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Samuel Bowers | |
|---|---|
| 1st Grand Wizard of the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan | |
| In office February 15, 1964 – 1989 | |
| Preceded by | Position Established |
| Succeeded by | Johnny Lee Clary[citation needed] |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Samuel Holloway Bowers Jr. August 25, 1924 New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S. |
| Died | November 5, 2006 (aged 82) Mississippi State Penitentiary, Sunflower County, Mississippi, U.S. |
| Known for | Founding the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan |
Samuel Holloway Bowers Jr. (August 25, 1924 – November 5, 2006) was an American white supremacist who co-founded the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan and became its first Imperial Wizard. Previously, he was a Grand Dragon of the Mississippi Original Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, appointed to his position by Imperial Wizard Roy Davis. Bowers was responsible for instigating and planning the 1964 murders of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner by members of his Klan chapter near Philadelphia, Mississippi, for which he served six years in federal prison; and the 1966 murder of Vernon Dahmer in Hattiesburg, for which he was sentenced to life in prison, 32 years after the crime. He also was accused of being involved in the 1967–1968 bombings of Jewish targets in the cities of Jackson and Meridian (according to one of the people convicted of some of the bombings, Thomas A. Tarrants III). He died in prison at the age of 82.