Researching the Greensboro Massacre at Wilson Library: History of the Greensboro Civil Rights Fund

The Greensboro Justice Fund (GJF) was formed in the months after November 1979 by partners of those killed on November 3rd, other demonstrators that were wounded or arrested that day, and concerned citizens. 

In 1981, the GJF and the Christic Institute recruited members to serve on the board of the Greensboro Civil Rights Fund (GCRF) to carry out further fundraising, education and outreach for the lengthy litigation process of the federal civil rights suit (Waller v. Butkovich). The purpose of the GCRF was to integrate existing efforts of the GJF under a larger umbrella and bring greater media attention to Greensboro case.

The board of the GCRF was made up of representatives from different civil liberties and religious groups. The GCRF was dissolved in 1986, after the federal civil trial was completed. During the existence of the GCRF the GJF was largely dormant, but following the completion of the trials, the GJF continued to operate as a foundation and distributed grants to grassroots organizing efforts opposing racism and racist violence in the South. The money awarded to Marty Nathan by the courts for the wrongful death of her husband was put towards the grant funding of the GJF.

The records that make up the Greensboro Civil Rights Fund Collection in Wilson Library were largely generated through trials mounted by massacre survivors between 1980 and 1985. The main bodies of records include:

Pleadings 

Pleadings of all parties in Waller v. Butkovich and Waller v. Dukes; most pleadings in Nathan v. Attorney General; several pleadings from U.S. v. Griffin, et al. 

Trial transcripts

Most of the transcript of State v. Fowler, et al.; some of the testimony of U.S. v. Griffin, et al.; transcripts of some pre-trial hearings and in-chamber conferences in Waller v. Butkovich; two small portions of the Waller v. Butkovich trial transcript.

Discovery material obtained during Waller v. Butkovich

Deposition transcripts of plaintiffs, defendants and others; copies of law enforcement records from the FBI, BATF, Greensboro PD, and Winston-Salem PD.

Physical evidence

Evidence from the scene of the Greensboro Massacre taken by police and used as evidence in the trials, including CWP banners and literature, blood-stained clothing, and a Klan effigy.

Audio-visual material

Copies of the documentaries "Red November, Black November," "88 Seconds in Greensboro," and "Resurgence: The Movement for Equality vs. the Ku Klux Klan." Audiocassettes of interviews with massacre survivors carried out by the FBI and Justice Department attorneys in 1982. 

CWP organizing materials before and after November 3rd

Leaflets, flyers, and planning documents for the "Death to the Klan" march; CWP posters, leaflets, and press releases following the murders.

GJF and GCRF materials

Public education, fundraising, and outreach materials by the GJF and GCRF, such as newsletters, press releases, and pamphlets.

Correspondence

Memos written by attorneys to the plaintiffs regarding legal developments in trial proceedings.

Copies of news coverage

Clippings and photocopies of newspapers and magazines that covered the Greensboro Massacre. These clippings are generally more complete for Greensboro-area news coverage than national coverage.

Official Reports

Final reports of the U.S. Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, the Greensboro Human Relations Committee, the McManis firm, and the Greensboro Police Department. Most of these reports were carried out in the months immediately following the November 3rd attack.

This timeline will cover the activities of the Greensboro Justice Fund / Greensboro Civil Rights Fund. For more information, see the timeline on the Greensboro Civil Rights Fund Records finding aid, or consult secondary scholarship. 

— 1980 — 

Spring — Greensboro Justice Fund (GJF) was formed by loved ones of those killed on November 3rd, massacre survivors, and other concerned citizens. The GJF carried out public education and fundraising activities to mount a civil suit on behalf of victims. 

June 16 - Nov 17 — Criminal trial of six Klansmen and Neo-Nazis, State v. Fowler, et al. All six were acquitted on charges of murder and riot by an all-white jury. After the acquittals, charges against anti-Klan demonstrators were also dropped. In the summer of 1980, press revealed that both Butkovich and Dawson were undercover informants, and had participated in the planning, and in Dawson's case the execution, of the November 3rd attack. 

Nov 3, 1980 — The federal civil rights suit Waller v. Butkovich was filed on behalf of widows and widower of the deceased and eleven other survivors that were injured or wrongfully arrested during and after the massacre. Plaintiffs in this suit included Klansmen, Neo-Nazis, officers of the Greensboro Police Department (GPD), the FBI, and the BATF.

— 1981 —

Efforts of the GJF focused on compelling the Department of Justice to prosecute plaintiffs for federal civil rights violations, as the suit was continually slowed down and sidetracked by motions to dismiss. GJF organizers and attorneys with the Christic Institute began recruiting board members to form the Greensboro Civil Rights Fund (GCRF), in order to continue doing fundraising and public outreach related to the Waller v. Butkovich suit.

Greensboro Daily News clipping from October 3, 1981 about an interview with GDP and FBI informant Edward Dawson.

— 1982 —

January — Plaintiffs attempted to begin discovery in the civil rights suit, but federal and city defendants obtained stay of all discovery pending motions to dismiss. All discovery was stayed until April 1984.

March — Federal grand jury empanelled in Winston-Salem at request of the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice (U.S. v. Griffin, et al.) This jury sat for 14 months, until April of 1983.

September — Plaintiffs in Waller case filed Nathan v. Attorney General in federal district court in Washington, to attempt to force the Attorney General to comply with the Ethics in Government Act and appoint a special prosecutor to investigate federal involvement in the Greensboro Massacre. Judge Gerhard Gesell ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, but this decision was later overturned in the D.C. circuit.

— 1983 —

April 15 — Nine Klansmen and Nazis were indicted on conspiracy to violate civil rights and violation of civil rights (U.S. v. Griffin, et al.) in a federal grand jury. Tenth Klan member was revealed to have secretly pled guilty to conspiracy charges (U.S. v. Mark Sherer). Sherer later unsuccessfully tried to withdraw his guilty plea, and served a few months in a minimum security facility. He was the only Klansman or Neo-Nazi involved in the attack to serve time for the November 3rd murders.

Summer - Winter — Judge Flanagan, trial judge in U.S. v. Griffin, et al., imposed a gag order on all massacre survivors, attorneys representing survivors, and organizers with the GJF / GCRF. This gag order was upheld in the fourth circuit. 

December 6 — Judge Robert Merhige Jr. conducted the first hearing in Waller v. Butkovich, indicating that he would deny motions to dismiss but uphold the stay on discovery until the completion of U.S. v. Griffin et al. 

— 1984 — 

January 9 - April 15 — Federal criminal trial of U.S. v. Griffin, et al. began with secret jury selection, in a process that was unsuccessfully contested by eight North Carolina newspapers. This trial ultimately resulted in the acquittal of all nine Klansmen and Neo-Nazis on all charges by an all-white jury. Peremptory challenges, or dismissals of potential jurors without a given reason, made it possible for lawyers to dismiss all potential African American jurors in both 1980 and 1984. This practice was not legally abolished in North Carolina until 1986. 

April 17 — Stay on discovery for Waller v. Butkovich suit was lifted and a frantic discovery process began, continuing until March of 1985. Extensive legal battles over the scope of discovery and jury issues followed in the months preceding the 1985 trial.

— 1985  — 

March 11 - June 8 — Trial of Waller v. Butkovich in Winston-Salem. One Black juror served on the six-person jury. At the end of this trial, the jury found two GPD officers (Lt. Paul William Spoon and Detective Jerry “Rooster” Cooper), five Klansmen and Neo-Nazis (Mark Sherer, David Matthews, Jerry Paul Smith, Wayne Wood, and Jack Fowler), and one GPD and FBI informant (Edward Dawson) jointly liable for the wrongful death of Dr. Michael Nathan, the only person killed on November 3rd who was not a CWP member. Smaller judgments awarded for two survivors wounded that day, Paul Bermanzohn and Tom Clark. Police, Klansmen, Neo-Nazis, and plaintiffs filed notices of appeal to jury's ruling following verdict. 

November 6 — By consent order, all motions for a new trial and potential appeals were dropped, and the city of Greensboro agreed to pay the wrongful death judgement against the two GPD officers, FBI and GPD informant, Klansmen, and Neo-Nazis.

— 1986 —

March — Waller v. Dukes, et al. was filed by the same plaintiffs and attorneys as the Waller v. Butkovich suit, in an attempt to sue four additional law enforcement officers that were involved in the events of November 3rd that had been excluded by Judge Merhige on the 1985 suit. This case was dismissed by consent as part of the 1985 consent order.

Sources: 

Greensboro Civil Rights Fund Records (Collection 04630), Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Waller, Signe. 2002. Love and revolution: a political memoir : people's history of the Greensboro massacre, its setting and aftermath. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

Wheaton, Elizabeth. 2009. Codename GREENKIL: the 1979 Greensboro killings. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press.

N.C. State criminal trial (State v. Fowler, et al.) — 1980 

Federal criminal trial (U.S. v. Griffin, et al.) — 1983-4 

Federal civil rights trial (Waller v. Butkovich) — 1985

Biff Hollingsworth, "Newly-Discovered Archival Materials Recall the Textile Union Organizing Work of Leaders Killed at the Greensboro Massacre (November 3, 1979)." Southern Sources: Exploring the Southern Historical Collection. November 3, 2023.

This article details some of the rare print materials found in the Greensboro Civil Rights Fund Collection, including union newsletters and other organizing materials related to CWP unionization efforts in Greensboro's industrial mills in the late 1970s. 

GJF flyer from folder 2802 of the Greensboro Civil Rights Fund Records, featuring a drawing of the five people killed on November 3rd, 1979.

GCRF Flyer from folder 2802 of the Greensboro Civil Rights Fund Records, depicting Sandra Neely Smith holding an anti-Klan sign at a protest.

November 21, 1980 clipping from the Durham-based newspaper North Carolina Anvil covering the outcome of the State v. Fowler et al. trial, from the North Carolina Digital Heritage Center.

December 3, 1980 clipping from The Daily Tar Heel describing campus response at UNC-CH following the acquittal of all Klansmen and Neo-Nazis in the 1980 trial verdict, from the North Carolina Digital Heritage Center.

July 4, 1981 clipping fromThe Carolina Times describing civil rights suit filed by the Greensboro Justice Fund (GJF), from the North Carolina Digital Heritage Center.

January 12, 1984 clipping from The Daily Tar Heel covering the efforts made by North Carolina newspapers to contest the jury selection process for Waller v. Butkovich as 'unconstitutional,' from the North Carolina Digital Heritage Center.

April 19, 1984 clipping from the Black Student Movement newspaper Black ink at UNC-CH responding to the outcome of the U.S. v. Griffin, et al. trial verdict, from the North Carolina Digital Heritage Center.

June 6, 1985 clipping from the Winston-Salem Chronicle covering the final arguments of Waller v. Butkovich, from the North Carolina Digital Heritage Center.

June 13, 1985 clipping from the Winston-Salem Chronicle covering the outcome of the federal civil rights trial, from the North Carolina Digital Heritage Center.