Homer Loomis
Homer Leslie Loomis Jr. (January 31, 1914 - October 7, 1991)[1] was a corporate executive and co-founder of The Columbians a pro-National Socialist organization formed in Atlanta, Georgia in 1946.
Contents
Early life
Homer Loomis was born in New York City, the son of a wealthy Manhattan admiralty lawyer. He graduated from St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire. From 1933 to February 1935 he attended Princeton University. In New York he was something of a playboy with his name appearing in gossip columns.[2]
Loomis was drafted into the Army in 1944 and served with the Second Armored Division in Europe. He was honorably discharged in February 1946.[3]
The Columbians
In February 1946 Loomis moved to Atlanta from Virginia intending to start a white nationalist organization and become a renowned leader similar as Hitler did in Germany. By chance he meet Emory Burke at The Varsity, a famed hamburger restaurant near Georgia Tech University.[4] The two would become the principal leaders of The Columbians with Loomis taking the position of Secretary-Organizer and Burke as President.
Loomis in addressing the Imperial Kloncilium of the Ku Klux Klan, East Point Klavern Georgia said, “We promises that all the niggers in America be shipped backed to Africa, with time-bombs on board the ships as an economy measure.”[5]
The Columbians grew rapidly in Atlanta and had chapters in Philadelphia, Indianapolis, and New York City. Special interests in the city became alarmed and began arresting the Columbians on various charges.
Trial and appeal
On February 15, 1947 Homer Loomis was found guilty on several charges and sentenced March 27 to two years imprisonment in a "public labor camp" (actually a Georgia chain gang) and six months in jail on the charge of usurping police powers. Previously he faced a one year sentence at the camp for "inciting to riot."[6] There was a lengthy appeal process; Loomis only served a year sentence when he entered prison September 7, 1950.[7]
Homer Loomis Jr. was represented by his father in court who was a New York lawyer.
The Columbians was dissolved by the State of Georgia when they revoked their charter in June 1947.[8]
Beliefs
Loomis was a professed atheist but at times promoted British Israelism--perhaps for political reasons--claiming the Anglo Saxon people instead of the Jews were God’s Chosen People.[9]
Later life and death
From 1947 to 1948 Homer Loomis worked for Gerald L.K. Smith’s Christian Nationalist Crusade in St. Louis. He later became the CEO of the Rexair Rainbow Vacuum Cleaner Corporation.[10]
Homer Loomis died October 7, 1991, at Archbold Memorial Hospital in Thomasville, Georgia. At the time of his death he was survived by a brother, two sons and four grandchildren.
See also
External links
- Homer Loomis photo
- Thunderhead, Time Nov. 11, 1946
- 12/03/48 LOOMIS v. STATE COURT OF APPEALS OF GEORGIA
Notes
- ↑ Homer Leslie Loomis Jr. '36, Princeton Alumni Weekly
- ↑ No Place to Hide: The South and Human Rights, Volume 2, by Ralph McGill, page 85
- ↑ The Temple Bombing, by Melissa Fay Greene, Vintage 1997, page 35
- ↑ "The Columbians, Inc.: a chapter of racial hatred from the post-World War II South", Journal of Southern History, November 1, 2003.
- ↑ We charge genocide: the historic petition to the United Nations for relief from a crime of the United States Government against the Negro people, Civil Rights Congress (U.S.), page 191
- ↑ Homer Loomis Jr., Columbian Leader, Sentence to Two Years in Work Camp
- ↑ "Homer Loomis Jr., Leader of Defunct Anti-semitic Group, Starts Serving Prison Term", Jewish Telegraph Agency, September 8, 1950
- ↑ The Temple Bombing, by Melissa Fay Greene, Vintage 1997, page 145
- ↑ No Place to Hide: The South and Human Rights, Volume 2, by Ralph McGill, page 83
- ↑ Homer Leslie Loomis Jr. '36, Princeton Alumni Weekly
