent of his body after the firebombing of his home.
According to later testimony by ex-White Knights member T. Webber Rogers, Bowers gave the direct order to have Dahmer killed "in any way possible." After four previous trials ended in deadlock (a 1968 jury split 11 to 1 in favor of guilty, and in 1969 a jury split 10-2 in favor of conviction http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/05/AR2006110500920.html), Bowers was convicted for the murder in August 1998 and sentenced to life in prison.
In 1967, the White Knights began a campaign against Jewish targets in Mississippi. Beth Israel Congregation
Beth Israel Congregation (Jackson, Mississippi)
Beth Israel Congregation is a Reform Judaism congregation located at 5315 Old Canton Road in Jackson, Mississippi, United States. Organized in 1860 by Jews of German background, it has always been, and remains, the only synagogue in Jackson...
in Jackson
Jackson, Mississippi
Jackson is the capital and the most populous city of the US state of Mississippi. It is one of two county seats of Hinds County ,. The population of the city declined from 184,256 at the 2000 census to 173,514 at the 2010 census...
and Congregation Beth Israel
Congregation Beth Israel (Meridian, Mississippi)
Congregation Beth Israel in Meridian, Mississippi is a Reform Jewish congregation founded in 1868 and a member of the Union for Reform Judaism. The congregation's first permanent house of worship was a Middle Eastern style building constructed in 1879...
in Meridian
Meridian, Mississippi
Meridian is the county seat of Lauderdale County, Mississippi. It is the sixth largest city in the state and the principal city of the Meridian, Mississippi Micropolitan Statistical Area...
were bombed. Also, the home of Jackson's Rabbi Perry Nussbaum was attacked. The actual perpetrators of these crimes were Thomas A. Tarrants III and Kathy Ainsworth. The pair conducted their terror campaign in complete secrecy.
The bombings were a direct embarrassment to the Jackson and Meridian police departments. The FBI became involved in the case and, working with local law enforcement, began to track down the bombers.
The break in the case came when two Klan brothers, Alton Wayne Roberts
Alton Wayne Roberts
Alton Wayne Roberts was a Klansman convicted of depriving slain activists Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James Chaney of their civil rights in 1964. He personally shot two of the three civil rights workers before his accomplices buried their bodies in a dam.-External links:...
and Raymond Roberts, met with the FBI and police in exchange for reward money and immunity. Alton Wayne Roberts previously had been sentenced to 10 years for violating the civil rights of Chaney, Schwerner and Goodman. He agreed to cooperate in order to receive a reduced sentence.
A joint FBI and local police operation ambushed Tarrants and Ainsworth. Ainsworth was killed in the gun battle and Tarrants was severely wounded.
Sam Bowers was convicted in the Chaney-Schwerner-Goodman killings and served more than six years at McNeil Island
McNeil Island
McNeil Island is an island in western Puget Sound, located just west of Steilacoom, Washington, with a land area of 17.177 km² . It lies just north of Anderson Island. Fox Island is to the north, across Carr Inlet. To the west McNeil Island is separated from Key Peninsula by Pitt Passage. The...
Federal Prison in Washington. He was released in 1976. At the time of his death, the former Imperial Wizard was serving a 1998 sentence of life in a Mississippi prison for the 1966 bombing.
Conviction
Bowers served a life sentence for the 1966 bombing death of civil rights leader Vernon DahmerVernon Dahmer
Vernon Ferdinand Dahmer, Sr. was an American civil rights leader and president of the Forrest County chapter of the NAACP in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.-Early life:...
. Bowers was Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) #R5597. At one time he was incarcerated in the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility
Central Mississippi Correctional Facility
The Central Mississippi Correctional Facility is a Mississippi Department of Corrections prison for men and women located in unincorporated Rankin County, Mississippi, near Pearl. The prison is the only state prison to hold female prisoners in Mississippi, in addition to minimum and medium...
. According to Chris Epps, the commissioner of MDOC, said that only one person visited Bowers during the man's incarceration. Epps said that the visitor wrote on a document that he was Bowers' brother, and that the man listed a false address and a fictitious Mississippi town as his residence. Bowers died in the Mississippi State Penitentiary
Mississippi State Penitentiary
Mississippi State Penitentiary , also known as Parchman Farm, is the oldest prison and the only maximum security prison for men in the state of Mississippi, USA....
(Parchman) Hospital of cardio-pulmonary arrest on Sunday, November 5, 2006, aged 82.
After Bowers died, MDOC announced that he may be buried at one of two prison cemeteries at MSP if officials are unable to find relatives or friends willing to assume responsibility for the burial. Elie Dahmer, the widow of Vernon Dahmer
Vernon Dahmer
Vernon Ferdinand Dahmer, Sr. was an American civil rights leader and president of the Forrest County chapter of the NAACP in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.-Early life:...
, Bowers' victim, said that she thought that Klansmen would have pooled enough funds for a burial outside of Parchman. Chris Epps, the head of MDOC, said that each headstone of a prisoner at Parchman is paid from a special fund and not from the general taxpayer funds. By November 7, 2006, an out-of-state relative came forward to claim Bowers's body. Tara Booth, a spokesperson for MDOC, said that the agency would not make any additional details about the reclamation public.