Use your voice. Say their names.
This experience asks you to speak the names of people whose lives were lost to violence — and in many cases, racist violence — during the civil rights era.
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“The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them.”
Ida B. Wells
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Twenty-seven-year-old Army Corporal Roman Ducksworth Jr. was stationed at Fort Ritchie, Maryland in 1962, when he got an urgent call. His pregnant wife Melva, was hemorrhaging and needed an emergency Caesarean section.
He was given leave to travel home to see her immediately. But Roman never made it to his wife and family in Mississippi.
His oldest son, Cordero, was five at the time. All he remembers of his father’s funeral were the sounds of the military gun salute.
Cordero grew up not knowing the details of his father’s death.
In 1989, he was married with children of his own when he received a letter in the mail.
Roman had fallen asleep on the last leg of his 1,000-mile journey home. When his bus arrived in Taylorsville, the driver called a police officer to rouse him.
After getting off the bus, an altercation ensued.
Accounts of the incident differ, but it is undisputed that Officer William Kelly shot Roman in the chest. He died within hours of his child being born in a nearby hospital.
The Sheriff's Account
Jackson Daily News - April 12, 1962
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This article, printed in the Jackson Daily News, reported the sheriff department’s version of the events that led to Roman’s death.
Sheriff Ed Martin said Wednesday night claims by the NAACP that a Negro soldier was shot “in cold blood” were “ridiculous, unfounded, and untrue.”
The sheriff said his investigation showed that when the bus arrived in Taylorsville, the driver was unable to get Ducksworth off the bus…
“The policeman went inside the bus and tried to rouse the Negro,” Martin said, “who apparently had passed out from drinking.”
“The driver and the policeman finally got the Negro to his feet, walked him outside the bus, and told him he was under arrest and to get in the car.”
Martin said Kelly said when he attempted to pull the Negro toward the car, Ducksworth struck him twice.
Kelly struck him several times with his blackjack,” Martin said, but it didn’t seem to faze him.
“Kelly told him again, ‘You’re under arrest. Go on, get in the car.’”
“The Negro refused, then struck Kelly with a ‘Judo cut,’ knocking him to his knees. Kelly swapped his blackjack for his gun and fired a warning shot into the ground at the Negro’s feet.”
“The Negro said, ‘That’s no good’ and tried to grab the gun. At that time Kelly shot him. He didn’t know what else to do.”
Less than 24 hours after Roman’s death, a local grand jury ruled it a justifiable homicide. The NAACP, the FBI and the military also opened their own investigations.
The military police interviewed almost two dozen witnesses.
The Military Police Report
View the Witness Statements
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In the military police report, obtained by FRONTLINE, nearly half of the witnesses confirm the officer’s account. They say they saw Roman hit the officer at least once, and that he lunged at the officer immediately before he was shot.
But the others said Roman was defending himself after the officer attacked him. Here are those statements:
WITNESS 1
Q: Did the negro attack the officer at any time?
A: No. He defended himself as best he could by striking the officer with his fists but only after he was struck on the head at least twice by the policeman, with some weapon. …
WITNESS 1
Q: What did the negro man do when the warning shot was fired into the ground by the policeman?
A: Nothing. He neither advanced nor retreated. He just stood where he was standing prior to the shot.
WITNESS 1
Q: Did the negro appear to provoke or invite the fatal shot by any action on his part?
A: No.
WITNESS 1
Q: In your opinion, was the police officer justified in firing the fatal shot? Was it necessary, for instance, to protect his own life or to effect the arrest or to subdue the advances or attack of the negro?
A: No, to all of the above questions.
WITNESS 2
Q: In your opinion, was it necessary for the policeman to shoot the soldier?
A: No.
WITNESS 2
Q: What was the relative size of the corporal to the policeman?
A: The corporal was a big man. I’d say about 6’2” to 6’3” and weighed at least 200 pounds. The policeman looked to be short and stocky, about 5’8” to 5’10” weighing about 175 pounds.
WITNESS 2
Q: Do you have anything to add?
A: I don’t see why the soldier was shot. He wasn’t committing a crime. He didn’t appear to be actually assaulting the policeman. It appeared to me that he didn’t want to get arrested and taken to the police station. It appeared to me that the colored man wasn’t saying anything, just shaking his head.
WITNESS 3
Q: Did you see the soldier attack the policeman with anything but his fists?
A: No.
WITNESS 3
Q: Are you quite certain that the soldier struck the policeman first.
A: Yes.
WITNESS 3
Q: Based on your observations of the incident, is it your opinion that the policeman was justified in shooting the soldier?
A: The soldier was not attacking the police officer with any weapon. As far as I could tell, he had no gun, club or knife. I do not believe the shooting was justified. I think the soldier was drunk and just scuffling with the policeman.
WITNESS 4
Q: Could you smell anything?
A: No, sir.
WITNESS 4
Q: Was he staggering around or falling?
A: No, sir. Not until they started getting him off and I don’t know whether or not he was sleepy or not.
WITNESS 4
Q: Was he in control of his senses?
A: I couldn’t say.
WITNESS 4
Q: In your opinion, do you think the corporal should have been shot?
A: No, sir, I don’t think he should have been shot and I don’t think he should have been killed, if he was shot. There isn’t any use to shoot a man.
WITNESS 4
Q: Did the policeman, in your opinion, use more force than necessary before the
shooting?
A: He was hitting him with a blackjack. I won’t say he was doing it too much. It all depends on how much he had to do it. I don’t know how much you are supposed to hit a man.
None of the investigations led to charges against the officer.
Melva, now with six children to raise on her own, let her sadness and anger at losing her husband be known throughout the town. Her family worried about repercussions and pleaded for her to move north.
A year after Roman’s death, Melva moved the family to Illinois.
They had been living there for more than 40 years when there was finally movement in Roman’s case.
In 2006, the FBI launched a cold case initiative to investigate civil rights-era murders. With the passage of the Till Act in 2008, the list of cases was growing.
Roman’s case was one of many being re-examined. But after a review in 2010, it was closed again because Officer Kelly was deceased, making prosecution impossible.
John Thomas
A Black campaigner for a Black mayoral candidate
Gwendolyn Glover
A Black mother of three from Texas
Carie Brumfield
A Black Louisiana shipyard worker
Benjamin Brown
A Black truck driver and civil rights activist
James Earl Motley
A Black passenger of a car stopped for a traffic violation
Hulet M. Varner Jr.
A Black teen on his bike in Atlanta amid civil unrest
Ben Chester White
A Black Baptist deacon who worked on a farm
Samuel Leamon Younge Jr.
A Black college student, activist and voting-rights advocate
Lee Edward Culbreath
A Black teenager riding bikes with a friend
Thad Christian
A Black man on a fishing outing
Arthur James Hill
A Black man who stopped for gas
Jonathan Myrick Daniels
A white seminarian who became a civil rights activist
William Piercefield
A Black husband and father in Louisiana
James Waymers
A Black man in a small town in South Carolina
Hosie Miller
A successful Black landowner whose wife would become an activist
Donald Raspberry
A 19-year-old Black man who worked for a white man
Jessie Brown
A Black man who worked for a white farmer
Ollie Shelby
An 18-year-old Black man in Mississippi
James Andrew Miller
A young Black man who had already been the target of violence
Nehemiah Montgomery
A Black man whose family was concerned for his mental health
Isaiah Taylor
A Black man with a history of mental illness
Silas Caston
A young Black man leaving a Jackson nightclub
Clifton Walker
A Black father of five on his way home from work
Louis Allen
A Black WWII veteran planning to move north
Ernest Jells
A young Black man who had been out with friends
Johnny Robinson
A Black teen in a city upended by a deadly church bombing
William L. Moore
His sign read “Equal Rights for All. Mississippi or Bust.”
Sylvester Maxwell
A young Black man who went out for drinks with a friend
Eli Brumfield
A Black man who worked as a plant manager
Joseph Hill Dumas
A young Black man who helped his family move into a new home
Roman Ducksworth Jr.
A military police officer with five kids and a sixth on the way
Herbert Lee
A Black cotton farmer who worked to register Black voters
David Pitts
A young Black man who worked alongside his brother Albert
Albert Pitts
A young Black man who worked alongside his brother David
Earnest McFarland
A young Black man who wanted to be paid for his work
Marshall Johnson
A young Black man who wanted to be paid for his work
Mattie Green
A Black wife and mother of six who worked multiple jobs
Luther Jackson
A Black Korean War veteran visiting Mississippi
Samuel O'Quinn
A prominent Black entrepreneur, husband, and father of 11
Joseph Franklin Jeter Sr.
A Black man who worked as a building superintendent
Ernest Hunter
A young Black husband
Richard Lillard
A Black man incarcerated in the Nashville City Workhouse
Woodrow Wilson Daniels
A Black father of five who worked as a delivery man
Willie Countryman
A Black veteran in his yard on a Sunday morning
John Larry Bolden
A 15-year-old spending time with friends
Ed Smith
A Black husband in his front yard
James Brazier
A Black husband and father who worked to buy two new cars
George Love
A Black man from a rural county in Mississippi
Clarence Horatious Pickett
A Black Baptist minister and ad salesman for a Black paper
Charles Brown
A Black airman with the U.S. Air Force
Willie Joe Sanford
A young Black sawmill worker and brother
Maybelle Mahone
A Black mother of six children
Thomas H. Brewer
A prominent Black physician and civil rights leader
Jessie James Shelby
A young Black man outside a nightclub with his girlfriend
Clinton Melton
A Black husband and father of four
John Earl Reese
A Black teen out dancing with his cousins at a rural cafe
Lamar Smith
A World War I veteran who helped fellow Black people vote
Isaiah Henry
A Black bus driver who helped neighbors study for voting tests
Harry T. Moore
Started a chapter of the NAACP, married for 25 years
Harriette V. Moore
A Black educator and advocate, married for 25 years
Hilliard Brooks
A Black 22-year-old WWII veteran
Dan Carter Sanders
A young Black veteran in North Carolina
Maceo Snipes
A World War II vet, the county's only Black voter in a primary
Elbert Williams
A Black founder of a local NAACP chapter
The Justice Department cites at least 60 victims whose cases have been closed due to the death of all identifiable subjects.
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Age unknown
Case Status unknown
Added
After Roman’s case was closed, the FBI hand-delivered a letter to Melva Ducksworth outlining the investigative efforts and their findings.
Dear Mrs. Ducksworth...
View the Letter
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In the letter written to the family, the DOJ outlines the goals of the Cold Case Initiative and their work under the Till Act. They recount the details of the killing, and then describe the reasons they will not be able to pursue prosecution in the case. The following are excerpts:
Dear Mrs. Ducksworth:
We are writing to inform you that the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) recently conducted a review of the circumstances surrounding the death of your husband, Corporal Roman Ducksworth Jr., on April 9, 1962.
… This review was conducted by FBI Special Agents and an experienced “cold case” civil rights prosecutor. We have now concluded that review and wish to inform you of our findings.
… Once off the bus, Cpl. Ducksworth struck Officer Kelly repeatedly and Officer Kelly reacted by striking Cpl. Ducksworth on the head with a “blackjack.” Officer Kelly then fired a shot into the ground and a second, fatal shot at Cpl. Ducksworth.
… After careful review of this incident, we have concluded that the now deceased Officer Kelly acted alone when he shot and killed your husband and therefore, we have no choice but to close our investigation.
… We regret that we cannot be of further assistance to you. Again, please accept our sincere condolences for the loss of your husband.”
Cordero says the experience of receiving the letter was traumatic for his mother.
The letter makes no reference to the witness statements in the 1962 military police report, some of which suggest Roman may have been defending himself.
The details recounted in the letter largely reflect the sheriff department’s version of the events.
When asked about Roman’s case, the FBI told FRONTLINE it was thoroughly investigated, but with the officer deceased, there was no one to prosecute.
But Roman’s family was looking for more.
Too Late for Justice, but What About Truth?
Hear from the FBI
What should the FBI do in cases like Roman Duckworth’s?
Ron Reed, who currently oversees the cold case initiative as chief of the FBI’s civil rights unit, told FRONTLINE that he understands families’ desires for justice and closure after all these years.
He said the Ducksworth case was “thoroughly investigated,” but it came down to the fact that they didn’t have anyone to prosecute. “I completely understand and appreciate and would love to give the family as much closure as possible. But this is just one of those cases that we did have to close.”
In reports to Congress, the DOJ say that where they can’t bring prosecutions, they seek “to provide transparency to family members of the victims” and truthful accounts of what happened to “the greater public.”
But the Ducksworth family feels the DOJ did not deliver on that promise.
For example, they say that other than Melva Ducksworth, the FBI didn’t interview anyone else in the family, including Roman’s nephew who arrived shortly after the shooting and held Roman as he died. He told FRONTLINE that it was actually he who lunged at the officer, not Roman.
“If he was a witness to the altercation and the shooting, and he was alive and willing to be interviewed and was not interviewed by the FBI, that’s horrible. He absolutely should have been interviewed,” said Cynthia Deitle, who ran the FBI’s cold case initiative from 2008 to 2011, during the time the Ducksworth case was closed. She said they should have gone farther, even if there wasn’t a case to be made in court.
“We should have conducted a full and thorough investigation just to uncover the truth, that’s my personal opinion,” Deitle said. “I’m not sure how much leeway the FBI would have to pursue a case where no one’s getting arrested or prosecuted. You know, it’s not the job of the FBI to investigate a case where, again, the bad guy’s dead and we know he did it and he’s dead. It’s just, I guess, I always expected us to do more.”
Deitle and several other former FBI officials told FRONTLINE the agency’s resources and staff were limited. According to some of them, the cold case initiative was left to overwhelmed agents, who were often balancing current, ongoing investigations with the decades-old cold cases — investigations that were now mandated by the Till Act.
“The pushback that I often got was, ‘Look, there’s nothing that’s going to come of this cold case,’” said Deitle. “‘I’m pretty sure the person who killed the victim is deceased. I am not going to waste my time on this case. No one’s going to prosecute it.’”
At least 60 cases re-examined under the Till Act would eventually be closed due to the deaths of all identifiable subjects; 50 of those cases were closed in 2010 alone.
The FBI’s Reed said that overall this is not a reflection of a lack of effort or resources, but the limits of their abilities as agents and prosecutors. “We try very hard to make it work every time, but it doesn’t work every time.”
For her part, Cynthia Deitle looks back at her time running the unit with some regret.
“I will always think that we could have done more, that there was just that one last interview that we should have gotten, that there was one more door we should have knocked on,” she said. “I feel like I failed the families, I feel like I failed communities.”
Cordero Ducksworth says that if the Justice Department had asked him what he and his family wanted, it would have been to publicly correct the record — even if they couldn’t bring a case in court. They hoped the FBI would make clear that his father’s death was not a justifiable homicide.
Any such change would come too late for Melva Ducksworth to witness. She passed away three weeks after receiving the letter from the FBI.
In 1965, Alberta O. Jones was appointed Louisville’s first female prosecutor.
A profile ran in the local paper soon after, detailing the 34-year-old’s accomplishments as a lawyer and voting rights advocate. The headline read, “Hard to Keep Up With, That’s Alberta Jones.”
Making Headlines
The Courier-Journal and the Louisville Defender
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Alberta’s rise was chronicled in the news, from her firsts as a Black woman lawyer to her work representing Muhammad Ali, when he was still known as Cassius Clay. These are excerpts from some of those stories.
Miss Alberta Jones, a June graduate of the Howard University School of Law, this week became the first Negro woman to pass the Kentucky State bar examination held in July.
… Cassius and his father are mulling over what are described as two good options from Louisville and one from out of the city. Helping the Clays with this knotty problem is a woman attorney — Miss Alberta Jones.
Miss Jones lives with her mother, Mrs. Sadie Jones, a widow since 1951, and her sister Mrs. Flora Shanklin and Mrs. Shanklin’s 8-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son
… And, she says, for social life “I have to find time.
In the past six years she has been most active in the Independent Voters Association, a group she helped organize and which has been responsible for getting some 6,000 persons registered to vote.
A native of Louisville, she was graduated with honors from Central High School and the University of Louisville, where she had a scholarship. Then there was another scholarship to the Howard University School of Law, where she was graduated in 1959 fourth in a class of 70.
“When I got back home a lot of people said ‘You’ve got two strikes against you. You’re a woman and you’re a Negro.’ ‘Yeah, but I’ve got one strike left, and I’ve seen people get home runs when all they’ve got left is one strike.”
Miss Alberta O. Jones, left, discusses plans for a week-long student campaign to register Negro voters in the Southwick and Cotter public housing pojects…
An energetic woman with a quick wit, Miss Jones has almost become accustomed to surprises, but admits she was “shocked” to find out she was being considered for the post..
But as her younger sister Flora remembers, Alberta never let success go to her head.
Late one August night, Alberta got a call from a friend insisting she come over. Flora recalls that Alberta was reluctant to leave the house, but did not want to disappoint her friend.
The next morning, a group of boys found Alberta’s body floating near the banks of the Ohio River. The autopsy report indicated that she had gashes on her face, and the cause of death was drowning.
A Bright Light is Extinguished
Headlines from Louisville Papers
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The same newspapers that documented Alberta’s rise also covered her murder and the investigation. These are excerpts from some of those stories.
The body of Miss Alberta O. Jones, prosecuting attorney in Louisville Domestic Relations court, was found about 10:35 a.m. yesterday in the Ohio River near Fontaine Ferry Park.
Lt. Charles Young, chief of Homicide, said there had been no “significant” breakthrough in the case but the department was attending to every detail in connection with the case.
Young said blood samplings, fingerprints and other material have been sent to the Federal Bureau of Investigation laboratory at Washington, D.C., for examination. The particles were taken from the car in which Miss. Jones was riding at the time of her death.
The car was found two days following the attorney’s death … about 3 blocks from where a couple said they saw two men dragging off a screaming woman Wednesday night.
MEMBERS OF THE FAMILY of the late Atty. Alberta O. Jones arrive for the funeral …
Members of the family assisted by friends are her mother, Mrs. Sadie Jones, center, her sister, Mrs. Lutishia Shanklin and brother, Calvin Jones.
A coroner’s jury ruled yesterday that Miss. Alberta O. Jones, whose body was found in the Ohio River Aug. 5, “met her death by drowning and from the evidence we have heard, we believe it was at the hand of a person or persons unknown.”
Homicide Detective Roy Meyers told the jury yesterday that the FBI laboratory had analyzed several items found in Miss Jones’s rented car, but said they “appeared to be of no value.”
Meyers said the Police Department still does not have a good suspect, even though detectives have questioned more than 300 persons.
Alberta had been working as a city prosecutor for five months when she was murdered. There was speculation at the time she may have been targeted for her civil rights activism, or died at the hands of a disgruntled defendant she prosecuted at the Louisville family court.
Her sister, Flora, vividly remembers the days that followed.
Alberta’s murder sparked one of the largest investigations in the Louisville Police Department’s history. Almost 400 people were interviewed by police. But the case eventually went cold.
Decades passed.
Then, in 2008, a match was found for a fingerprint taken from the car Alberta was driving on the night of her murder. The print belonged to a Black man from Louisville who was 17 when Alberta was killed.
He told authorities he had no idea how his fingerprint ended up in the car, but said he sometimes hung out and hitchhiked in the area. He denied any involvement in Alberta’s death and was never named as a suspect.
A few years later, the case drew the attention of a political science professor at Bellarmine University, Dr. Lee Remington. She and Flora worked together to have the case opened under the Till Act.
It was 2016 and the number of victims with open cases under the Till Act had dwindled to 15. The law was set to expire at the end of the year.
Then, as one of his last acts as president, Barack Obama signed the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crimes Reauthorization Act.
It eliminated the sunset provision so the law would never expire.
Cases as recent as 1979 would now be eligible to be included on the list; previously it had been 1969.
In 2018, Alberta’s case was added to the Till Act list. Three years later, Flora says she was finally contacted by the DOJ.
When Alberta’s case was added to the list, it joined a handful of cases that remain open under the Till Act.
Anthony Adams
An openly gay Black activist
Leonard Brown
A Black student at Southern University
Denver Smith
A Black student at Southern University
Margaret Ann Knott
A young Black woman who joined a peaceful protest
Jo Etha Collier
A Black college-bound student who graduated with honors
Donna Ann Reason
A 9-year-old daughter and sister in a mixed-race family
James Earl Green
A Black high-school student who also worked to support his family
Phillip Lafayette Gibbs
A new Black father enrolled in pre-law studies at college
William Wright Jr.
A young Black wresting fan caught up in the Augusta Riot
Mack Wilson
A Black Army veteran and father of a 3-year-old
John Stokes
A beloved Black son, swept up in historic protests
Charlie Mack Murphy
A Black man who moved home just before historic protests
Sammie L. McCullough
A young Black man who was "inseparable" from his childhood friend
Henry Marrow
A Black father of two known as "Dickie" to his friends
John Bennett
A Black man who went searching for his stolen car
Edwin Pratt
An influential Black equal-rights advocate and desegregator
Carol Jenkins
A young Black woman with a new job selling encyclopedias
Henry Smith
A Black college student with an interest in civil rights
Delano Middleton
A star high-school athlete known as "Bumpy" to his friends
Samuel Hammond Jr.
A Black college football player whose family called him "Bubba"
Eddie Cook
A Black grandfather who stopped for coffee
Alberta O. Jones
A fearless and trailblazing Black woman prosecutor
Clyde Briggs
A teacher and pastor who helped Black people register to vote
Mack Charles Parker
A Black truck driver and Army veteran in Mississippi
Emmett Till
The 14-year-old boy for whom the law is named
As of June 2019, the DOJ reported 25 victims whose cases remain open.
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Age unknown
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Added
The FBI says they are seeking new leads to investigate. The cases added since the reauthorization span decades, from 1946 to 1978, for killings committed as far south as the Mississippi Delta and as far north as the Canadian border.
The Reauthorization
A New Chapter of Cold Cases
The reauthorization of the Till Act ushered in a renewed sense of hope that some measure of justice might yet be possible in civil rights era crimes.
“When this bill was signed into law, family members, academics, historians, lawyers, advocates began working to develop a full accounting for these long-standing, gross human and civil rights atrocities,” Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) said in a statement in 2016. “The reauthorization passed by Congress is a response to their appeals to make the law a better tool in their quest for justice.”
With the removal of the sunset date, the DOJ was given an opportunity to address criticisms of the initiative — including resolving funding issues with Congress and making it easier for prosecutors to apply for grants.
The DOJ did not respond to questions about funding. But by 2020, it had established a program to support funding to state, local and tribal law enforcement and prosecutors for costs associated with cold case murders. At least one grant has been awarded.
Another issue the DOJ says it is addressing is errors in its cold case documents. FRONTLINE found many instances of incorrect death dates, locations and ages of victims. We found 12 instances where names were misspelled or misrepresented on the list or in official DOJ documents, including letters written by the Justice Department to the victims’ families.
Many of those errors can be traced back to documents that were given to the DOJ when cases were referred. The DOJ says it is in the process of correcting many of these errors and going forward is planning to work more closely with families to ensure accurate reflection of victims’ names.
For Ron Reed, the head of the FBI’s unit pursuing these cases, the reauthorization is also a chance to call out for more leads.
“It would be great if, after this interview, that we get a bunch of new leads and new matters that we can investigate,” he told FRONTLINE.
Neither the FBI nor the DOJ would say specifically how many agents or prosecutors are dedicated to the cold case effort. But in a statement, the DOJ said it is in the process of adding three attorneys to work on cold case matters, as well as a dedicated investigator.
Reed said that despite the challenges, “I would say that we’re absolutely living up to the mandate. It’s just that the work itself is very — in order to do a good job in any investigation — is very slow and steady.”
The FBI declined to comment on Alberta O. Jones’ case. It remains under review.
Meanwhile, Flora Shanklin is still waiting for justice.
Jimmie Lee Jackson grew up in a large, close-knit family in Marion, Alabama. He worked as a farmer, carpenter and logger. He also served as a deacon at his church.
Florence Lauderdale was his first cousin. As a child, she spent a lot of time with Jimmie.
Growing up in Alabama, Jimmie and his family lived under Jim Crow laws. There were segregated bathrooms, schools, buses.
In early 1965, a prominent civil rights activist was arrested and held in the county jail in Marion. Word quickly spread that he might be lynched. An evening march was organized in protest.
On the night of February 18th, activists met at a nearby church where they planned to march to the jail. They had barely started when the streetlights went out, and police descended with billy clubs.
A group of terrified demonstrators sought shelter inside a small café. Among them were Jimmie, his mother Viola; and his grandfather, Cager Lee. Alabama state troopers followed them inside.
The state trooper said that Jimmie had attempted to take his weapon, and the gun discharged when Jimmie struck his hand.
While at least one witness statement generally corroborated the trooper’s account, three other witnesses said they saw the trooper draw his gun and intentionally shoot.
Eight days after being shot inside the cafe by a state trooper, Jimmie died.
His death led to the historic voting rights march from Selma to Montgomery. During the first attempt at that march, led by a young activist named John Lewis, police beat peaceful protestors as they crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge.
The violence was broadcast on national television, sparking shock and outrage around the world.
Bloody Sunday
See the Photos
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The police officer who shot Jimmie was not charged. For many years, few even knew his name.
Until 2005, when a local reporter, John Fleming, interviewed him for a newspaper story.
James Bonard Fowler Goes on Record
The Anniston Star - March 6, 2005
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In 2005, reporter John Fleming’s interview with James Bonard Fowler, the state trooper who shot Jimmie Lee Jackson, was published in The Anniston Star Tribune. The following are excerpts from that story:
Speaking on the record for the first time, the former trooper, while showing scant remorse in describing the events of Feb. 18, 1965, says he doesn’t fear the possibility of prosecution.
Forty years later, still no Justice Department official, including members of the FBI, have ever questioned the trooper about the death of Jimmie Lee Jackson.
For Fowler, the killing was simply a question of self-defense. Directly, forcefully and simply put, he had to protect himself. Jackson was going for his gun so he shot him.
“Jimmie Lee Jackson was not murdered,” he says. “He was trying to kill me and I have no doubt in my mind that, under the emotional situation at the time, that if he would have gotten complete control of my pistol that he would have killed me or shot me. That’s why my conscience is clear. …”
Fowler wants his side of the story to be told and does not fear indictment.
“I don’t think legally I could get convicted for murder now no matter how much politics they got ’cause after 40 years they ain’t no telling how many people is dead,” he says.
After Marion and the shooting of Jimmie Lee Jackson, Fowler went back to his duties as a state Trooper. He was transferred to Birmingham and promoted. He never, he says, got so much as a letter of reprimand.
They never asked me about Jimmie Lee Jackson,” says Fowler. “I met a couple of [federal] agents, but they never asked me about Jimmie Lee Jackson.”
Soon after the story ran, an Alabama district attorney, Michael W. Jackson, headed to Marion to investigate.
Witnesses told him that James Fowler didn’t shoot in self-defense, and that Jimmie had been trying to protect his family from being beaten by police.
The district attorney also learned that the trooper had shot and killed another Black man, Nathan Johnson, a year later. Similarly, Fowler also claimed he was defending himself, and was never charged in that death.
Armed with this evidence, the D.A. moved forward with a prosecution.
In 2010, James Fowler pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the death of Jimmie Lee Jackson. He was sentenced to six months in prison.
The DOJ cites the Jimmie Lee Jackson case as one of the successes under the Till Act.
In a memo on the case, it noted that federal charges were precluded by a five-year statute of limitations. So the prosecution could only happen at the state level.
But the memo went on to say, “the FBI lent its assistance to the State of Alabama in prosecuting the subject.”
District Attorney Michael Jackson said that assistance was limited to help with access to archival evidence.
And he said that after the trial, the DOJ turned him down for funding to pursue other cold cases — despite the fact that under the Till Act, Congress was authorized to give the DOJ money to provide such grants.
The DOJ declined to comment on the district attorney’s request. But they have repeatedly reported that Congress has not actually given them the money for grants under the Till Act.
Funding For the Till Act
Hear from Alabama DA Michael W. Jackson
After reaching a guilty plea in the Jimmie Lee Jackson case in 2010, District Attorney Michael Jackson — the first Black man ever elected to serve as the top prosecutor in one of the state’s largest judicial circuits — set out to investigate other civil rights era cold cases.
Jackson was aware that under the Till Act, the DOJ was supposed to have access to millions of dollars to help local authorities like him. But he said there was no clear way to apply for the funding.
So, Jackson said he wrote the DOJ directly in 2014, requesting at least $1 million to investigate more cases.
“I do remember them replying back that there were no funds available under the Emmett Till Act to disperse out,” he said. Jackson did not have documentation of the DOJ’s response, but said, “when you’re told you’re not going to get any money, you don’t forget that.”
Jackson is one of a number of state prosecutors who have said they were not able to access funding through the Till Act. In the same year Jackson says he was denied funding, the issue was raised at a forum about the Till Act held by Syracuse University.
“We’ve gone to district attorneys. They’ve said, ‘Well if I had the money, I’d do this. I don’t have the money. I have one investigator for my whole county. I don’t have the resources,’” said Janis McDonald, a law professor and co-director of the Syracuse University Cold Case Justice Initiative.
She said she’s heard repeated complaints from prosecutors that they don’t know how to apply for money, and that she hasn’t been able to help them because the process is “very, very difficult” and “complex.”
The DOJ did not respond to FRONTLINE’s questions about its funding for the cold case initiative.
Under the Till Act, Congress was authorized to provide the DOJ with up to $13.5 million every year — some of it meant to be dispersed to state and local authorities. But year after year in its reports to Congress, the DOJ said that in fact “no funding has been appropriated for grants under the Till Act… and the Department has received no applications for grants from state or local law enforcement.”
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), a co-sponsor of the Till Act, expressed disappointment “these cases did not take the priority that this legislation intended them to be.” And she acknowledged that, “Congress, in its overall funding of the DOJ may not have been as focused on pinpointing those dollars.”
Success stories under the Till Act are few and far between.
The DOJ has cited two federal prosecutions and two state prosecutions other than the Jimmie Lee Jackson case. But those convictions happened before the Till act passed.
Since the law went into effect, there have been no new federal charges brought in any of the cold cases.
Ben Chester White
A Black Baptist deacon who worked on a farm
Jimmie Lee Jackson
A father, voting rights activist and the youngest deacon in his church
Michael Schwerner
A white husband and Freedom Summer civil rights worker
Andrew Goodman
A white college student who helped register Black people to vote
James Chaney
A young Black man who helped Black people register to vote
Charles Eddie Moore
A Black son and brother who met up with a childhood friend
Henry Hezekiah Dee
A high-school graduate proud of his stylish new hairdo
There are seven victims on the Till Act list whose cases the DOJ cites as successful, recent prosecutions.
Select a leaf to learn more
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Case Status unknown
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Jimmie’s cousin Florence still lives in Marion, where he’s remembered alongside other civil rights martyrs.
Despite the rare legal victory in his case, Florence and her family still wonder what might have been. She grapples with the decades that passed before justice was finally sought against James Fowler.
Peter Francis, a member of the Passamaquoddy Tribe of Maine, was a WWII veteran and naval electrician living in Connecticut with his family.
He had raised six children, and had nearly 20 grandchildren. One of them was Randy Hinton.
In November of 1965, Peter, who was 59, took a trip to the Maine reservation where he grew up.
On the reservation, Peter and another tribal member, Christopher Altvater, met five white hunters. The men were looking for alcohol, and according to witnesses, to meet women.
By most accounts, the interactions that day seemed friendly — Christopher helped them buy beer and had a few drinks with the men. But Peter and Christopher also spent time running interference between the hunters and young female family members who were declining their advances.
The group ended up at Christopher’s house for dinner when tempers flared and the encounter turned deadly.
Peter’s grandson Randy remembers hearing the news.
Christopher Altvater was injured in the fighting, but was able to call the police. Peter was taken to a hospital and died the next morning.
The local police opened an investigation and interviewed all five hunters. The men said they had gone to the reservation seeking alcohol, not women.
They said they were only defending themselves in the fight, but admitted that Peter was unconscious when they drove away.
On the scene, police found a two-by-four stained with Peter’s blood.
The Aftermath
From the Portland Herald Press
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The local paper, The Portland Herald Press, chronicled the investigation and ultimate trial of one of the hunters. The following are excerpts:
Early reports indicated that a group of hunters were being questioned by authorities in connection with Francis’ death.
A young Billerica, Mass., hunter pleaded innocent to a man-slaughter charge Friday in connection with the apparent beating of a 58-year-old Indian from Groton, Conn.
…no charges were brought against four other Massachusetts hunters who had been questioned in the case…
A 24-year-old Massachusetts construction worker pleaded innocent to two counts of manslaughter… and a trial which has attracted the attention of church organizations and civil rights groups throughout the state…
James Ellinwood of Billerica, Mass., … stood before the court attired in a dark suit and tie, well groomed, calm and composed.
A Washington County Superior Court jury deliberated just over two hours Tuesday before returning a verdict of “not guilty”…
Twenty-six-year-old James Ellinwood, the man accused of striking Peter Francis with a two-by-four, was charged with manslaughter.
At the trial, the hunters testified that the Indian men attacked first, and that they struck back in self defense. James Ellinwood testified that he never hit Peter Francis over the head with anything.
The all-white jury took only two hours to deliberate before returning a not guilty verdict. No charges were ever brought against the other four hunters.
Randy’s mother, Peter’s eldest daughter, was in the courtroom when the verdict was read.
Over the years, Peter’s family, along with various tribal and religious groups, repeatedly asked the Justice Department to investigate his death, and explore bringing federal charges against Ellinwood or the other hunters.
In 2017, the case was reopened under the Till Act.
Four of the hunters, including Ellinwood, were still living. But by then, Christopher Altvater and his son, the only other witness to the attack, had both died.
Just one year later, the DOJ closed the case again. In a letter to the family, they outlined a number of barriers to bringing a prosecution: the death of the witnesses; the prohibition against trying someone for the same crime twice, known as “double jeopardy”; the statute of limitations at the time; and a lack of federal jurisdiction.
Dear Mr. Hinton...
View the Letter
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In the letter written to the family, the DOJ recounts details of the killing, and describes the reasons they will not be able to pursue a prosecution in the case. The following are excerpts:
We are writing to inform you that the Department of Justice recently concluded a review of the circumstances surrounding the November 15, 1965, death of your grandfather, Peter Francis…
…we have determined we are unable to prosecute anyone for this incident because we lack federal jurisdiction to pursue an investigation, and because all identifiable eyewitnesses to the incident leading to your grandfather’s death are deceased.
And while in certain circumstances federal jurisdiction may extend to crimes committed on Native American reservations, the assault the killed your grandfather took place just outside the reservation…
Prosecuting any cold case matter is extremely challenging, given the difficulty in locating witnesses, the spoliation of evidence, and fading memories. In addition to these challenges, this case presents additional hurdles. The only two witnesses to the assault upon Mr. Francis – Christopher Altvater and Kirk Altvater – are deceased.
Moreover, the Double Jeopardy Clause of the United States Constitution prohibits the state from re-trying Ellinwood, the most culpable of the subjects, and the evidence we have reviewed does not indicate that anyone other than Ellinwood personally used force upon your grandfather.
We regret that we cannot pursue further federal action regarding the terrible event near the Pleasant Point Reservation … Again, please accept our sincere condolences on your family’s loss.
Shortly before Randy received the letter, he got a call from the DOJ. They wanted to prepare him for the news he was about to receive.
It was not the first time the DOJ had to explain to family members why, despite the fact that a suspect was still alive, they would not be pursuing a case any further.
A Wall of Legal Barriers
Where the Road to Justice Ends
Roy Austin was the Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division from 2010-2014. He worked on many civil rights era cold cases. He told FRONTLINE that time and time and again, prosecutors ran up against the limits of the law — legal barriers, like double jeopardy, in these old cases.
But, Austin said, “the problem with that, in many of these cases, is that there were oftentimes all-white, biased juries that found the people who were involved not guilty.”
Among the DOJ’s most routinely cited impediments to bringing prosecutions —other than subjects and witnesses being dead — are:
- State and federal statutes of limitations prevented prosecutors from bringing charges for crimes after a certain number of years. Today, most murders and racially motivated killings are no longer subject to federal statutes of limitations. But the law does not apply retroactively.
- Double jeopardy. The Constitution ensures that once a suspect has been acquitted of a crime, they cannot be prosecuted for it again.
- Lack of federal jurisdiction. In order for the federal government to prosecute a crime, certain conditions must be met. A federal law must be violated, or the crime must have taken place on federal land, including Indian reservations. Otherwise, it’s up to the states to bring charges. Today, hate crimes (which include racist crimes) are federal offenses. But in the 1960s, they were not, and the law does not apply retroactively.
In the case of Peter Francis, the DOJ cited all of these barriers.
Regarding criticisms of the DOJ’s efforts, Austin said, “From where I was sitting, everything that could have been done with those cases, by the time we got them, was done with those cases. Every attempt to prosecute those cases was done.”
In the DOJ’s 2019 report to Congress, it said, “despite achieving convictions in a few civil rights-era cold cases, there remain significant legal limitations on the federal government’s ability to prosecute these cases… Even with our best efforts, investigations into historic cases are exceptionally difficult, and rarely will justice be reached inside of a courtroom.”
Milton Leon Scott
A young Black father of two with a pregnant wife
Larry Payne
One of hundreds of students who skipped school amid a historic event
Alphonso Harris
A Black activist and singer known as "Bear" for his friendly warmth
Collie Hampton
A young Black man at home
Eddie James Stewart
A young Black cabinet maker and husband
Nathan Johnson Jr.
A Black man who drove a Cadillac
Peter Francis
WWII veteran and member of the Passamaquoddy Tribe of Maine
Joseph Robert McNair
A Black steelworker and father of six
Johnny Queen
A disabled Black man who shined shoes for a living
John Wesley Wilder
A Black man outside a cafe with friends
James Reeb
A white minister from Boston who went to Selma to march for voting rights
Frank Andrews
A Black Alabaman out for a drink with a friend
James Powell
A Black teen attending summer school
Michael Schwerner
A white husband and Freedom Summer civil rights worker
Andrew Goodman
A white college student who helped register Black people to vote
James Chaney
A young Black man who helped Black people register to vote
Johnnie Mae Chappell
A Black woman who went to buy ice cream for her 10 children
Virgil Ware
A Black teen on a bike with his older brother
A.C. Hall
A Black teenager walking with a friend after an event at the local veterans club
William Roy Prather
A Black teenager out with friends on Halloween
Willie Edwards Jr.
A Black husband and father of two who worked as a truck driver
Bessie McDowell
A Black woman who was asleep in her bed
George Lee
A Black reverend who helped register nearly 100 Black voters
There are at least 20 victims on the Till Act list like Peter Francis, whose cases were closed because of legal hurdles — even though a subject was still alive.
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Randy shared the stories of his grandfather’s life and death with his own children, including his son, Michael-Corey Francis Hinton.
Now a lawyer specializing in Native American law, Michael-Corey says the incident inspired him to become a civil rights activist.
Peter Francis’ headstone is located in a small graveyard on the Pleasant Point reservation.
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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)