Michael Hill (activist)

Last updated
Michael Hill
MIchael Hill at Charlottesville rally 2017-full (cropped).jpg
Hill at the Unite the Right rally in 2017
Born
J. Michael Hill

1951 (age 7273)
Killen, Alabama
NationalityAmerican
Alma mater University of Alabama
Occupation(s)University professor and political activist [1] [2]
Organization League of the South

Michael Hill (born 1951) is an American former university professor and political activist from Alabama. He is a co-founder and the president of the "Southern secession" movement the League of the South, an organization whose stated goal is to create an independent country made up of the former states of the American South.

Contents

Early life and education

Hill was born in 1951 in Killen, Alabama. He studied history at the University of Alabama and obtained his PhD in 1985.

Career

Hill taught British history at University of Alabama and at Stillman College, a historically black college in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, for 18 years until 1998. Building on the views of his mentors at the University of Alabama, he published two books on the Celts, [2] [3] [4] romanticizing the "Celtic" soldier. [5]

In 1994, Hill co-founded the League of the South, a pro-Southern secession organization, [2] with Rev. J. Steven Wilkins of Auburn Avenue Presbyterian Church in Monroe, Louisiana and 39 other Neo-Confederates. [3] The Southern Poverty Law Center considers the League of the South to be a hate group. [6] In 1995, Hill established a chapter of the League of the South on the campus of his alma mater, the University of Alabama. [2] With Thomas Fleming, Hill co-authored an article entitled "New Dixie Manifesto" in The Washington Post in June 1995. [3]

The League of the South venerates what it calls the South's "Celtic" heritage, advocating a version of racist pseudohistory in which (white) southerners are alleged to descend from Scottish and Irish immigrants and the "liberal" north is alleged to descend primarily from English immigrants. Michael Hill's speeches make frequent reference to the movie Braveheart , and he often states that a war between the "Celtic" south and the English north is "inevitable". [7] In an Abbeville, South Carolina speech he asked the crowd "What would it take to get you to fight? … What would it take to turn you into a William Wallace?" in reference to the central figure from the movie Braveheart. His supporters also support and glamorize groups like the IRA and the Scottish National Party. [8]

The notion that the South is "Celtic" and the North is "English" has been dismissed by scholars on numerous grounds. [8] :112 It both provides a justification for the civil war that is based on a pseudoscientific racial determinism and which also does not include the southern states explicitly seceding for the sake of preserving slavery. Furthermore it has been pointed out [8] :112 that proponents of the theory define numerous parts of southern and central England as "Celtic", in order to make the numbers work, and it ignores the fact that even amongst the working classes immigrants from Scotland and Ireland were massively outnumbered in the south by English indentured servants by a collective margin of roughly 5:1 (with groups like the Scots-Irish not being the largest immigrant group at this time as Hill and his group claim, but rather they are the largest non-English group) [9] and that in the 1980 census when people were asked what their ancestry or ethnicity was, a large majority of southerners self-identified as being of English ancestry. [10]

Hill tried to revive the Southern Party in 2003. [2] A decade later, in 2013, Hill promoted "opposition to immigration and same-sex marriage." [2]

Sines v. Kessler

In October 2017, Hill was named as a defendant in a case brought by nine Charlottesville residents following the Unite the Right rally in August 2017. [11] The trial was originally scheduled for late 2020, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [12] The trial began on October 25, 2021, and the jury reached a verdict on November 23. Hill was found liable on one count of civil conspiracy under Virginia state law and was ordered to pay $500,000 in damages. [13] [14]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Confederate States of America</span> Unrecognized state in North America (1861–1865)

The Confederate States of America (CSA), commonly referred to as the Confederate States (C.S.), the Confederacy, or the South, was an unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United States that existed from February 8, 1861, to May 9, 1865. The Confederacy comprised eleven U.S. states that declared secession and warred against the United States during the American Civil War. The states are South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Daughters of the Confederacy</span> American hereditary association

The United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) is an American neo-Confederate hereditary association for female descendants of Confederate Civil War soldiers engaging in the commemoration of these ancestors, the funding of monuments to them, and the promotion of the pseudohistorical Lost Cause ideology and corresponding white supremacy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southern United States</span> One of the four census regions of the US

The Southern United States, sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, Dixieland, or simply the South, is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean and the Western United States, with the Midwestern and Northeastern United States to its north and the Gulf of Mexico and Mexico to its south.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas H. Watts</span> American politician (1819–1892)

Thomas Hill Watts Sr. was the 18th Governor of the U.S. state of Alabama from 1863 to 1865, during the Civil War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neo-Confederates</span> Modern American political grouping

Neo-Confederates are groups and individuals who portray the Confederate States of America and its actions during the American Civil War in a positive light. The League of the South, the Sons of Confederate Veterans and other neo-Confederate organizations continue to defend the secession of the former Confederate States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">League of the South</span> American white supremacist organization

The League of the South (LS) is an American white nationalist, neo-Confederate, white supremacist organization that says its goal is "a free and independent Southern republic".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lost Cause of the Confederacy</span> Negationist myth of the American Civil War

The Lost Cause of the Confederacy is an American pseudohistorical and historical negationist myth that claims the cause of the Confederate States during the American Civil War was just, heroic, and not centered on slavery. First enunciated in 1866, it has continued to influence racism, gender roles, and religious attitudes in the Southern United States into the 21st century. Historians have dismantled many parts of the Lost Cause mythos.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Porcher Miles</span> American politician

William Porcher Miles was an American politician who was among the ardent states' rights advocates, supporters of slavery, and Southern secessionists who came to be known as the "Fire-Eaters." He is notable for having designed the most popular variant of the Confederate flag, originally rejected as the national flag in 1861 but adopted as a battle flag by the Army of Northern Virginia under General Robert E. Lee before it was reincorporated.

Grady McWhiney was a historian of the American south and the U.S. Civil War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Culture of the Southern United States</span> Culture and traditions in the southern United States

The culture of the Southern United States, Southern culture, or Southern heritage, is a subculture of the United States. From its many cultural influences, the South developed its own unique customs, dialects, arts, literature, cuisine, dance, and music. The combination of its unique history and the fact that many Southerners maintain—and even nurture—an identity separate from the rest of the country has led to it being one of the most studied and written-about regions of the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Georgia in the American Civil War</span> Overview of the role of the Confederate state of Georgia during the American Civil War

Georgia was one of the original seven slave states that formed the Confederate States of America in February 1861, triggering the U.S. Civil War. The state governor, Democrat Joseph E. Brown, wanted locally raised troops to be used only for the defence of Georgia, in defiance of Confederate president Jefferson Davis, who wanted to deploy them on other battlefronts. When the Union blockade prevented Georgia from exporting its plentiful cotton in exchange for key imports, Brown ordered farmers to grow food instead, but the breakdown of transport systems led to desperate shortages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Upland South</span> Geographic region in the Southern US

The Upland South and Upper South are two overlapping cultural and geographic subregions in the inland part of the Southern United States. They differ from the Deep South and Atlantic coastal plain by terrain, history, economics, demographics, and settlement patterns.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John McQueen</span> American politician

John McQueen was an American lawyer and politician. He was U.S. Representative from South Carolina and a member of the Confederate States Congress during the American Civil War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southern Unionist</span> White Southerners opposed to secession and the American Civil War

In the United States, Southern Unionists were white Southerners living in the Confederate States of America opposed to secession. Many fought for the Union during the Civil War. These people are also referred to as Southern Loyalists, Union Loyalists, or Lincoln's Loyalists. Pro-Confederates in the South derided them as "Tories". During Reconstruction, these terms were replaced by "scalawag", which covered all Southern whites who supported the Republican Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen F. Hale</span> American politician

Stephen F. Hale was an American politician who served as a Deputy from Alabama to the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1862. In July 1862, he died of wounds received at the Battle of Gaines' Farm, in Virginia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Kershaw</span> American attorney (1913–2010)

John Karl Kershaw was an American attorney best known for challenging the official account of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968, claiming that his client James Earl Ray was an unwitting participant in a ploy devised by a mystery man named Raul to kill the civil rights leader.

White Southerners, are White Americans from the Southern United States, originating from the various waves of Northwestern European immigration to the region beginning in the 17th century. A semi-uniform white Southern identity coalesced during the Reconstruction era partially to enforce white supremacism in the region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jason Kessler</span> American white supremacist and far-right political activist

Jason Eric Kessler is an American neo-Nazi, white supremacist, and antisemitic conspiracy theorist. Kessler organized the Unite the Right rally held in Charlottesville, Virginia, on August 11–12, 2017, and the Unite the Right 2 rally held on August 12, 2018.

Elliott Kline, also known as Eli Mosley, is an American neo-Nazi and military impostor. He is the former leader of Identity Evropa, and was a prominent organizer in the alt-right movement between 2017 and 2018. He was also a key figure behind the August 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, which was one of several neo-Nazi rallies that Kline helped organize.

<i>Sines v. Kessler</i> Civil rights lawsuit decided in 2021

Sines v. Kessler was a civil lawsuit against various organizers, promoters, and participants in the Unite the Right rally, a white supremacist rally that took place in Charlottesville, Virginia in August 2017. The trial began in October 2021, and on November 23, the jury reached a mixed verdict in which they found various defendants liable on claims of civil conspiracy and race-based harassment or violence. They also found James A. Fields Jr., the perpetrator of the car attack against counterprotesters at the rally, liable for assault and battery and intentional infliction of harm. Altogether, the jury awarded the plaintiffs more than $25 million in punitive and compensatory damages, though this was later reduced by the judge to $2.35 million.

References

  1. Simpson, Brooks D. (July 7, 2015). "The League of the South Tells Rainbow Confederates to Shape Up or Ship Out". Crossroads. Retrieved December 22, 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Michael Hill". Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved October 7, 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 Atkins, Steven A. (2011). Encyclopedia of Right-Wing Extremism In Modern American History. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. p. 166. ISBN   9781598843514. OCLC   763156200.
  4. Shackel, Paul A. (2003). Memory in Black and White: Race, Commemoration, and the Post-bellum Landscape. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman Altamira. p. 185. ISBN   0759102627. OCLC   470393322.
  5. Pittock, Murray (1999). Celtic Identity and the British Image. Manchester University Press. ISBN   9780719058264.
  6. "League of the South". Southern Poverty Laws Center. Retrieved June 8, 2019.
  7. "League of the South Rhetoric Turns to Arms".
  8. 1 2 3 Hague, Euan; Beirich, Heidi; H. Sebesta, Edward, eds. (2010). Neo-confederacy : a critical introduction. Austin, Tex.: University of Texas Press. ISBN   9780292721623.
  9. A People and a nation: a history of the United States, Volume 1 by Mary Beth Norton, 1986. Pg. 74
  10. "Table 3a: Persons who reported from a single ancestry group for regions, divisions, and states: 1980" (PDF). US Census. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 July 2020.
  11. Sines v. Kessler ( W.D. Va. ), Text .
  12. Sargent, Hilary (September 21, 2020). "How Christopher Cantwell crumbled". The Informant. Archived from the original on September 22, 2020. Retrieved September 21, 2020.
  13. Moors, Macy (November 23, 2021). "Millions in damages awarded following partial Sines v. Kessler verdict". CBS19 News Charlottesville. Retrieved November 23, 2021.
  14. Lavoie, Denise (November 23, 2021). "Jury awards millions in damages for Unite the Right violence". AP News . Retrieved November 23, 2021.