![]() ![]() ![]() The men mistook Edwards for another man who they believed was dating a white woman. Willie Edwards Jr., a truck driver, was on his way to work when he was stopped by four Klansmen. The shootings were part of an attempt by whites to terrorize blacks into giving up plans for a new school. Reese was killed and two others were wounded. John Earl Reese, 16, was dancing in a café when white men fired shots into the windows. An all-white jury found the men innocent of murder. Three nights later, two men took Till from his bed, beat him, shot him and dumped his body in the Tallahatchie River. Smith had organized blacks to vote in a recent election.Įmmett Louis Till, a 14-year-old boy on vacation from Chicago, reportedly flirted with a white woman in a store. The killer was never indicted because no one would admit they saw a white man shoot a black man. Lamar Smith was shot dead on the courthouse lawn by a white man in broad daylight while dozens of people watched. White officials offered Lee protection on the condition he end his voter registration efforts, but Lee refused and was murdered. George Lee, one of the first black people registered to vote in Humphreys County, used his pulpit and his printing press to urge others to vote. ![]() More information is available at the Civil Rights Memorial Center. The chronology below briefly describes their lives. The martyrs include activists who were targeted for death because of their civil rights work random victims of vigilantes determined to halt the movement and individuals who, in the sacrifice of their own lives, brought new awareness to the struggle. ![]() On the Civil Rights Memorial are inscribed the names of individuals who lost their lives in the struggle for freedom during the modern Civil Rights Movement - 1954 to 1968. ![]()
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