CHATTANOOGA, Tenn., Feb. 27— The jury that awarded $535,000 to five black women in the first civil rights suit filed against the Ku Klux Klan dealt a blow to ''Klansmen and terrorists everywhere,'' the women's lawyer said.
A jury of five whites and one black deliberated two and a half hours Friday before returning the judgment in Federal District Court against three former Klansmen, Bill Church, Marshall Thrash and Larry Payne.
The jury decided the former Klansmen had conspired to shoot the women, who were wounded in shotgun blasts over three nights of riots in 1980. The women had sought $1.5 million.
''This verdict sent a message to Klansmen and terrorists everywhere,'' said Randolph Scott-McLaughlin, the women's lawyer. ''It indicates we will bring them to justice today and whenever we have to. It proves we will go to the courts for protection.''
Mr. Thrash, who fired the shotgun, and Mr. Payne sat impassively in the courtroom as the jury foreman announced the judgment. Mr. Church, a former imperial wizard of the Justice Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, did not attend the eight-day trial.
