The Silver Dollar Group was an offshoot of the

Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...

white nationalist terrorist group, composed of

leaderless resistance Leaderless resistance, or phantom cell structure, is a Rebellion, social resistance strategy in which small, independent groups (Clandestine cell system, covert cells), or individuals (a solo cell is called a "Lone wolf (terrorism), lone wolf"), ch ...

cells that took up violent actions to support Klan goals. The group was largely found in Mississippi and Louisiana, and was named for their practice of identifying themselves by carrying a silver dollar. The group is believed to have had only some twenty members. The group formed in 1964 at the Shamrock Motor Hotel in

Vidalia, Louisiana Vidalia is the largest city and the parish seat of Concordia Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 4,299 as of the 2010 census. Vidalia is located on the west bank of the Mississippi River. The city of Natchez, Mississippi, lies ...

by Raleigh Jackson "Red" Glover, amidst dissatisfaction at the lack of forceful action by Klan groups in the region. The group killed an African American man, Frank Morris, by arson in

Ferriday, Louisiana Ferriday is a town in Concordia Parish, Louisiana, Concordia Parish, which borders the Mississippi River and is located on the central eastern border of Louisiana, United States. With a population of 3,511 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 ce ...

for alleged flirting with white women, and is suspected in two car bombings of

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...

leaders in

Natchez, Mississippi Natchez ( ) is the county seat of and only city in Adams County, Mississippi, United States. Natchez has a total population of 14,520 (as of the 2020 census). Located on the Mississippi River across from Vidalia in Concordia Parish, Louisiana, N ...

, George Metcalfe and Wharlest Jackson. Morris had a shoe repair shop in Ferriday, and died after his shoe repair shop was burned. The group is also suspected in the disappearance and murder of an African American employee of the Shamrock Motel, Joseph Edwards. Some members of local law enforcement, including Concordia Parish Sheriff Department deputy Frank DeLaughter, were members of the Silver Dollar Group.

2007 Prosecution

In 2007, Silver Dollar Group member James Ford Seale was charged and convicted for the May 1964 kidnapping of Henry Hezekiah Dee and

Charles Eddie Moore ''Mississippi Cold Case'' is a 2007 feature documentary produced by David Ridgen of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation about the Ku Klux Klan murders of two 19-year-old black men, Henry Hezekiah Dee and Charles Eddie Moore, in Southwest Missis ...

, two African-American young men in Meadville, Mississippi.

References

{{Ku Klux Klan 1964 establishments in Louisiana Gangs in Mississippi Ku Klux Klan organizations Concordia Parish, Louisiana Adams County, Mississippi Lynching in the United States Racially motivated violence against African Americans Gangs in Louisiana