Photos: A look back at the 1979 Greensboro Massacre 40 years later
News & Record photos taken during and after the 1979 clash between members of the Ku Klux Klan and American Nazi Party and Communist Workers’ Party that led to the death of four CWP members and one supporter.
Warning: Some of these images may not be suitable for children.
Klan-Nazi shooting 1979
Greensboro police officer Mike Toons, center, takes handcuffs from an officer with a gun on Nov. 3, 1979.
Klan-Nazi shooting headlines
National newspaper headlines on the day of Nov. 4, 1979.
Klan-Nazi shooting 1979
KKK members take weapons from the back of a car prior to the shooting between them and members of the Workers Viewpoint Organization/Communist Workers Party on Nov. 3, 1979.
Klan-Nazi shootings 1979
A member of the Workers Viewpoint Organization, which became the Community Workers Party, kneels beside dead friend in aftermath of shooting on Nov. 3, 1979.
Klan-Nazi shooting 1979
A victim of a shootout between the Workers Viewpoint Organization (which became the Community Workers Party) and the KKK lies on the ground in Greensboro, N.C., Nov. 3, 1979.
Klan-Nazi shooting 1979
Workers Viewpoint Organization member Nelson Johnson kneels by a victim in the aftermath of the shooting on Nov. 3, 1979.
Klan-Nazi shooting 1979
Ambulance and police work on a dead Workers Viewpoint Organization member on Nov. 3, 1979. The Workers Viewpoint Organization changed its name to the Communist Workers Party.
Klan-Nazi shooting 1979
Conrad Powell comforts his wife Frankie Powell after the Klan-Nazi shootings on Nov. 3, 1979.
Klan-Nazi shooting 1979
A body lies on the ground at the former Morningside Homes in Greensboro, N.C., after the Klan-Nazi shootings on Nov. 3, 1979.
Klan-Nazi shooting 1979
A police officer guards a Klansman in custody on Nov. 4, 1979.
Klan-Nazi shooting 1979
Suspects at Guilford County Jail (left to right) Michael Eugene Clinton, Rayford Milano Caudle, Lee Joseph McClain, David Wayne Matthews and Roland Wayne Wood on Nov. 3, 1979.
Klan-Nazi shooting 1979
Joyce Johnson, Sally Bermanzohn and Nelson Johnson at a press conference on Nov. 4, 1979.
Klan-Nazi shooting 1979
Greensboro Police Chief William E. Swing addresses participants during a news conference on Nov. 4, 1979.
Klan-Nazi shooting 1979
Greensboro Police Chief William E. Swing speaks at a news conference regarding the Klan-Nazi shootings on Nov. 10, 1979.
Klan-Nazi shooting 1979
Suspects Johnny Pridmore and Jerry Smith are led to a courtroom in the Guilford County Courthouse on Nov. 6, 1979.
Klan-Nazi shooting 1979
People display a cloth sign during a funeral march to Maplewood Cemetery in Greensboro, N.C., on Nov. 11, 1979.
Klan-Nazi shooting 1979
Communists Workers Party member Signe Waller (in flop hat) stands between national guardsmen and her husband's casket on East Market Street during a march to Maplewood Cemetery in Greensboro, N.C. on Nov. 11, 1979.
Klan-Nazi shooting 1979
A sign posted in a parking lot on East Market Street in Greensboro, N.C. during a funeral march on Nov. 11, 1979.
Klan-Nazi shooting 1979
Signe Waller leads a funeral march to Maplewood Cemetery in Greensboro, N.C. on Nov. 11, 1979.
Klan-Nazi shooting 1979
Photo taken during a march to Maplewood Cemetery in Greensboro, N.C., on Nov. 11, 1979.
Klan-Nazi shooting 1979
People participate in a funeral march to Maplewood Cemetery on Nov. 11, 1979 in Greensboro, N.C.
Klan-Nazi shooting 1979
Greensboro Police Officer C.F. Brande keeps an eye on weapons confiscated from the Nazi-Klan shootout, on Nov. 14, 1979.
Klan-Nazi shooting/KKK trial verdict 1980
Dean Masson of Guilford College stands in front of the old federal building during demonstrations after the KKK trial verdict was announced, Nov. 18, 1980.
Klan-Nazi shooting 1980
Joe Long of Colfax, home on leave from the U.S. Navy, has a one man demonstration against the Communist Workers Party on Aug. 4, 1980.
Klan-Nazi shooting 1981
Photo taken Oct. 22, 1981 at Maplewood Cemetery in Greensboro, N.C.
Klan-Nazi shooting 1983
Hal Sieber addresses crowd at showing of PBS program on the Klan-Nazi shooting, on Jan. 25, 1983.
Klan-Nazi shooting/trial 1984
People march in Greensboro, N.C. to protest the April 15 verdict in the federal Klan-Nazi trial on May 4, 1984.
Klan-Nazi shooting/trial 1984
People march in downtown Greensboro to protest the April 15 verdict in the federal Klan-Nazi trial on May 4, 1984.
Front page 38 years ago
XX HIDE VERTICAL GALLERY ASSET TITLES –
In just 88 seconds, five people at the “Death to the Klan” rally were fatally shot and 10 others were injured on Nov. 3, 1979, at the former Morningside Homes in Greensboro.
"I was afraid that some of those children were really scarred for life," says Ossie Ruth Beasley, who was president of the residents' association during what is now known as the Greensboro Massacre.
Survivors, family members and community members dedicate a marker commemorating the Greensboro Massacre that took place on Nov. 3, 1979. Commu…