African-Americans recall hate, hurt in Danbury

Gladys Cooper, 64, is chairman of the Danbury Board of Education and a long-time activist in the area. Photo taken Wednesday, February 15, 2012.

Gladys Cooper, 64, is chairman of the Danbury Board of Education and a long-time activist in the area. Photo taken Wednesday, February 15, 2012.

Anti-Ku Klux Klan protestors flank Imperial Wizard Bill Wilkinson and Charles King on Spruce Mountain Rd in Danbury on August 7, 1982. A huge Klan rally was held on King's property.

Residents urging racial harmony, gathered to protest the recent distribution of Ku Klux Klan pamphlets in Danbury Sunday, Oct. 21, 1979.

On June 14, 1982, Danbury police question Ku Klux Klansmen after stopping them for riding up and down Main Street in Danbury shouting racial obscenities and advertising an upcoming rally in the city. Photo by Carol Kaliff/ The News-Times

The Klu Klux Klan, led by Grand Dragon James W. Ferrands, held a cross burning ceremony in Danbury in April 1982, dedicated to Dimples Armstrong, a Danbury science teacher whoo headed a committee that wrote a teacher's guide on the KKK.