A History of Hate Groups in Atlanta
The stories of Samuel Green, Homer L. Loomis, Minnie Sibley and the historic Atlanta landscape.
The stories of Samuel Green, Homer L. Loomis, Minnie Sibley and the historic Atlanta landscape.
This story map pieces together information regarding the lives of 3 figures: Homer L. Loomis, a fascist who founded the Atlanta based hate group, the Columbians in 1946; the rise of the final iteration of the Ku Klux Klan under the helm of Samuel Green; and the life of Minnie Sibley, an African American woman who was targeted and attacked by the Columbians Inc. The Columbians attacked Sibley's house with dynamite in the early morning of October 31st 1946. This story map also provides supplemental information exploring the built environment of Atlanta in which these individuals lived.
Dr. Samuel Green was born November 18th 1899 in Atlanta Georgia. He worked as an obstetrician and joined the Ku Klux Klan in 1922. Green announced his return to public cross burning in 1945 and would soon be elected as the Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan on August 4th 1949. The Klan would feud with the newly formed Columbians Inc. between 1946 and 1947 as both groups battled for power to become Atlanta's eminent white supremacist organization. However, his tenure as leader of the Klan would be short as he died on August 18th, 1949 at the age of 59. Green's draft cards from 1917-1918 display his residence at the Kimball House in downtown Atlanta.
Homer L. Loomis was born in New York on January 31st, 1914 to a prominent and wealthy family. His father worked as an admiralty lawyer allowing Loomis a privileged childhood. Loomis attended school in Concord, New Hampshire at St. Paul's School and would eventually attend college at Princeton University between 1933 and 1935. However, he would be expelled from Princeton for public drunkenness. After his military service in the United States Army between 1944 and 1946, Loomis would eventually move to Atlanta, Georgia where he would form the fascist hate group, the Columbians Inc. with Emory Burke and John H. Zimmerlee. The Columbians Inc. would operate from 1946 to 1947 with a charter granted by the state of Georgia at 82 Bartow Street. Their goals ranged from organizing the white working class to stop the integration of African Americans in white neighborhoods to political domination of the United States government. Ultimately, their end goal was to form a white supremacist ethno-state brought about by mass deportations of ethnic minorities. The Columbians Inc. would eventually dissolve due to legal trouble impacting Loomis and Burke. Homer L. Loomis would eventually relocate to Thomasville, Georgia where he would live until his death on October 7th 1991. Homer L. Loomis is buried at Arlington Memorial Cemetery in Sandy Springs. Georgia.
Minnie Sibley was an African American woman born June 19th 1915 in Cedartown, Polk, Georgia. Her father, Turner Sibley worked as a brakeman for the railway as a wage laborer. Minnie had 4 siblings, 3 brothers and 1 sister. She would eventually leave Cedartown and move to 333 Ashby Street Atlanta, Georgia. On October 31st, 1946, Sibley's home would be attacked by the Columbians Inc. who bombed her front porch in an act of racist domestic terrorism. Minnie Sibley continued to live in Atlanta, Georgia until her death on January 11th 1975.