United Klans of America

The United Klans of America Inc. (UKA), based in Alabama, is a Ku Klux Klan organization active in the United States. Led by Robert Shelton, the UKA peaked in membership in the late 1960s and 1970s,^[1] and it was the most violent Klan organization of its time.^[2] Its headquarters was the Anglo-Saxon Club outside Tuscaloosa, Alabama.^[3]

The organization was linked to the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama, that killed four young girls;^[4] the murder of Viola Liuzzo near Selma in 1965,^[5] and the lynching of teenager Michael Donald in Mobile in 1981.^[6] Because of murder charges and convictions, some of the UKA's most well-known members included Thomas E. Blanton Jr., Bobby Frank Cherry, Herman Cash, Robert Chambliss, Bennie Hays, Henry Hays, and James Knowles. Robert Shelton died at the age of 73 in 2003 in Tuscaloosa from a heart attack.^[5]

In 1987 the UKA was sued for civil damages stemming from the murder of Michael Donald; the damages awarded by the jury bankrupted the organization. Many former members of the group now purportedly belong to other Ku Klux Klan organizations such as The True Ku Klux Klan.

^ Abby Ferber. White Man Falling: Race, Gender, and White Supremacy. Rowman & Littlefield, 2000. page 176
^ Ted Robert Gurr. Violence in America: The History of Crime. Sage, 2004. pages 142-143
^ "Lawsuits prove to be a big gun in anti-Klan arsenal," The Boston Globe, June 17, 1993
^ Stephen Atkins. The Encyclopedia of Modern American Extremists and Extremist Groups. Greenwood Press, 2002. page 302
^ ^a ^b William Wines. Ethics, Law, and Business. Routledge, 2005. page 158
^ Tolnay, Stewart Emory; Beck, E. M. (1995). A Festival of Violence: An Analysis of Southern Lynchings, 1882-1930. University of Illinois Press. pp. 1–2. ISBN 978-0-252-06413-5.

[three-1] Abby Ferber. White Man Falling: Race, Gender, and White Supremacy. Rowman & Littlefield, 2000. page 176

[two-2] Ted Robert Gurr. Violence in America: The History of Crime. Sage, 2004. pages 142-143

[3] "Lawsuits prove to be a big gun in anti-Klan arsenal," The Boston Globe, June 17, 1993

[six-4] Stephen Atkins. The Encyclopedia of Modern American Extremists and Extremist Groups. Greenwood Press, 2002. page 302

[ten-5] William Wines. Ethics, Law, and Business. Routledge, 2005. page 158

[:0-6] Tolnay, Stewart Emory; Beck, E. M. (1995). A Festival of Violence: An Analysis of Southern Lynchings, 1882-1930. University of Illinois Press. pp. 1–2. ISBN 978-0-252-06413-5.

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