Michael Hill

Michael Hill (born 1951) is an American political activist and former university professor from Alabama. He is a co-founder and the president of the League of the South, a Neo-Confederate organization whose stated goal is to secede and create an independent country made up of the former states of the Confederate States of America.

Early life and education Hill was born in 1951 in Killen, Alabama. He studied history at the University of Alabama and obtained his PhD in 1985.

Career Hill taught British history at University of Alabama and at Stillman College, a historically black college in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, for 18 years until 1998. Building on the views of his mentors at the University of Alabama, he published two books on the Celts, romanticizing the "Celtic" soldier.

In 1994, Hill co-founded the League of the South, a pro-Southern secession organization, In 1995, Hill established a chapter of the League of the South on the campus of his alma mater, the University of Alabama. In an Abbeville, South Carolina speech he asked the crowd "What would it take to get you to fight? … What would it take to turn you into a William Wallace?" in reference to the central figure from the movie Braveheart. His supporters also support and glamorize groups like the IRA and the Scottish National Party.

The notion that the South is "Celtic" and the North is "English" has been dismissed by scholars on numerous grounds. and that in the 1980 census when people were asked what their ancestry or ethnicity was, a large majority of southerners self-identified as being of English ancestry.

Hill tried to revive the Southern Party in 2003. The trial was originally scheduled for late 2020, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The trial began on October 25, 2021, and the jury reached a verdict on November 23. Hill was found liable on one count of civil conspiracy under Virginia state law and was ordered to pay $500,000 in damages.