9781422277812

Bethune helped to unify black voters in Daytona Beach so that they would not be intimidated at the polls by groups like the Ku Klux Klan.

The sounds of horses galloping andhorns beingblownoutside the school grounds signaled to Bethune, in the school’s main building, that the Klan was drawing near. She went to a window to look for themand discovered that all the streetlights beyond the campus had been turned off. The Klan, which had infiltrated many churches, police departments, andmunicipal services in the South, had arranged to plunge the area into complete darkness to frighten Bethune and others who planned to vote. Bethune could dimly make out a parade of about 100 robed figures walking along Second Avenue. At the head of the procession was a cross that burned menacingly large and bright. There was a strange, unearthly silence as the Klan went past the school’s front gate and filed up the drive. Then one of the girls watching from a nearby fire escape started to scream, and like a chain reaction others joined in the mounting hysteria.

CH A P T E R 1 : TA R G E T O F T H E K L A N

1 1