Hugo Black

Hugo LaFayette Black (February 27, 1886 – September 25, 1971) was a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (1937 - 1971). He is noted for his advocacy of a "literal" reading of the United States Constitution, and for his advocacy of the position that the guarantees of liberties in the U.S. Bill of Rights were imposed on the states via their incorporation in the Fourteenth Amendment. His jurisprudence has been the focus of much discussion. Because of his insistence on a strict textual analysis of Constitutional issues, as opposed to the process-oriented jurisprudence of many of his colleagues, it is difficult to characterize Black as a "liberal" or a "conservative" as those terms are generally understood. Yet his theory of "incorporation" often translated into support for strengthening civil liberties. In the 1920's, Black (like Chief Justice Edward Douglass White) was a member of the Ku Klux Klan, and in 1921 he defended Klansmen accused of the murder of priest James Coyle. However, he later publicly disavowed the Klan, and his record on the Supreme Court bench contained some indications of support for the Civil Rights Movement.

Ku Klux Klan controversy

In the 1920s, the Ku Klux Klan, revived after a half-century of dormancy due to the release of The Birth of a Nation, became a dominant force in Alabama politics, as it did in several Northern states as well as the national Democratic Party (where it came into conflict with the Party's anti-racist factions), with its anti-black and anti-Catholic rhetoric. In those years there were as many as 85,000 members of the Ku Klux Klan in Alabama and the organization often wielded substantial influence in the state's elections.

Related Topics:
Ku Klux Klan - The Birth of a Nation

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On September 11, 1923 Black became a member of the Robert E. Lee Klan No. 1 of the Ku Klux Klan in Birmingham. He claimed that he remained in the KKK for only two years until 1925, during which time he alleged that he attended a maximum of no more than four meetings, and then he tendered a friendly resignation. However, in 1926 he not only attended a State Convention of the KKK, but he chose to address the delegates as well. Hugo Black is alleged to have said that what he liked about the Klan was "not the burning crosses ... not attempting to regulate anybody," but for keeping the door open "to the boy that comes up on the humble hillside, or in the lowly valley." The full text of this speech appeared 14 years later in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on September 15, 1937, in page two and in column two.

Related Topics:
September 11 - 1923 - 1925 - 1926 - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - September 15 - 1937

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According to the New York Times of November 26, 1926, page 15 and column 3, the Grand Dragon of Klan was the Assistant Attorney General of Alabama. The paper later reported that KKK members occupied city, county and state offices. According to the published version of the Hugo Black Symposium on pages 78-79 it is reported that:

Related Topics:
November 26 - 1926 - Grand Dragon

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Some of those who knew him (Black) offered additional reasons for his joining. Herman Beck, a leading Jewish merchant in Birmingham encouraged his young friend Black to become a Klansman so that he could help contain the trouble-making element just coming to the fore of the organization in Alabama.

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Black resigned from the Klan the day before he announced his intention to seek election to the United States Senate and he did so under cloudy circumstances. According to page 103 of the biography of Black by Roger K. Newman (see details below), his resignation was contrived. (The Klan did not endorse Hugo Black and the KKK backed another candidate: New York Times, August 12, 1926, page 1, column 5.)

Related Topics:
United States Senate - August 12

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