James Edward Evansingston
Age 52
A Black husband and school teacher
Long Lake, near Drew, Mississippi
December 24, 1955
James Edward Evansingston was a Black teacher who lived with his wife in Mississippi. He was last seen by relatives shortly before Christmas 1955, three days before a local farmer found his body in shallow water near the end of a bridge in Long Lake, outside Drew, Mississippi. The farmer also found Evansingston’s car, which contained a note addressed to Evansingston’s wife and friends that said he could not stand his “sickness and worries any longer” and that his car keys were in his “pocket in the lake,” according to a 2010 Department of Justice memo about the case.
Initial Investigation
A coroner’s hearing on the day Evangsingston’s body was discovered concluded his death was a suicide. An autopsy conducted several days later also found no evidence of foul play, according to the 2010 DOJ memo.
Till Act Status
The FBI opened a review of Evansingston’s death in 2008. As part of its investigation, the bureau interviewed people familiar with the case, contacted Mississippi law enforcement and government officials, and searched various archives. The FBI also asked the Southern Poverty Law Center and the NAACP for information. The FBI search of SPLC records found an NAACP memo about a December 27, 1955, conference call concerning Evansingston’s death. The document said he had not been a member of the NAACP but that he had reportedly attended the Emmett Till trial; the document also said, “a motive for the slaying [was] not yet known.”
One of the people the FBI interviewed, who had sat on the 1955 coroner’s jury, mentioned the jury thought the case was unusual because “Black people did not commit suicide back then.” A letter the agents obtained describing the original investigation said that Evansingston’s wife had confirmed her husband’s handwriting.
Without enough evidence to prove Evansingston had not died by suicide, the Department of Justice closed the case again in 2010.
Case Status closed
Closed 04/12/2010
Themes
- Closed Cases
- 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)