The National Socialist Party of America (NSPA) was a
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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, coordinates =
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-based organization founded in 1970 by
Frank Collin shortly after he left the
National Socialist White People's Party
The American Nazi Party (ANP) is an American far-right and neo-Nazi political party founded by George Lincoln Rockwell and headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. The organization was originally named the World Union of Free Enterprise National ...
. The NSWPP had been the
American Nazi Party
The American Nazi Party (ANP) is an American far-right and neo-Nazi political party founded by George Lincoln Rockwell and headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. The organization was originally named the World Union of Free Enterprise Nation ...
until shortly after the
assassination of its leader
George Lincoln Rockwell
George Lincoln Rockwell (March 9, 1918 – August 25, 1967) was an American far-right political activist and founder of the American Nazi Party. He later became a major figure in the neo-Nazi movement in the United States, and his beliefs, st ...
in 1967. Collin, a follower of Rockwell, developed differences with his successor
Matt Koehl
Matthias Koehl Jr. (January 22, 1935 – October 9, 2014) was an American Marine, neo-Nazi politician and writer. He succeeded George Lincoln Rockwell as the longest serving leader of the American Nazi Party, from 1967 to 2014.
Like the C ...
.
The party's headquarters was in Chicago's
Marquette Park, and its main activity in the early 1970s was organizing loud demonstrations against
black people moving into previously all-
white
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White o ...
neighborhoods. The marches and community reaction led the city of Chicago to ban all demonstrations in Marquette Park unless they paid an insurance fee of $250,000. While challenging the city's actions in the courts, the party decided to redirect its attention to Chicago's suburbs, which had no such restrictions.
Harold Covington succeeded Collin as leader of the NSPA in 1979, before dissolving the organization in 1981.
Skokie controversy
In 1977 Collin announced the party's intention to march through the largely
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
community of
Skokie, Illinois
Skokie (; formerly Niles Center) is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States, neighboring the City of Chicago's northern border. Its population, according to the 2020 census, was 67,824. Skokie lies approximately north of Chicago's do ...
, where one in six residents was a
Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...
survivor. A legal battle ensued when the village attempted to ban the event and the party. Represented by a Jewish
ACLU lawyer in court, they won the right to march on
First Amendment
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...
grounds in ''
National Socialist Party v. Village of Skokie'', a lawsuit carried all the way to the
U.S. Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
, though it failed to carry through its intention (at the last minute,
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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, subdivision_name ...
relented and they marched there instead).
See also
*
Neo-Nazi groups in the Americas
*
National Socialist Party of America v. Village of Skokie
''National Socialist Party of America v. Village of Skokie'', 432 U.S. 43 (1977), arising out of what is sometimes referred to as the Skokie Affair, was a landmark decision of the US Supreme Court dealing with freedom of speech and freedom of ass ...
*
Marquette Park rallies From the mid 1960s until the late 1980s, Chicago's Marquette Park was the scene of many racially charged rallies that erupted in violence. The rallies often spilled into the residential areas surrounding the park.
Background
Marquette Park is ...
References
External links
*
*
*
{{Authority control
Neo-Nazi political parties in the United States
History of Chicago
Defunct far-right political parties in the United States
Political parties established in 1970
1970 establishments in Illinois
1979 disestablishments in Illinois
Political parties disestablished in 1979
Antisemitism in the United States
Anti-communist organizations in the United States