By Hands Now Known, page 31
163constitutional authority to act: Lawson, To Secure These Rights, 123.
163in the South were segregated: Michael Klarman, From Jim Crow to Civil Rights: The Supreme Court and the Struggle for Racial Equality (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), 9.
163“none of Washington’s business”: Francis Biddle to Oscar Henry Doyle, Dec. 11, 1943; United States v. Erskine, DOJ Litigation Case File 144-68-9; “County Citizens Pay Erskine Fine,” Anderson Independent, n.d.
164“by a vindictive government”: “Jury Frees 2 Ala. Police in Beatings: Federal Court Case Lost by US Before Local Jurors,” Chicago Defender, July 3, 1943.
PART IV: THE SCREWS EFFECT: RACIAL VIOLENCE IN THE SUPREME COURT
165“please take it up again”: Ethel Davis to Attorney General Tom Clark about the police killing of her son, Jul. 28, 1945, DOJ Litigation Case File, 144-20-9.
21. “LOOK TO THE STATES”
167impenetrable opinion in 1945: United States v. Screws, 325 US 91 (1945).
168review in the Supreme Court: Eric Foner, Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution, 1863–1877 (New York: Harper & Row, 1988), 530.
168reversed the convictions: James Gray Pope, “Snubbed Landmark: Why United States v. Cruikshank (1876) Belongs at the Heart of the American Constitutional Canon,” Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review 49, no. 2 (2014): 385; United States v. Cruikshank, 92 US 542 (1875). Section 51 was then Section 6 of the Enforcement Act of 1870.
170“but it is not so averred”: Cruikshank, 92 US 542, 556.
170“surrendered to the United States”: United States v. Cruikshank, 92 US at 552.
170utility for years to come: See, e.g., Slaughter-House Cases, 83 US 36 (1873); Ex Parte Siebold, 100 US 214 (1879); Minor v. Happersett, 88 US 162 (1875); United States v. Harris, 106 US 629 (1883).
171the high court judgment: Pope, Snubbed Landmark, 415.
171the beginning of Hodges v. United States: Hodges v. United States, 203 US 1 (1906).
171“irrespective of party”: William G. Whipple, US Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, to Philander C. Knox, Attorney General (May 8, 1903), quoted in Pamela S. Karlan, “Contracting the Thirteenth Amendment: Hodges v. United States,” Boston University Law Review 85: 783, 785 n10 (2005).
172state actor’s unconstitutional conduct: United States v. Classic, 313 US 299 (1941).
172he never got to the bottom of the matter: NAACP Papers Box I-D21, Folder H: Legal Files, General.
22. A “PATENTLY LOCAL CRIME”
175his head was smashed in: These facts and quotes are drawn from Screws v. United States, Brief for the United States, Respondent, and a transcript submitted with the petition for certiorari.
175“struck him with a blackjack”: Baker County News, Feb. 12, 1943, quoted in in Christopher Waldrep, Racial Violence on Trial: A Handbook with Cases, Laws, and Documents (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2001), 75.
175“the attorney for the state”: Screws, 325 at 124.
175a person’s constitutional rights: NAACP Papers, Part 7, Series A, Reel 25, Notes for Spreadsheet.
175been used so infrequently: Screws, 325 (Roberts dissent, joined by Frankfurter and Jackson), at 82.
175Justice Douglas put it, “trial by ordeal”: Screws, 325 at 106.
176“legislation were adopted to uproot”: Screws, 325 at 114–117.
177right to due process: Screws, 325.
177“ugly abyss of racism”: Korematsu v. United States, 323 US 214, 233 (1944).
177“when he was hit”: Leo Meltzer, “Our Civil Rights,” An Address to the Chicago Civil Liberties Committee, Feb. 18, 1950.
177“antagonism on States’ rights grounds”: O. John Rogge, Assistant Attorney General, to All United States Attorneys, May 21, 1940, Memorandum, “Federal Jurisdiction over Violations of Civil Liberties.”
178“[explicitly deny racial equality]”: United States v. Cruikshank, 25 F. Cas. 707, 714 (1874).
23. “VICTIM … OF A QUARRELSOME NATURE”
179“Uncle Sam’s Man [now]”: Eddie Lee Thomas Aff., Dec. 12, 1944, DOJ Litigation Case File 144-20-9.
180vindicating her son’s death: Interview, Marvin Roundtree Cox, July 16, 2013 (interviewer: Mia Teitelbaum) (on file with author).
181“of a quarrelsome nature”: Kimbrough FBI Report on James Bohannon, Apr. 3, 1944, DOJ 144-20-9.
181“received all relevant testimony”: Letter to FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover from Assistant Attorney General Tom C. Clark, USDJ, Apr. 13, 1944, DOJ 144-20-9.
182“we could prove … specific intent”: Memorandum from Assistant Attorney General Clark to Attorney General Francis Biddle, May 12, 1945, DOJ 144-22-9.
183“actions of the officers”: Judge Archibald B. Lovett to Ethel Davis, July 19, 1945, NAACP Papers, Legal Files: Soldier Killing, Davis, Willie, 1943–1945.
183“to please take it up again”: Ethel Davis to Attorney General Tom Clark, July 28, 1945, DOJ Litigation Case File 144-20-9.
183“justice that is this case”: Crews v. United States, 160 F.2d 746 (5th Cir. 1947).
183by fishermen sometime later: Theron Caudle, “Sam Mcfadden, Victim,” Memorandum, Nov. 30, 1945, DOJ 144-18-41.
184Justice Douglas affirmed the conviction: Williams v. United States, 342 US 97 (1951).
24. “BAD BIRMINGHAM”
191per 100,000 people: “11,000 Slain Yearly in U.S. A Sharp Rise,” New York Times, Mar. 3, 1935.
192boasted 7,000 members: Thomas R. Pegram, “The Ku Klux Klan, Labor, and the White Working Class During the 1920s,” Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era 17, no. 2 (2018): 373–396; Keith S. Herbert, “Ku Klux Klan in Alabama from 1915–1930,” Encyclopedia of Alabama; Glenn Feldman, “Soft Opposition: Elite Acquiescence and Klan-Sponsored Terrorism in Alabama,” Historical Journal 40, no. 3 (1997): 753–777.
25. NEGROES ARE RESTLESS
195the officers claimed: “Negro Worker Is Shot to Death by Fairfield Police,” Southern News-Almanac, May 1, 1941.
195a postman and two ministers: “Extra! Officer Kills Negro,” Weekly Review (Birmingham, AL), Apr. 10, 1942.
196to shoot in self-defense: “Officer Kills Negro in Downtown Area,” Birmingham News, Apr. 9, 1942.
196drew 3,000 protesters: “Policeman’s Shooting of Negro to Be Aired Before Grand Jury,” Weekly Review (Birmingham, AL), Apr. 17, 1942.
196Black people were “restless”: “Ministers Petition City Commission,” ibid.
197“segregation or lose their jobs”: Alabama, Sept. 18, 1942: 7; Bayard Rustin, “The Negro and Nonviolence,” Fellowship of Reconciliation 8, no. 10 (Oct. 1942): 166.
197“Shot Six Times by White Bus Driver”: “Negro Shot Six Times by White Bus Driver,” Birmingham World, Aug. 28, 1942.
198“a police power over slaves”: Ulrich B. Phillips, American Negro Slavery: A Survey of the Supply, Employment, and Control of Negro Labor as Determined by the Plantation Regime (New York: D. Appleton, 1940), 500.
198breaking the windows: “Negro Shot Six Times by White Bus Driver,” Birmingham World; “Negro Shot by Bus Driver,” Weekly Review (Birmingham, AL), Aug. 22, 1942.
26. “MR. VAN”
200put his hand into his pocket: “T.C.I. Police Officer Shoots Negro Suspect,” Birmingham News, Dec. 22, 1946.
200“he is going to steal”: Michel Foucault, “Security, Territory, Population,” in The Courage of Truth, ed. Michel Senellart, trans. Graham Burchell (Lecture Series at the Collège de France, 1977–1978).
201the man who shot him: “Case of William Daniel’s Death,” SNYC Papers, Box 1, Moorland-Spingarn Research Center.
201after her husband’s murder: Michelle Amelia Newman, “They Shot Me for Nothing: A Legal and Historical Account of William Daniel’s Murder,” Apr, 5, 2014, Civil Rights & Restorative Justice Project (on file with author).
202“to the first rumor”: Interview, Demetrius Newton, July 2, 2013 (interviewer: Michelle Newman) (on file with author).
204“Big Mules into full scale panic”: Wayne Flynt, Alabama in the Twentieth Century (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2004), 61.
204“the whole community, educated”: Interview, Vida Rouse, July 26, 2019 (interviewer: Noah Lapidus) (on file with author).
204“it would be large crowds”: Interview, Vida Rouse.
206“no contract dispute [was] involved”: “Negro Miners’ Death Halts Coal Production,” Dothan Eagle, June 9, 1948.
206his way to the mine: “Stoppage Hampers TCI Minework,” Alabama Journal, June 9, 1948; “Miners Strike over Shooting of Negro,” Shamokin News-Dispatch, June 8, 1948.
206Butler’s body from the back: “Stoppage Hampers TCI Mine Work,” Alabama Journal.
206“never in his life carried a pistol”: “Bama Cops Slay Former Preacher,” New York Amsterdam News, June 12, 1948.
206“10 days in Jefferson County”: “B’ham Civic Groups Score Terror Reign,” Pittsburgh Courier, June 26, 1948.
207covered in Jet magazine: Appeal to the Supreme Court of Alabama from the Circuit Court, Tenth Judicial Circuit of Alabama, Jefferson County, United States Steel Company vs. Allie Glass Butler, Appellee, Transcript No. 20581-X, November 21, 1953; “Ala. Widow Awarded $10,000 Judgement,” Jet, May 1, 1952.
208claim that Butler had a gun: Appeal to the Supreme Court of Alabama from the Circuit Court, Tenth Judicial Circuit of Alabama, Jefferson County, United States Steel Company vs. Allie Glass Butler, Appellee; United Steel Co. v. Butler, 69 So.2d 685 (1953); “$10,000 Verdict OK’d in Alabama,” Pittsburgh Courier, Jan. 30, 1954.
208“children received black lung money”: Interview, Vida Rouse.
208screenings for black lung disease: Robert Woodrum, Everybody Was Black Down There: Race and Industrial Change in the Alabama Coalfields (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2003), 3.
27. “NEGRO YOUTH, SHOT NEAR WHITE RESIDENCE, DIES”
209“Negro youth, shot near white residence, dies …”: “Negro Youth, Shot Near White Residence Last January, Dies,” Birmingham News, July 24, 1950.
209membership to 1,000 by 1940: “Birmingham Gets Prize for Best NAACP Branch,” June 20, 1941, Birmingham, Alabama, Branch Operations, 1940–1944, Papers of the NAACP, Part 26: Selected Branch Files, 1940–1955, Series A: The South. On Emory Jackson’s life and career, see Kimberley Mangun, Editor Emory O. Jackson, The Birmingham World, and the Fight for Civil Rights in Alabama, 1940–1975 (New York: Peter Lang, 2019) and Gene Roberts and Hank Klibanoff, The Race Beat: The Press, the Civil Rights Struggle, and the Awakening of a Nation (New York: Knopf, 2006).
210white supremacist organization in Georgia: Letter, NAACP Birmingham Branch Officials to “Community Leader[s],” Apr. 23, 1948, Papers of the NAACP, Box II C2 F2, AL Branch Files.
210because of the police killings: “Ike Madden, 40, Killed by Policemen,” Birmingham World, Mar. 30, 1948; “Negro Groups Ask Probe of Slayings in Jefferson Co.,” Opelika Daily News, June 15, 1948. In addition to convening a presidential inquiry into civil rights matters in 1946, President Truman in 1948 issued an executive order desegregating the armed forces.
210to the committee’s demands: “B’ham Civic Groups Score Terror Reign,” Pittsburgh Courier.
211targets for police vitriol: “A Way to Stop Police Brutality,” Birmingham World, Apr. 27, 1948.
211more alarming than the last: “Birmingham Negroes Ask Killing Probe,” Alabama Journal, June 15, 1948.
211“to grab the police driver”: “Ike Madden, 40, Killed by Policemen,” Birmingham World.
211“pulled a knife” on him: “Patrolman Kills Man; Coroner Investigating,” Birmingham News, Apr. 27, 1948.
211“in his pocket for a knife”: “Police Kill Bessemer Man,” Birmingham World, May 4, 1948.
211“his house with a knife”: “Officers Exonerated in Killing Near Flat Creek,” Anniston Star, May 11, 1948.
211“cursed and drew an icepick” on police: “Officer Kills Negro; Says He Drew Pick,” Birmingham News, May 31, 1948.
211civil jury later rejected: “Stoppage Hampers TCI Minework,” Alabama Journal, June 9, 1948; “Miners Strike over Shooting of Negro,” Shamokin News-Dispatch, June 8, 1948.
212“attempted to pull a pistol”: “Negro Is Victim of Cop’s Bullets: Becomes 7th of Race to Die,” Huntsville Times, June 18, 1948.
212accused of breaking into: “Police Shoot Negro,” Selma Times, Aug. 12, 1948.
212“been drinking pretty heavy”: “Charles Wright Killed by Officer,” Atlanta Daily World, Sept. 17, 1948.
212January 15, 1949: “Negro Shot, Killed in Salvage Yard,” Alabama Journal, Jan. 17, 1949.
212“knife after resisting arrest”: “Peace Officers Kill 5th Negro,” Birmingham World, May 3, 1949.
212“and knocked him down”: “City Detective Shoots Negro in Shoulder,” Birmingham News, May 31, 1949.
212selling illegal lottery tickets: “Mother Wounded, Son Killed by Cops,” Pittsburgh Courier, Aug. 6, 1949.
212“contact with Patterson’s head”: James M. McInerney, Assistant Attorney General to Thurgood Marshall, Dec. 18, 1951, DOJ Litigation Case File 144-1-121.
213“the commission of a crime”: “Youth Shot Fleeing from Northside Home,” Birmingham News, Jan. 4, 1950; “Negro Youth, Shot Near White Residence Last January, Dies,” Birmingham News, July 24, 1950.
214as the extant records reveal: Clarence Mitchell to Peyton Ford, Assistant to the Attorney General, July 17, 1951, DOJ 144-1-121.
215“white man’s attack may be”: Ida B. Wells-Barnett, “Mob Rule in New Orleans,” in Southern Horrors and Other Writings: The Antilynching Campaign of Ida B. Wells, ed. Jacqueline Jones Royster (Boston: Bedford Books, 1997).
215“on the black charred ground”: James Baldwin, Going to Meet the Man (New York: Dial Press, 1965), 251.
28. ABDUCTION: SOUTHWEST MISSISSIPPI
222“stealing a man”: State v. Williams, 31 NC 140 (1848).
223“by coercion if necessary”: From Whitecap organizational literature, in Magnolia Gazette (Aug. 19, 1893), quoted in William F. Holmes, “Whitecapping: Anti-Semitism in the Populist Era,” Jewish Historical Quarterly 63, no. 244 (Mar. 1974).
223Black men in Southwest Mississippi: Alfred Whitley (kidnapped 2/16/64, Natchez), James Winston (2/15/64, Natchez), Archie Curtis (2/16/64, Natchez), Willie Jackson (2/16/64, Natchez), Ivey Gutter (6/11/64, McComb), Wilbert Lewis (6/19/64), Henry Dee (5/2/64, Meadville–killed), Charles Moore (5/2/64, Meadville–killed).
223white man in that county alone: Report of Adams County Deputy Sheriff Hernandez to A. L. Hopkins, Feb. 18–20, 1964, MSSC 2-63-1-114.
224Jones had fled in 1964: This account of the events involving Burl Jones is based on an interview with Jones on July 26, 2008 (interviewers: author and Janeen Blake) (on file with author). See also Donna Ladd, “Evolution of a Man: Lifting the Hood in South Mississippi,” Jackson Free Press, Oct. 26, 2005.
224criminal enterprise targeting Blacks: Charles Marcus Edwards, testimony in United States v. James Ford Seale.
225legitimacy of corporal punishment: James Q. Whitman, Harsh Justice: Criminal Punishment and the Widening Divide Between America and Europe (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), 173: “[p]eople who were flogged in America risked being thought of as slaves.”
225how close to slavery they still were: Orlando Patterson, Slavery and Social Death (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1982), 3.
226by death under Mississippi law: Under the state’s criminal code, kidnapping was a capital offense and remained so until the Supreme Court limited the death penalty to murder. Miss. Code Ann. § 97-3-53, derived from Code 1942, Section 2238; Laws 1974, Ch. 576 § 3, eff. from and after passage. Section 2238 (1956) applied at the time of the cases discussed herein. The statute defines the crime as follows: Any person who shall without lawful authority forcibly seize and confine any other person, or shall inveigle or kidnap any other person with intent to cause such person to be secretly confined or imprisoned against his or her will … (shall be guilty of kidnapping). In Johnson v. Mississippi, 288 So.2d 842 (1974), the Supreme Court of Mississippi upheld a kidnapping conviction where the defendant forced the victim into his car at gunpoint, drove several miles, robbed and threatened to kill the victim, then released him. The court held that “when one is forced at gun point to enter an automobile, and while confined therein is driven away against his will from a place where he has a right to be, along a route and to a destination unknown to his friends and acquaintances, he is, within the meaning of the statute, ‘secretly confined and imprisoned.’ ” See also McGuire v. Mississippi, 231 Miss. 375, 95 So.2d 537 (1957).
227he never truly recovered: Jerry Mitchell, “Spy Agency Files Detail ’64 Beatings of Black Men,” Clarion Ledger, June 10, 2007.
227No arrests were made in the case: Gabriel J. Chin, ed., United States Commission on Civil Rights: Reports on the Police (Littleton, CO: Fred B Rothman, 2005) (hereinafter USCCR 1965 Report), 96–103, 463.
227clandestine NAACP supporter: Investigation of Archie G. Curtis, July 17, 1961, Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission, 2-63-53A.
228their alleged NAACP membership: USCCR 1965 Report, 96–103, 463.
228“two Colored Males that they had been beaten”: The sheriff wrote that he “received a call to come to the Adams County Jail to investigate a report by two Colored Males that they had been beaten by four or five masked men.” USCCR, Investigative Reports Produced in Response to Subpoena, 496.
228released him on the open road: The facts are drawn from hearings before the United States Commission on Civil Rights. Hearings Before the United States Commission on Civil Rights, Vol. II: Administration of Justice, Hearings Held in Jackson, Miss., February 16–20, 1965, at 451, in USCCR 1965 Report.
228“goes to lunch everyday together”: Ibid., at 493.
228disappeared from the area: Ibid., at 451, 493.
229“beatings” of Negro men: See, e.g., Report to the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission, “Investigation of Whippings and Armed Robberies of Negro Men in Adams County by Hooded or Masked White Men,” Feb. 20, 1964, MSSC 2-63-1-114.
