Memorial managed by the East Point Historical Society.

Ike Gaston's death was certainly one of the most infamous in the City's history. His death in 1940 was the end of one of the city's accepted orders at the time, The Ku Klux Klan. The Klan not only terrorized the Black community, it's attention was also focused towards a "Moral Policing of Whites."

Ike Gaston's wife went to the Klan headquarters and lodged a complaint that she and her children had no groceries or coal and that Gaston, a white barber, had been drinking rather than providing for his family. The Klavern Klokan convened and judged Ike Gaston in need of a moral correction and assigned a "Wrecking Crew" to carry it out.

On the night of March 8, 1940, Gaston was in his Barber Shop in downtown East Point. He had been drinking heavily and laid down on the floor of the shop next to the coal stove which was burning and had placed a pillow under his head. Another shop owner in the same block of connected buildings passed Gaston's shop, saw Gaston passed out on the floor and noted that the pillow was dangerously close to the stove. Fearing that the pillow would ignite and start a fire in the block of buildings, he swiftly ran to the police station to notify them of the danger.

When he returned with a policeman, the door of Ike Gaston's shop was wide open, Gaston gone and the pillow kicked away from the stove, The Klan had called in that short time and removed Gaston from the shop.

Gaston was taken to a field on Redwine Rd. and flogged repeatedly. He was told of his violations and to correct his behavior. They then told him to walk back to town and left him in the field beaten and still under the effects of alcohol. Being in the two combined conditions, he instead laid down and passed out in the field. He died of hypothermia during the night.

After his funeral which drew over 1500 people to his burial in Hillcrest Cemetery, the town of East Point was cast into a spotlight of embarrassment and controversy. Many town officials and respected organizations called for the end of the Klan in East Point.

An investigation revealed many "white" East Point residents who had also suffered floggings for what was perceived as ill moral behavior. A lengthy trial was held resulting in the conviction of several men, some of which would eventually be buried in the same cemetery as Gaston. The men were sentenced to terms which they served and were eventually released from.

After years of ignoring the Klan's ill treatment of the black community, it took the death of a white barber to eradicate this once accepted organization considered as a fraternal order from the city once and for all.