In Monroe, North
Carolina, back in 1961 a group of Freedom Riders joined with local youth to
protest segregation in this small town that had a significant Ku Klux Klan
presence. But, it just happened that Monroe
was also home to Robert F. Williams, an NAACP president who advocated armed
Black self-defense, and what was meant to have been a non-violent protest, instead
resulted in a brutal riot and later injustice. In the immediate aftermath of
these events, Dr. John Hartman joined the protests in Monroe. He will describe what he witnessed, and offer
an assessment of the role of self-defense in the non-violent movement.