Wikipedia:Today's featured article/January 18, 2022

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Lumbee Indians fighting Ku Klux Klansmen during the incident
Lumbee Indians fighting Ku Klux Klansmen during the incident

The Battle of Hayes Pond was an armed confrontation between members of a Ku Klux Klan organization and Native Americans of the Lumbee Tribe at a Klan rally near Maxton, North Carolina, on the night of January 18, 1958. The rally was planned by Klan leader James W. "Catfish" Cole who sought to uphold racial segregation in Robeson County. Cole hoped his gathering would have a large turnout and widely advertised it, infuriating the Lumbee community. On the night of the rally, hundreds of Lumbees, many armed, encircled the Klansmen in the field at Hayes Pond where they had assembled. After an altercation in which the single light in the field was destroyed, the Lumbees began firing their weapons and most of the Klansmen fled. The Lumbees then seized Klan regalia before police restored order. Afterwards, Cole was convicted for inciting a riot. The event was widely covered in the local and national press. (Full article...)

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