Jump to content

Lynching of Elwood Higginbotham

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In September 1935, Elwood Higginbotham was lynched by a white mob in Oxford, Mississippi.[1][2]

Background

[edit]

Elwood Higginbotham was a 29 year old African American tenant farmer.[3] He was indicted and jailed for allegedly shooting his landholder in self-defense. It appeared that a conviction was unlikely.[3]

Murder

[edit]

On September 17, 1935, a mob broke into his cell and abducted him.[3] He was lynched at the intersection of North Lamar Boulevard and Molly Barr Road.[3]

No one was ever prosecuted for his murder.[3] His mother and family fled Mississippi after the lynching.[2]

Legacy

[edit]

After Higginbotham's lynching, NAACP Secretary Walter White wrote to President Franklin Roosevelt to call for a federal anti-lynching bill.[1]

In 2018, a plaque was placed where he was believed to have been lynched.[3]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b "Elwood Higginbotham". Northeastern University Library. Retrieved August 18, 2021.
  2. ^ a b Gregory, Vanessa (April 25, 2018). "A Lynching's Long Shadow". The New York Times. Retrieved August 18, 2021.
  3. ^ a b c d e f "Remembering Elwood Higginbottom: Speakers call for systematic change at plaque unveiling". Oxford Eagle. October 30, 2018. Retrieved August 18, 2021.