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| Affiliation | Democratic |
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| Name | Bill Hendrix |
| Address |
Oldsmar, Florida , United States |
| Email | None |
| Website | None |
| Born |
Unknown
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| Contributor | Some say... |
| Last Modifed | RBH
Aug 03, 2015 03:03am |
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| Info | "In Florida, a plumbing contractor named Bill Hendrix chartered the Southern Knights of the Ku Klux Klan and named himself as its head. The Klan's power grew quickly, particularly in Orange County, where its ranks included prominent lawmen, businessmen, and elected officials: Sheriff Dave Starr was a known Klansmen, as were a county commissioner and the city manager of Winter Park. Apopka and Winter Garden were particularly infested: Apopka's police chief, constable and night patrolman all belonged, as did one constable and the justice of the peace in Winter Garden. One businessman estimated that 75 percent of Apopka's male population belonged.
By 1951, however, the Florida Klan was at a crossroads. Harry T. Moore's Progressive Voters' League had registered 100,000 new black voters in the Democratic Party; NAACP branches were challenging Jim Crow ordinances over the use of public golf courses, swimming pools, and libraries; and the 1951 Florida Legislature passed an anti-mask ordinance by an overwhelming margin. The Klan responded with a rash of cross burnings and floggings from the Florida Panhandle to Miami; Hendrix declared war on "hate groups," including the NAACP, B'nai B'rith, the Catholic church, and the Federal Council of Churches of Christ; and then declared himself a candidate for governor. By the summer, the Klan began trying to roll back progress with sticks of 60 percent dynamite, with so many bombings, or attempted bombings, that the northern press dubbed it "The Florida Terror." The Moore bombing turned out to be the twelfth bombing of the year."
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