Harold Kenneth Edgerton (born February 18, 1948) is an American

neoconfederate 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 organ ...

activist, known for his advocacy of

Southern Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...

heritage and the

Confederate flag The flags of the Confederate States of America have a history of three successive designs during the American Civil War. The flags were known as the "Stars and Bars", used from 1861 to 1863; the "Stainless Banner", used from 1863 to 1865; and ...

. An

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

member of the

Sons of Confederate Veterans The Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) is an American neo-Confederate nonprofit organization of male descendants of Confederate soldiers The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the militar ...

, Edgerton formerly served as president of the

Asheville, North Carolina Asheville ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Buncombe County, North Carolina. Located at the confluence of the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers, it is the largest city in Western North Carolina, and the state's 11th-most populous cit ...

, chapter of the

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. ...

(NAACP), and is currently on the board of the Southern Legal Resource Center.

Biography

Early life

Edgerton was born in

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

on February 18, 1948, the son of Roger Roland Edgerton (1917-1994), a

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

minister.

Career

Edgerton worked for improving racial issues through the Asheville chapter of the

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...

, where he was elected as president. Before becoming a president of his local NAACP, he had been an activist in support of Confederate heritage and had attended rallies supporting display of the Confederate flag. He was suspended from the NAACP in 1998 for non-compliance with the organization's rules after his Asheville branch fell into debt. He has been accused by some groups of "Neo-confederate revisionism", after meeting with Kirk Lyons, a lawyer who has taken to defending the neo-Confederate cause. By 2000, Edgerton was appointed the chairman of the board of directors of the Southern Legal Resource Center, headed by Kirk Lyons, who has defended Confederates in court. In a 2000 interview, Skip Alston, Executive Director of the North Carolina NAACP had questions about Edgerton's stand. Alston said that he had been considered "a true activist standing for what is right. I've often wondered what could cause him to do such things." In 2009, Edgerton threatened a lawsuit regarding newly elected Asheville City Council Member Cecil Bothwell, on the basis that Bothwell's atheism rendered him ineligible to serve in North Carolina public office. In events to publicize his positions, Edgerton has made solo walks: in 2002 from

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

to build awareness of Southern heritage;"The Real Price of Forgetting the Past"
''Civil War Memory'' blog, 15 September 2006 and in January 2009, when he walked from North Carolina to Washington, DC seeking "official U.S. government recognition of the Confederate battle flag as a symbol of Southern heritage" from the new administration. He is perceived by some as being heroic as an African-American member of the

, which features him at events. He has had a number of failed political campaigns for Asheville mayor and councilman.

In popular culture

In May 2006, Edgerton advanced his theories about reparations on

Penn and Teller Penn may refer to: Places England * Penn, Buckinghamshire * Penn, West Midlands United States * Penn, North Dakota * Penn, Oregon * Pennsylvania ** Penn, Pennsylvania * Penn Lake Park, Pennsylvania * Penn Township (disambiguation), several muni ...

's show '' Bullshit!.''Penn And Teller: Bullshit!@Everything2.com
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References

External links