The 1950s were a time of heightened racial animus in North Carolina. A movement against segregation and inequality sprung up across the state, with a reactionary element taking offense to what they saw as a destruction of traditions.
The 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision ordering an end to school segregation played no small part in reigniting the seemingly dying embers of the Ku Klux Klan, and it once again began to terrorize minority communities throughout the state.
During this era, a Klan organizer by the name of James W. "Catfish" Cole had become incensed by the federal recognition of Robeson County's substantial Lumbee population as a tribe, as well as reports that interracial dating was occurring in the area. His men engaged in a harassment campaign, burning crosses on the property of local American Indians (whom he referred to as "half-breeds") in an effort to scare them out of the region. They would also organize caravans of Klansmen that snaked through American Indian communities.
In early January 1958, Cole went a step further: he called for the organization of a rally "in the heart of that mongrelized Indian territory." The local American Indian population was not amused, to say the least. They were further atomized when Klansmen drove through the streets of Robeson County to announce the rally, and propagandize against the Lumbee.
Tribe member and decorated World War II veteran Simeon Oxendine and his fellow Lumbee began to formulate plans on how to fight back against the Klan.
On the evening of Jan. 18, 1958, Cole began to address a crowd of around 50 to 100 Klansmen. However, a militia of hundreds of Lumbee, Tuscarora, Cohaire and other American Indians — some of whom were active duty troops stationed at Fort Bragg — soon encircled the Klan, using the darkness of night as a cover.
As the rally began, the local sheriff pleaded with Cole not to hold the rally, but Cole was adamant. The Klansmen were to rally.
An American Indian from Pembroke named Sanford Locklear eventually began to argue with Cole, and during the argument, a shotgun blast destroyed the floodlight the Klan was using. This ignited a charge by the militia, who fired their rifles and shotguns into the air, scattering the Klansmen.
Police entered the field, arresting one Klansman for public drunkenness, and pushing the rest to leave Robeson County. The militiamen began to sift through what the Klansmen had left behind, parading through nearby Maxton with their spoils and lighting them in a bonfire.
