3. Strain, Christopher Barry. “Civil Rights and ... - Freedom Archives

felt they could match the local police and Klansmen with their gun-handling skills .
"When a man learns to use arms ;' Williams noted, "he gets more self-confidence in
himself, and the fact that he knows what to do with arms, he knows the power of arms."~
With the support of local white Unitarians, Williams and his constituents began a
campaign to integrate various public facilities around Monroe in 1957 . They
desegregated the public library without any friction at all, " according to Williams .~ In
one of his first moves as NAACP president, Williams organized a cadre of men devoted
to self-defense and protection of the black neighborhood in Monroe. "Since the city
officials wouldn't stop the Klan, we decided to stop the Klan ourselves," he later
explained .u
Tensions peaked in 1957 when the group actually engaged nightriders in combat,
repelling a Klan raiding party sent to terrorize Dr. A . E. Penry on the evening of October
5 . Perry, vice-president of the local NAACP, had been outspoken in petitioning the city
council for the construction of a swimming pool in the black section of town . Monroe's
only swimming pool, built with federal funds and municipally maintained, was for whites
only; black children swam in "swimming holes" : unsafe ponds and drainage ditches,
where several had drowned . When local Klan members threatened to "get" Perry,
Williams posted watch at his house from dusk till dawn . Guards dissuaded a KKK
zap.
Z4Williams, Negroes With Guns , S 1 .
~~ 54.
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