Samuel Bowers, American activist, co-founded the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan (d. 2006)
Samuel Holloway Bowers (August 25, 1924 – November 5, 2006) was a convicted murderer and a leading white supremacist in Mississippi during the Civil Rights Movement. In response to this movement and perceived threats to national security from Jews and Communists, he co-founded the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan and became its first Imperial Wizard. Bowers was best known for committing two murders of civil rights activists in southern Mississippi. He was responsible for the 1964 murders of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner near Philadelphia, for which he served six years in federal prison; and the 1966 murder of Vernon Dahmer in Hattiesburg, for which he was sentenced to life in prison, 32 years after the crime. He also was accused of bombings of Jewish targets in the cities of Jackson and Meridian in 1967 and 1968 (according to the man who was convicted of some of the bombings, Thomas A. Tarrants III). He died in prison at the age of 82.
1924Aug, 6
Samuel Bowers
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Events on 1924
- 12Feb
Rhapsody in Blue
George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue received its premiere in a concert titled "An Experiment in Modern Music", in Aeolian Hall, New York, by Paul Whiteman and his band, with Gershwin playing the piano. - 25Mar
Second Hellenic Republic
On the anniversary of Greek Independence, Alexandros Papanastasiou proclaims the Second Hellenic Republic. - 8Apr
Atatürk's Reforms
Sharia courts are abolished in Turkey, as part of Atatürk's Reforms. - 4Aug
Soviet Union
Diplomatic relations between Mexico and the Soviet Union are established. - 23Nov
Andromeda Galaxy
Edwin Hubble's discovery, that the Andromeda "nebula" is actually another island galaxy far outside of our own Milky Way, is first published in The New York Times.