Weird Little Guys

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Latest Episodes:

Say a Good Word for Slavery: Jack Kershaw, Pt. 3 Apr 30, 2026

Show notes

In the final part of the story about Jack Kershaw, we'll talk about his legal career. Before he represented MLK's assassin, before he sculpted a gigantic racist statue out of old bathtubs, he got a law degree from a part time night school program at the YMCA so he could do his part to stop integration.
Sources:
Phillips, Betsy. Dynamite Nashville: the FBI, the KKK, and the bombers beyond their control. Third Man Books 2021.
Houston, Benjamin, et al. “‘We Kept the Discussion at an Adult Level’: Jack Kershaw and the Tennessee Federation for Constitutional Government.” Southern Cultures, vol. 20, no. 4, 2014, pp. 72–88. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/26217566

Graham, Hugh Davis. “Desegregation in Nashville: The Dynamics of Compliance.” Tennessee Historical Quarterly, vol. 25, no. 2, 1966, pp. 135–54. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/42622869

McMillen, Neil R. “Organized Resistance to School Desegregation In Tennessee.” Tennessee Historical Quarterly, vol. 30, no. 3, 1971, pp. 315–28. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/42623247

Michael J. Henry, Student Display of the Confederate Flag in Public Schools, 33 J.L. & EDUC. 573 (2004).
https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2824&context=jled

Egerton, Joel. Walking into History: The Beginning of School Desegregation in Nashville
https://southernspaces.org/2009/walking-history-beginning-school-desegregation-nashville/

https://www.ahcuah.com/lawsuit/federal/melton.htm

https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/328/88/1428295/

https://www.splcenter.org/resources/hatewatch/klanbly-friendly-tennessee-state-becomes-hate-tourist-mecca/

https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/42777957/james-n-mason/

https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/BR/81/897/1821803/
https://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entries/the-fugitives/

https://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entries/clinton-desegregation-crisis/
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/24/us/nashville-civil-rights-bombings.html

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The Princess in the Parking Lot Apr 23, 2026

Show notes

Police in New Jersey arrested a woman found sleeping in her car in a strip mall parking lot after the plates came back registered to a stolen vehicle. Her lawyer, Tennessee segregationist Jack Kershaw, insisted that his client was not only innocent, but said she was telling the truth - she really was a Romanian princess.
Sources:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1509995/HRH-Prince-Carol-of-Romania.html

https://www.nytimes.com/1979/12/23/archives/new-jersey-weekly-the-princess-and-the-police-once-upon-the.html

https://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/07/15/Lawsuit-against-princess-dismissed/2985395553600/

https://stiri.botosani.ro/stiri/actualitate/paul-de-romania-mai-are-un-frate-printul-alexandru.html

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CZM Rewind: Disney's Villain Apr 16, 2026

Show notes

After losing his job, an ex-Disney employee tried to get his former employer's attention by hacking in and making strange updates to company files.

Original Air Date: 6.5.25
Sources:
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69534211/united-states-v-scheuer/
https://www.eeoc.gov/what-you-can-expect-after-you-file-charge
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/26/us/disney-worker-prison-hacking.html

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Playboy Payola: Jack Kershaw, Pt. 2 Apr 09, 2026

Show notes

Decades before he sculpted a Confederate general out of old bathtubs, Jack Kershaw briefly represented his most famous client - Martin Luther King Jr's assassin, James Earl Ray. The relationship soured after Ray discovered his lawyer had pocketed a payment from Playboy magazine.
Sources:
James McKinley, "Playboy Interview: James Earl Ray," Playboy Magazine, September 1977
https://www.nytimes.com/1977/08/09/archives/polygraph-indicates-ray-lied.html

https://www.nytimes.com/1977/10/25/archives/james-earl-ray-wants-mark-lane-to-replace-his-tenth-lawyer.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/28/sports/the-barkley-marathons-few-know-how-to-enter-fewer-finish.html

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Strange People on the Hill feat. Michael Edison Hayden Apr 03, 2026

Show notes

Molly interviews Michael Edison Hayden about his new book, Strange People on the Hill: How Extremism Tore Apart a Small Town. The book is an intimate portrait of what happened in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia after a white nationalist group moved into the castle on the hill.
Preorder the book now or buy it anywhere books are sold when it comes out on April 7, 2026

https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/michael-edison-hayden/strange-people-on-the-hill/9781645030607/

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The Ugliest Confederate Statue in the World: Jack Kershaw, Pt. 1 Apr 02, 2026

Show notes

Jack Kershaw created his most famous piece of art in his 80s. His lifelong passion for the arts had to take a backseat when he shifted his focus to becoming a professional racist during the fight against integration. He was doing it for his confederate ancestors, he would often say. But he was never very specific about who exactly his ancestors were...
The It Could Happen Here episode mentioned, originally aired 2/22/2024 -
https://open.spotify.com/episode/1ZQAqsxImsNGQUTzHGKhNp
Sources:
https://thesewaneepurple.org/2021/03/23/polk-sculpture-donated-by-white-supremacist-jack-kershaw/

https://thesewaneepurple.org/2021/03/22/polk-sculpture-removed-by-student-taken-to-archives/

https://meridiana.sewanee.edu/2022/04/30/a-year-later-a-letter-of-explanation/

https://www.moca.org/collection/work/unmanned-drone

https://religiondispatches.org/2025/10/28/swords-plowshares

https://www.sipcville.com/

https://www.vpm.org/news/2026-03-23/swords-into-plowshares-cville-jefferson-school-designs-hood-push-mass

https://www.vpm.org/news/2024-05-23/swords-into-plowshares-robert-e-lee-statue-charlottesville-centennial

https://www.npr.org/2021/02/23/970610428/nearly-100-confederate-monuments-removed-in-2020-report-says-more-than-700-remai

https://segregationinamerica.eji.org/report/confederate-icongraphy.html

https://wpln.org/post/even-as-statue-forrest-still-draws-fire/

https://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/03/30/Ray-says-lawyer-hid-Playboy-fee/1722386312400/
The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, August 2017
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvCjM1lPwg4

Last Week Tonight With John Oliver, October 2017
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5b_-TZwQ0I

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Minisode: The Real Earl Turner Apr 01, 2026

Show notes

Before we leave the novels of William Luther Pierce behind us, let's take a quick look at the real Earl Turner. The protagonist of The Turner Diaries was, like all of Pierce's characters, named after a real guy he knew.

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The Nazi's Mary Sue: Hunter, Pt. 2 Mar 26, 2026

Show notes

At the end of this exploration of nazi serial killer Joseph Paul Franklin and the novel loosely based on his crimes, the question remains: did any of his friends in the white power movement know what he was going to do before he did it? What clues does the novel hold?
Sources:
Pierce, Kelvin. Sins of My Father, Growing Up with America's Most Dangerous White Supremacist. Independently Published, 2020
Griffin, R. S. (2001). The Fame of a Dead Man’s Deeds. 1st Books Library.
Mel Ayton, Dark Soul of the South: The Life and Crimes of Racist Killer Joseph Paul Franklin, Potomac Press, Inc., 2011
Sunshine, Spencer (2024). Neo-Nazi Terrorism and Countercultural Fascism: The Origins and Afterlife of James Mason’s Siege (1st ed.). New York, NY: Routledge
Bill Simmons, "Defendants All Acquitted In Sedition Trial," AP News, April 8, 1988
https://www.kcur.org/news/2024-04-12/overland-park-antisemitic-murders-jewish-community-center-shooting-survivors

https://www.sacbee.com/news/nation-world/article2595772.html

http://www.kansas.com/2014/04/15/3406670/records-suggest-federal-authorities.html

https://momentsthatsurvive.org/tribute/pierce-hastings/

https://www.wunc.org/2014-04-15/an-idiot-with-a-gun-leaves-families-in-kansas-reeling

https://www.kmbc.com/article/shooting-victim-remembered-for-upbeat-attitude-work-with-kids/3681879

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The Nazi's Mary Sue: Hunter, Pt. 1 Mar 19, 2026

Show notes

A closer look at the second novel by the man who wrote The Turner Diaries reveals that it isn't just about serial killer Joseph Paul Franklin... it's the author's fantasy about the man he wishes he could have been.

Sources:

Pierce, Kelvin. Sins of My Father, Growing Up with America's Most Dangerous White Supremacist. Independently Published, 2020

Thomas Martinez, Brotherhood of Murder: The Shocking Inside Story of The Order. McGraw Hill, 1988

Griffin, R. S. (2001). The Fame of a Dead Man’s Deeds. 1st Books Library.

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One Man Race War: Joseph Paul Franklin, Pt. 6 Mar 12, 2026

Show notes

As we approach the end of the series on nazi serial killer Joseph Paul Franklin, the rest of the timeline is filled in. Shortly after murdering two young men in Utah, Franklin was arrested at a motel in Kentucky after calling to complain that a police car had him double parked.
Sources:
Mel Ayton, Dark Soul of the South: The Life and Crimes of Racist Killer Joseph Paul Franklin, Potomac Press, Inc., 2011
Ralph Echols, Life Without Mercy: Jake Beard, Joseph Paul Franklin and the Rainbow Murders,
Sunshine, Spencer (2024). Neo-Nazi Terrorism and Countercultural Fascism: The Origins and Afterlife of James Mason’s Siege (1st ed.). New York, NY: Routledge
Flynn, Kevin, and Gary Gerhardt. The Silent Brotherhood: Inside America's Racist Underground Free Press ; Collier Macmillan, 1989.

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