The League of the South (LS) is an American white nationalist, neo-Confederate, white supremacist organization, headquartered in Killen, Alabama, which states that its ultimate goal is "a free and independent Southern republic". The group defines the Southern United States as the states of the Confederacy: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Tennessee, and Virginia. It claims to also be a religious and social movement, advocating a return to a more traditionally conservative, Christian-oriented Southern culture. The movement and its members are allied with the alt-right. The group was part of the neo-Nazi Nationalist Front formerly alongside the National Socialist Movement (NSM), the now-defunct Traditionalist Workers Party (TWP) and Vanguard America (VA, since rebranded as Patriot Front). The group helped organize the Pikeville rally in Pikeville, Kentucky; the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia; and the White Lives Matter rally in Shelbyville, Tennessee. The Southern Poverty Law Center has designated it as a hate group. History The organization was formed in 1994 by Michael Hill and others, including attorney Jack Kershaw and Libertarian historian Thomas Woods. The League of the South was named in reference to the League of United Southerners, a group organized in 1858 to shape Southern public opinion and the Lega Nord (Northern League), a successful populist movement in Northern Italy from which the group took inspiration. The League's first meeting included 40 men, 28 of whom formed The Southern League. Two years later, they changed the name to The League of the South to avoid confusion with the Southern League of Minor League Baseball. Among the early members were Southern professors, including its president Michael Hill, a British history professor and specialist in Celtic history at Stillman College, a historically black school in Tuscaloosa. Hill has since left his teaching position. In 2000, the group supported Pat Buchanan and the Reform Party. In time, the group's views became more extreme; by 2004, founding members Grady McWhiney and Forrest McDonald had denounced Hill's leadership and left the organization. Since 2007, The League's main publication has been The Free Magnolia, a quarterly tabloid. Views The League has been described as using "Celtic" mythology "belligerently against what is perceived as a politically correct celebration of multicultural Southern diversity". The group believes that the Southern United States should be an independent country ruled by white men. In 2001, they asked the U.S. Congress to pay