CNN’s ‘The People vs. The Klan’ examines 1981 Mobile lynching case - AL.com

In April, CNN will broadcast a four-part original series on an infamous 1981 Mobile lynching and a court battle that bankrupted a national Ku Klux Klan organization.

In March 2021, the body of Michael Donald, a 19-year old Black man, was found hanging in a Midtown lot. He’d been kidnapped by Klansmen, brutalized and killed at another location, then left on display as a sign of Klan power. The case is generally considered the last documented racial lynching in the United States.

The documentary series “The People vs. The Klan” will premiere on April 11, with the first two episodes being shown back-to-back. According to information provided by CNN, the Blumhouse Television production focuses not on Donald himself, but on “the little-known true story” of his mother, Beulah Mae Donald, who became the plaintiff in a suit against the United Klans of America.

In that case, also heard in Mobile, attorney Morris Dees won a multimillion-dollar verdict that ruined the Klan organization. In criminal proceedings, one of Donald’s killers went to the electric chair, another spent most of his life in prison and an accomplice also served a substantial sentence.

The landmark case has previously been examined multiple times, notably in Laurence Leamer’s 2016 book “The Lynching: The Epic Courtroom Battle that Brought Down the Klan.” That book gives a detailed account of the murder and the slow-moving investigation that followed. It also covers the court proceedings in detail, with emphasis on Dees’ role. Author Ravi Howard’s novel “Like Trees, Walking” also was inspired by the case.

Beulah Mae Donald's fight for justice after the lynching of her son Michael Donald is the focus of the CNN series "The People vs. The Klan."Courtesy of CNN/Warner Media

“Beulah Mae Donald’s story is one of the most remarkable displays of strength and courage our country has seen in its fight for racial justice,” said Amy Entelis, executive vice president for talent & content development at CNN Worldwide. “As cases of white nationalism rise in the US, the importance of sharing her legacy has never felt greater.”

“Even after years of my own civil rights advocacy, I was emotionally unprepared for this beautiful, powerful, and inspiring story,” said Cornell William Brooks, an executive producer on the project. “Forty years after Michael’s death, with authentic voices, the docuseries reveals not ‘both sides’ of a modern lynching but multiple dimensions of racism and resilience, and is a story that speaks life, hope and courage over our country.”

According to CNN, the first two episodes of the series will air on April 11, followed by the final two on April 18. Episodes will be streamed via CNNgo and CNN mobile apps and will be available on demand the day after they air.

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