****SPOILERS*** With the racial atmosphere of Caxton reaching a fever pitch in it's schools ordered by the Federal Government to be immediately desegregated in pops out of state social worker Adam Cramer, William Straton,claiming to have the best interest in the matter of race relations. But as it turns out the smooth talking and peace loving Cramer is really trying to undermine the process in the most sinister of ways. Cramer quickly starts to work on the whites, who are violently against segregation, in town to organize and start making trouble not only against the black population in Caxton but the town's newspaper's white editor Tom McDaniel, Frank Maxwell, who despite being against segregation goes along with it saying that it's the law and the law is the law.
Cramer for his part rallies the people in a number of fiery speeches as well as a fiery cross burning incident that the once quite little town of Coxton is now about to explode as soon as the first black student, escorted by Tom McDaniel, enters the towns all white high school! Meanwhile besides inciting racial violence Cramer takes time to force himself on his good friend traveling salesman Sam Griffin's , Leo Gordon, wife Vi, Jeanne Cooper, while he's away out of town on business. This reveals what a both racist as well as despicable character that Cramer really is.
It' later when a mob beats and almost kills Tom McDaniell for siding with the blacks in town that Cramer pulls out his ace in the hole by getting McDaniel's teenage daughter Ella, Beverly Lunsford, to go along with his plan. That in Ella claiming that the first black student to desegregate the school Joey Green, Charles Barns, attempted to rape her in the school's storage room while they were alone handling a new shipment of school books.
****SPOILERS*** With the news of Green's attempted rape of Beverly a mob is organized by outraged town bigwig Verne "Slapsly" Shipman, Robert Emhardt, to drag Green out of the town jail and lynch him before he's tried or even indited! With everything about to blow sky high it's Big Sam Griffin who's back in town who defuses the madness by exposing Cramer, who's leading the lynch or necktie party, for the exploitive lowlife that he really is. With the truth now out in Cramer using Ella to lie about being raped by Green and what he in fact did to his wife, by forcing himself on her against her will, Griffin had the entire town including "Slapsly" Shipman see Cramer for what he really is. And as it turned out Cramer couldn't leave the town of Coxton fast enough before he himself ended up getting lynched by the very lynch mob that he organized!
Cramer for his part rallies the people in a number of fiery speeches as well as a fiery cross burning incident that the once quite little town of Coxton is now about to explode as soon as the first black student, escorted by Tom McDaniel, enters the towns all white high school! Meanwhile besides inciting racial violence Cramer takes time to force himself on his good friend traveling salesman Sam Griffin's , Leo Gordon, wife Vi, Jeanne Cooper, while he's away out of town on business. This reveals what a both racist as well as despicable character that Cramer really is.
It' later when a mob beats and almost kills Tom McDaniell for siding with the blacks in town that Cramer pulls out his ace in the hole by getting McDaniel's teenage daughter Ella, Beverly Lunsford, to go along with his plan. That in Ella claiming that the first black student to desegregate the school Joey Green, Charles Barns, attempted to rape her in the school's storage room while they were alone handling a new shipment of school books.
****SPOILERS*** With the news of Green's attempted rape of Beverly a mob is organized by outraged town bigwig Verne "Slapsly" Shipman, Robert Emhardt, to drag Green out of the town jail and lynch him before he's tried or even indited! With everything about to blow sky high it's Big Sam Griffin who's back in town who defuses the madness by exposing Cramer, who's leading the lynch or necktie party, for the exploitive lowlife that he really is. With the truth now out in Cramer using Ella to lie about being raped by Green and what he in fact did to his wife, by forcing himself on her against her will, Griffin had the entire town including "Slapsly" Shipman see Cramer for what he really is. And as it turned out Cramer couldn't leave the town of Coxton fast enough before he himself ended up getting lynched by the very lynch mob that he organized!