Flashback: In 1971, the KKK tarred and feathered Willow Run High School's principal

This story ran in the Free Press on April 3, 1971.

For a while Thursday night, the principal of Willow Run High School thought he was going to be burned to death.

He had been stopped on a dark, lonely road by a group of black-hooded men.

They pulled him out of his car and knocked him to the ground. He could see a five-gallon bucket and thought it was filled with gasoline.

"I thought they were going to set fire to my car," said Dr. R. Wiley Brownlee. "When the whole group walked back from the car, I thought, 'My God, they're going to set fire to ME.' "

Then one of the men lifted the bucket and trickled thick tar over Brownlee.

"I felt the sticky garbage all over me," he said. "I was so relieved. I thought: 'They're just going to tar and feather me.' "

And they did.

Ambushed on lovers’ lane

Dr. Brownlee, who is white, has been principal of Willow Run High School near Ypsilanti since last September. Twice this year, the school has closed after racial battles between students, and bad feelings exist throughout the blue-collar community.

According to students, Brownlee, 42, has stirred emotion and resentment among some parents by strongly endorsing racial equality at his school.

Thursday night, he attended a school board meeting to talk about a special conference he is conducting this weekend where parents, faculty and students will discuss communication between Blacks and whites.

At 10:15 p.m., Dr. Brownlee started home in his Volkswagen Squareback. He lives 15 minutes from the school administration building in neighboring Canton Township.His route takes him along a long, dark stretch of road, on which stand a few farmhouses.

"It's sort of a lovers' lane," he said. "There's always a car parked at the side of the road. Only this time, the parked car was partially blocking it."

When he got within 30 feet of the parked car, the door on the passenger side swung open and a man stepped out in front of Brownlee's car, he said.

“When he turned around,” said Brownlee, “I saw his hood.”

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Held at gunpoint

It was a high pointed hood with holes cut out for eyes, similar to the kind a Ku Klux Klansman wears. But it was black instead of white.

The hooded man pointed a shotgun at Brownlee. "He stood at the front bumper and pointed it at me and said: 'Shut 'em off, shut 'em off.' "

Brownlee turned off his lights and got out of the car as ordered.

Then he noticed another hooded man with a pistol, standing on the other side of the car.

This man ordered Brownlee away from the car, poking him in the ribs with the gun.

"That made me very submissive, said Brownlee, "to say the least."

The first man put his shotgun against Brownlee's ear. "I got very cold and clammy," Brownlee said.

The trio walked about 30 feet down the road. A second car had pulled up behind them with its lights out. Brownlee said he saw no people in the car.

Something hit him on the back' of the head, and he crumpled. "I laid in a fetal position," he said. "They thought I was unconscious, but I was being submissive.’”

This was when the men poured tar over him.

"They poured it up and down me, but they didn't put any on my head," Brownlee said.

Next time: will wear overalls

He couldn't see well, but he said he thought four to six men were standing around him. One of the men shook what looked like a bag over him.

"It was so dusty," he said. "I started to choke. It was like ashes or dirt and feathers."

As the men started to leave, Brownlee heard one of them ask: "Did you get it?"

"It" was apparently Brownlee's ignition key, because the key was not in the car when he got back to it.

He retrieved an extra key hidden in his car, put some newspapers on the seat, and stripped off his new blue double-breasted blazer. He drove back to the board meeting for help, and was taken to the high school, where he tried to remove the tar with a solvent.

He got most of it off. Friday morning, as he sat in his office, the only tar left was on his hands.

"I'm going to board meetings in overalls after this," he said.

"They were not students," Brownlee said firmly. "By their size, voices and behavior, they were men. They planned it. They knew what they were doing every minute."

They were also white. "I could see their skin around their eyes," he said.

Brownlee received a threat three months ago at a school board meeting. A man came up and handed him a KKK card.

"We kind of joked about it, but one guy said that's how they give you a threat.

"I know who he is, and so do the State Police," Brownlee added.

A student dedication

Willow Run has experienced student unrest all year, as have many high schools. "It's been racially oriented," Brownlee said, "in contrast to SDS or politically oriented unrest.

"We haven't any demands. Our relationship with students is open. That doesn't mean they're happy, but we meet with them.

"The right-wing element in our community is unhappy with the way I handle the school. The kids aren't, but this parental group is. I wouldn't say they're John Birchers, but philosophically they agree (with Birchers).

“There's deep hatred among some groups. You've got five percent of the people causing 95 percent of the problems.

"A lot of this comes out because of bewilderment. People aren't sure what to do.

"You've got to get the garbage out on the table before you can come up with a solution. That's got to be the beginning. (You can't) pretend it's not there, or pretend it's hid, or you say let's talk about something else."

Many students at Willow Run seem to agree. Tyrone Lewis, 17, a senior with a tall Afro haircut, backs Brownlee. "When he came here, he had his hands full," Lewis said.

About 11 o'clock Friday morning, two girls walked shyly into Brownlee's office to ask him if he would be at the Saturday night performance of Willow Run Drama Club's production of "Lilies of the Field."

"We don't promise it'll be very good," said Debbie Fowler, "but we'd like to dedicate the performance to you."

Three men pleaded guilty to crimes in connection with the assault on Brownlee. A jury convicted one man of conspiracy. He was Robert Miles, former grand dragon of the Ku Klux Klan in Michigan and a well-known racial terrorist in the era. In 1971, Miles and four associates were convicted of planning the bombing of school buses to be used for court-ordered desegregation in Pontiac. He spent six years in federal prison for the Willow Run and Pontiac crimes and died in 1992. In 1973, the Willow Run School Board fired Brownlee, who still enjoyed considerable support from students. He attributed his problems to “an archconservative wing of the white community.”

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: In 1971, the KKK targeted Willow Run High School's principal