Peter Francis
Age 59
WWII veteran and member of the Passamaquoddy Tribe of Maine
Perry, Maine
November 15, 1965
“And at that moment, I saw my grandfather—his fortitude, his strength, his ability to survive and move forward. I see that in you.”
Randy & Corey Hinton
Grandson and Great-grandson of Francis
START
RH: My grandfather, Peter Francis, he was cut from a different cloth than most men that I’ve known in my life.
The fall of 1964, my grandfather went moose hunting. This is in the deep, deep woods of Maine, and, somewheres along the way, my grandfather’s truck broke down. November came around. December came around. That was it. He’s missing. But he hunkered down in the back of the truck until the following spring. And he showed up at my grandmother’s house. He was a survivor.
MH: Take me back to the day that he was killed.
RH: I was almost 13 years of age. My mother got a phone call from my Uncle George. White hunters had come onto the reservation. And they started cruisin’ the dirt roads, looking for girls.
My grandfather tried to talk to them. He was struck, he fought back, and somewheres during the scuffle, one of the men produced a two-by-four and crushed my grandfather’s skull with it. Leaving him on the ground bleeding and the men got in their car and left.
Those hunters, they all had violent histories. And their defense was that my grandfather, an old man, had attacked them. And obviously, their defense worked, because they got off. Acquitted.
MH: Can you talk about your mom, and where she drew her strength from?
RH: She grew up on reservation life with her brothers and sisters and knew what it meant to…to survive.
I remember her describing to me that when the not guilty verdict came back from the all-white jury that the gallery stood up and cheered. And that when she walked out of the courthouse with the other Indians, they were snarled at. But my mother held her head high.
MH: I don’t think that there’ll ever be justice for our family. The men that did this will probably go to their graves thinking they got away with murder.
RH: Yeah. When you were growing up, what’s the first thing that comes to mind about your great-grandfather?
MH: I think of being stranded in the woods and what allowed him to get through those moments. I was so moved by those stories that I drew them as a kid in my storybooks for school. Those traits of strength and courage and bravery were what always stood out.
RH: And I’m glad for that.
MH: Do you recognize any of your grandfather in me?
RH: You know, it’s funny you ask that question, because this morning, you were getting your daughter ready for school and you were looking in her eyes. And at that moment, I saw my grandfather—his fortitude, his strength, his ability to survive and move forward. I see that in you. Boom, all of a sudden, I feel like I’m looking at a family member…that is no longer with us.
MH: Thank you, Dad.
END
Photo by Yoon S. Byun Photography
Peter Francis was a 59-year-old Passamaquoddy tribal member and an electrician at a U.S. naval base. He was visiting family on the Pleasant Point reservation near Perry, Maine, when he was attacked and killed by five white men on November 15, 1965.
According to a Department of Justice memo about the case, the five white men had come to the reservation on a hunting trip, and had socialized with Peter Francis and his friends and family during the day. That evening, the hunters were invited into a home there by one of the Passamaquoddy men. The hunters began making disparaging comments about Native Americans and lewd comments about Native American girls who were present. Francis had attempted to defuse the situation, but later an altercation broke out. The white men beat Francis and another man, likely with a 2-by-4, and left them bleeding and unconscious in the street. Francis died the next day from his injuries.
Initial Investigation
The county attorney initially prepared warrants charging the five men with murder, but after meeting with other law enforcement officials, the attorney said additional investigation was needed. Only one man, James Ellinwood, was charged with the lesser crime of manslaughter. At trial, Ellinwood and the other hunters testified they had beaten the two Native American men in self-defense.
According to the DOJ memo, two doctors testified that Francis died from blunt force trauma to the head, and the attending physician said that Francis’s injuries were consistent with having been struck with a 2×4.
Ellinwood denied ever having hit Peter Francis over the head.
An all-white jury acquitted Ellinwood. According to Francis’s surviving family, many whites in the courtroom rose in applause at the acquittal.
No one was charged for the beating of the other Passamaquoddy man. He died in 1971.
Till Act Status
Over the years, the Department of Justice repeatedly was asked to investigate whether Francis’ killing was racially motivated and a violation of federal civil rights. The department opened a case in 2017, in response to a request by the Tribal Nations Leadership Council. DOJ officials reviewed the original investigation and media reports but conducted no additional interviews, although at least three of the alleged perpetrators were still alive.
The DOJ closed the case in 2018, citing an expired statutes of limitations. Those limitations might have been surmountable if the crime had occurred on federal land, including reservation land, but the DOJ memo located the attack just outside the reservation. Additionally, the memo said that the state could not re-try Ellinwood, “the most culpable of the subjects,” due to double jeopardy protections. “State prosecution of the three living hunters whom the state did not originally prosecute would be extremely challenging, given that the two witnesses to the assault upon Mr. Francis … are deceased,” the memo said, referring to the other American Indian man who had been beaten and an 8-year-old who witnessed the event.
Case Status closed
Closed 10/05/2018
Themes
- Closed Cases
- Closed with Living Subject
- Men
- Storycorps Stories
About the Project
This multiplatform investigation draws upon more than two years of reporting, thousands of documents and dozens of first-hand interviews. FRONTLINE spoke to family and friends of the victims, and witnesses, some of whom had never been interviewed; current and former Justice Department officials and FBI agents, state and local law enforcement; lawmakers, civil-rights leaders and investigative journalists, to explore the Department of Justice’s reopening of civil rights-era cold cases under the 2008 Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act.
In addition to an examination of the federal effort, the project features the first comprehensive, interactive list of all those whose cases were reopened by the Department of Justice. Today, the list stands at 151 names. Among the victims: voting rights advocates, veterans, Louisville’s first female prosecutor, business owners, mothers, fathers, and children.
The project consists of a web-based interactive experience, serialized podcast, a touring augmented-reality exhibit, documentary and companion education curriculum for high schools and universities.
A project like Un(re)solved would not be possible without the historic and contemporary contributions of universities, civil rights groups, and the press, particularly the Black press, who have ensured the ongoing public record of racist violence in the United States. To pay homage to these groups, the web interactive begins with a quote from journalist, activist and researcher Ida B. Wells, one of the first to document with precision the horrors of racial terror in America. “The way to right wrongs,” she wrote, “is to turn the light of truth upon them.”
At the outset of the project, FRONTLINE forged a relationship with Northeastern University’s Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project (CRRJ), bringing them on as an academic partner. Launched in 2007 by Distinguished Law Professor Margaret Burnham, CRRJ is a mission-driven program of interdisciplinary teaching, research and policy analysis on race, history, and criminal justice. Their work has expanded beyond the names on the Justice Department’s list, archiving documents in over 1,000 cases of racially motivated homicides.
With support from the CRRJ, FRONTLINE reporters gathered what could be known about the individuals on the list, conducting interviews with family, friends and witnesses, delving into newspaper archives and gathering documentation including headstone applications, draft cards and archival photographs.
At the heart of the project has been a drive to center the voices of the families of those on the list. FRONTLINE partnered with StoryCorps to record nearly two dozen oral histories with victims’ next of kin, which are featured both in the web-based interactive and traveling AR exhibit. These oral histories will also be archived in the National Library of Congress.
To lead the creative vision for the web experience and installation, FRONTLINE partnered with Ado Ato Pictures, a premier mixed reality studio founded by artist, filmmaker, and technologist Tamara Shogaolu.
Shogaolu rooted the visuals in the powerful symbolism of trees. In the United States, trees evoke the ideal of liberty, but also speak to an oppressive history of racially motivated violence. In Persian myth, trees are humanity’s ancestors, while in Toraja, Indonesia, they serve as sacred burial sites.
“I was really inspired by looking at the role of the tree as a symbol in American history” Shogaolu said. “It’s been looked at as a symbol of freedom, we look at it as a connector between generations, and also there’s the association of trees with racial terror.” When designing the creative vision for Un(re)solved Shogaolu wondered whether she might be able to reclaim the symbol of the tree. “As a person of color, we’re often terrified of being in isolated places in the woods. And I thought it was kind of crazy that there are natural environments that instinctually give great fear because of this connection with racial terror and I wanted to reclaim that — to turn these into beautiful spaces.”
Un(re)solved weaves imagery of trees, which also recall family ties, into patterns and textures from the American tradition of quilting. Among enslaved African Americans forbidden to read or write, quilts provided an important space to document family stories. Today, quilting remains a creative outlet rich with story and tradition for many American communities.
We invite you to enter this forest of quilted memories — a testimony to the lives of these individuals, and the multi-generational impact of their untimely, unjust loss.
(Credits to come)