“On a hot July night in 1950 Horace Carter watched as thirty cars filled with armed, robed and hooded Ku Klux Klansmen made their way through Tabor City, a small town on the North Carolina-South Carolina border. The event marked the beginning of two years of turmoil as Carter, Tabor City and the surrounding communities witnessed large Klan rallies, gunplay, abductions, assaults and murder—a saga fueled by KKK ambition and the uncertainty of rapidly changing times...Carter, the twenty-nine year old editor of the weekly Tabor City Tribune, would be observer, participant, commentator and conscience to these events, standing against the Klan and risking life, livelihood, friendships and his family’s safety.” In this lesson, students will learn about Carter’s brave actions through discussion and reading, and (optionally) by viewing and discussing a DVD, Editor and the Dragon. Students will explorerelated themes through creative writing, the examination of primary sources, and group work. Based on what they learn, students will then design a fictional citizenship award for Horace Carter, or they will create an anti-hate organization designed to combat groups such as the KKK.

Access the accompanying PPT here.