Greensboro Massacre - Rally

Rally

Hostility between the groups flared in July 1979 when protesters disrupted a screening of the 1915 epic, The Birth of a Nation directed by D. W. Griffith, a cinematographic portrayal of the formation of a Ku Klux Klan. Taunts and inflammatory rhetoric were exchanged during the ensuing months. On November 3, 1979 a rally and march of industrial workers and Communists was planned in Greensboro against the Ku Klux Klan. The Death to the Klan March was to begin in a predominantly black housing project called Morningside Homes. Communist organizers publicly challenged the Klan to present themselves and "face the wrath of the people". During the rally, a caravan of cars containing Klansmen and members of the American Nazi Party drove by the housing projects where the Communists and other anti-Klan activists were congregating. Several marchers began to attack the Klansmens' cars with small wooden sticks or by throwing rocks. According to white supremacist Frazier Glenn Miller, the first shots were fired from a handgun by an anti-Klan demonstrator. However several witnesses reported Klansman Mark Sherer fired the first shot (into the air). Klansmen and Nazis fired with shotguns, rifles and pistols. Cauce, Waller and Sampson were killed at the scene. Smith was shot in the forehead when she peeked from her hiding place. Eleven others were wounded. One of them, Dr. Michael Nathan, later died from his wounds at a hospital. Most of the armed confrontation was filmed by four local news camera crews.