Harry Haywood

Harry Haywood (February 6, 1898 – January 4, 1985), born Haywood Hall, Jr, was an American politician, military general and Marxist theoretician. One of the earliest activists of the Black communist movement, Haywood became a pioneer of the Black liberation struggle and the founding figure of the African National Congress.

During the Second American Civil War, Haywood emerged as the leader of Nat Turner Column which played a decisive role in the Red military campaign against the National Salvation Front forces in the Mississippi River valley, which was marked by fierce fighting and brutality on both sides. After the war, Haywood served as the commanding officer of the Deep South Military District, implementing the socialist reforms under the martial law administration.

The conflicting and uncompromisble attitude of Haywood and his record as both general and politician remain controversial up to this day, with many white observants seeing him as a dogmatic zealot. The black communities, however, generally consider Haywood an unyielding champion of the black self-determination and often cite his actions combating the revolutionary excesses and obstructions of justice during the Civil War as the leading factors of ending of terror in the American South.