Beulah Mae Donald was distraught. Klansmen had executed her son, and she was determined to do something about it.
In 1981, infuriated that a local Black man had been acquitted of killing a white man, the KKK maimed and lynched the first Black person they saw. Donald’s youngest son had been their victim. He was only 19.
A heartbroken Donald decided to hold the KKK accountable for their hatred. She brought national attention to her case and worked with the FBI to see her son’s murderers were held accountable.
She sued the hatemongers for wrongful death to the tune of $7 million. AND SHE WON.
The KKK couldn’t afford to pay her, so she took all the organization owned and ended its reign of terror for the Black community in her city.
Her quest took six years, but Donald’s resolve to make the racists pay for what they’d done stopped the KKK from any more reported lynchings. Justice is often slow when it comes to our liberation, but like Donald, we must never back down or stop fighting for what’s right.