Luther Jackson
Age 27
A Black Korean War veteran visiting Mississippi
Philadelphia, Mississippi
October 25, 1959
Luther Jackson, a 27-year-old Black veteran of the Korean War, was visiting Philadelphia, Mississippi, from Michigan when he was shot dead by a police officer. On the evening of October 25, 1959, Jackson was sitting in a parked car with a woman named Hattie Thompson when police officer Lawrence Rainey approached and told them both to get out of the car, according to a Department of Justice memo. When Jackson emerged, Rainey pushed him out of sight. Shortly afterward, Thompson heard one gunshot then a second.
Thompson, whose name is redacted in a Department of Justice memo about the case but was published in newspaper reports at the time, found Jackson lying dead in a ditch. She then heard Rainey contact someone, saying, “Come on down here. I think I have killed a n—-.”
Initial Investigation
When Police Chief Bill Richardson and two other officers arrived at the scene, Thompson told the men that Jackson had been killed “for nothing.” The officers then beat Thompson and fined her for disorderly conduct.
Rainey would later claim that Jackson had resisted arrest and had choked him, and that Rainey shot Jackson in self-defense.
The Associated Press reported at the time that a coroner’s inquest returned a verdict of justifiable homicide, but the DOJ memo said the department was unable to find any legal records pertaining to the case.
An October 1959 letter called on U.S. Attorney General William P. Rogers to investigate Jackson’s death. A return letter stated that, after “careful consideration” of all the evidence gathered during the investigation, the evidence did not “indicate the violation of any federal statute.”
Till Act Status
In 2008, the Department of Justice initiated a review of the circumstances surrounding Jackson’s death. In a footnote to the DOJ’s memo on the case, the department noted that it was unclear what initial investigation was done into Jackson’s death and why “the shooting of an unarmed man by a PPD officer would not qualify as a violation of ‘any federal statute.’”
As part of its new investigation, the FBI interviewed members of Jackson’s family, including two of his brothers, two sisters, a niece and a cousin. They also interviewed former members of the Philadelphia Police Department who witnessed the shooting.
Some of Jackson’s family members stated they had come to believe it was not Rainey who had killed Jackson but Jackson’s cousin Earthy Culberson. They contended that Rainey “took the rap” for Culberson because the two had a business relationship, stemming from what they cited as Culberson’s illegal enterprises. The DOJ memo does not indicate any evidence substantiating the allegations against Culberson.
Citing the deaths of both Rainey and Culberson, the DOJ closed the case in 2010.
Case Status closed
Closed 04/16/2010
Themes
- Closed All Subjects Deceased
- Closed Cases
- Deaths Involving Law Enforcement
- Men
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)