Burning Cross Race Attack

From the collection of

Media Archive for Central England
MACE is the strategic lead organisation for screen heritage for the East and West Midlands regions. An independent charity based at University of Lincoln, MACE preserves and makes accessible a collection of more than 100,000 historic moving images representative of the diverse cultures and histories of communities throughout the heart of England from the Lincolnshire coast to the Welsh border.

Burning Cross Race Attack (ATV Today)


A stark reminder from Handsworth of the intolerance and hatred that darkened the streets of 1960s Britain.

Thankfully the feared rise of a Ku Klux Klan-style organisation operating in the Midlands in 1965 failed to materialise. The press were hunting for connections between fire bomb attacks in Leamington Spa and Handsworth and Balsall Heath in Birmingham. With their use of a burning cross the perpetrators were hijacking emotive imagery from the American south and the despised Ku Klux Klan. Mrs Ruby Henry provides a first hand account of what happened to Reg Harcourt.

Thankfully the feared rise of a Ku Klux Klan-style organisation operating in the Midlands in 1965 failed to materialise. The press were hunting for connections between fire bomb attacks in Leamington Spa and Handsworth and Balsall Heath in Birmingham. With their use of a burning cross the perpetrators were hijacking emotive imagery from the American south and the despised Ku Klux Klan. Mrs Ruby Henry provides a first hand account of what happened to Reg Harcourt.


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