Gene Brown
Age Unknown
A Black man whose story remains a mystery
Kosciusko, Mississippi
June 12, 1963
After the assassination of civil rights activist Medgar Evers in 1963, Evers’ brother Charles released a list of 11 victims who had died under mysterious circumstances in the months following his brother’s death. On the list was the name “Pheld Evans,” who reportedly died in Canton, Mississippi. Charles Evers could not provide any additional information about the case.
After inquiring with civil rights activists in the Canton area, the FBI eventually came to believe that Evans’ real name was Gene Brown; Evans was his mother’s maiden name. Questions cloud the exact time or nature of Brown’s death, but investigators uncovered two separate theories: Some of his relatives said he had been killed by the Ku Klux Klan, while other people said he had been accidentally killed by a cousin.
Initial Investigation
According to a Department of Justice memo about the case, the FBI found no evidence of any law enforcement investigations into Brown’s death prior to the agency opening a review of the case in 2008.
Till Act Status
Prompted by the name on Charles Evers’ list, the FBI opened a review of the circumstances surrounding Brown’s death in 2008. In a memo about the investigation, the Department of Justice stated that, once agents ascertained that “Pheld Evans” was likely referring to a man named Gene Brown who had died in 1964, they interviewed a number of Brown’s relatives.
One relative reportedly told agents that Gene Brown and one of his cousins, Eddie Brown, were beaten to death by Klan members in Kosciusko, Mississippi, a town about an hour northeast of Canton. The person said that “white folks were strict during those days; they would beat Black folks for anything.” Another relative said Gene and Eddie had been beaten and run over near Thomastown, another town in the vicinity, but could not identify the perpetrators or the source of the account.
But four other people interviewed by the FBI contradicted those accounts, alleging Gene and Eddie had accidentally been killed by another relative, Percy Mack Jr. According to a letter the Department of Justice sent to Brown’s next of kin about the case, one of the interviewees said that sometime in 1964, Mack dropped Gene and Eddie off at a girlfriend’s house in Kosciusko. Later, Gene and Eddie left the house and were walking down the road toward a place they planned to meet back up with Mack.
The interviewee told investigators that Mack came across his cousins on the road and the three “were playing games” when Mack accidentally ran over and killed Gene and Eddie. Mack then allegedly returned home and told his parents, who washed down the car. Afterward, according to the interviewee, the rumor of the Klan beating started. Three other people interviewed by investigators said they had heard the same story from a relative of Mack’s.
The FBI learned that Gene Brown may be buried at a local cemetery, but agents were unable to find the gravestone or any records of his burial there; however, they did find the gravestone of Mack, who died in 1978.
The FBI also contacted the Canton Police Department, the Madison County District Attorney’s Office, the Natchez Park Police, the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office, the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, the Mississippi Department of Public Safety and the Mississippi Bureau of Vital Records, but none of those agencies had records relevant to the death of Gene Brown. The case was closed in 2010.
Case Status closed
Closed 04/28/2010
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)