This film is part of Free

Burning Cross Race Attack

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

Non-Fiction 1965 5 mins

From the collection of:

Logo for Media Archive for Central England

Overview

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.