Elbert Williams
Elbert Williams (October 15, 1908 - June 20, 1940) was an African-American from Brownsville, Tennessee and an early leader in the civil rights movement[1][2] Williams was one of the five charter members of the NAACP of Brownsville's NAACP Branch.[1][3][2] Williams is known to be the first NAACP member to be lynched and/or murdered for his civil rights activities.[1][2][4]
Elbert Williams | |
|---|---|
| Born | Elbert Williams October 15, 1908 |
| Died | June 20, 1940 (aged 31) Brownsville, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Civil rights activist |
| Spouse(s) | Annie Mitchell |
| Parent(s) | Mary Green and Albert Williams |
Williams was born in rural Haywood County, Tennessee to a sharecropper family.[1][3][2] His parents were Mary Green and Albert Williams.[2] His grandfather was a slave[3] He received education until eighth grade at public schools, although there were no buildings for black elementary students.[2]
Williams married his high-school sweetheart Annie Mitchell in 1929.[1][3][2] The Great Depression prevented Williams and his wife from farming, so they moved to Brownsville in the early 1930s.[1][3][2] They found work at the Sunshine Laundry where Elbert worked as a fireman and Annie worked as a presser.[1][3][2]
On June 12, 1939, Williams and other members of Brownsville established a local chapter of the NAACP.[1][5][2] The branch was the fifth branch in Tennessee.[2] Elbert and Annie were both charter members.[2] Although African-Americans were legally allowed to vote, African-Americans were not permitted to vote in Brownsville.[2] The goal of the chapter was to register and exercise their right to vote.[1][3]
On the night of June 20, 1940, Sheriff Samuel “Tip” Hunter and police officer Charles Reed took Williams from his home and jailed him to interrogate him about the NAACP.[3][4] Hunter claimed to have released Williams.[3][4] Williams was never seen alive after this night. Three days later on the morning of June 23, 1940, Williams's body was found in the Hatchie River.[1][3][4] He had been murdered and identified by his wife.[3][5][4] In August 1940, a Grand Jury was convened and ruled William's death as a homicide by parties unknown.[5][3] This was the last recorded lynching in Tennessee.[6]
On June 20, 2015 a historical marker for Williams was unveiled in Haywood County.
His murder case has been reopened under the Tennessee's new Civil Rights Crime Cold Case Law of 2018. District Attorney Garry G. Brown for the 28th Judicial District of Tennessee reopened the case in August 2018.[7]
Brownsville NAACP and Voting Rights
At the time, Haywood County was one of three counties in Tennessee in which African Americans were not permitted to vote.[3][2][4] On May 6, 1940, Reverend Buster Walker, president, Taylor Newburn and Elisha Davis, each executive member of the NAACP as well as members John Lester and John Gaines, visited the county registrar's office with intentions to register to vote.[5][3] The five members were directed to Judge J.T. Pearson who pointed them to the Electoral Commission to register.[3][4] The members were told that registration would not begin until August.[3][4]
After the members attempted to vote, members of the white community began to threaten the members of the NAACP.[3][4] Reverend Walker and Davis received threats from the police chief, the mayor, and former mayor that there would be trouble if any African American were registered or were encouraged to register to vote.[3][4] The members of the NAACP nor any African American of Brownsville registered to vote for the 1940 election.[3][4]
Lynching
Before the lynching of Williams, he was negotiating the purchase of Elisha Davis's gas station.[1] This deal would have made Williams a business owner. Williams was already a member of the NAACP, so being a business owner would have elevated his role in society which was a threat to white southerners.[1] Early morning at 1:00 am on June 16, 1940, Davis was taken from his house by a white mob of about 50 to 60 people which was led by Hunter and Reed.[1][5][3] The mob first drove to Reverend Buster Walker's house, however, he could not be found. The mob then took him to Hatchie River where he was interrogated about the NAACP.[1][5] One of the mob members Alber Mann, a local businessman, threatened Davis's life and then later told him Davis would be let go if he gave the mob information about the NAACP chapter and its members.[3] Davis told them information of members that were already public knowledge.[3][1] After the mob released Davis, he promised to leave town and fled to Jacksonville.[1][5][3]
Just a few days later on June 20, 1940, Hunter and Reed, and Coca-Cola plan manager Ed Lee showed up to Williams’ home late at night.[1][5][4] Dressed for bed and barefoot, Williams was forced to step out of his home to speak with Hunter and Reed.[1][4] He was asked questions when he was eventually forced into the car and drove away.[1][3][4] That was the last time Annie Williams saw her husband of eleven years alive.[1][5][4]
Hunter drove William and another man Thomas Davis, Elisha Davis's younger brother, to the police station where they were jailed.[1][5][3][4] After questioning Davis and Williams about their NAACP activity, Davis was released into a crowd of 40 to 50 white men at about 1:30 am.[3][4] Annie walked to City Hall where Williams was supposed to be held and could not find him. Annie spoke to Reed, who did not report to see Williams.[1][5][3][4]
On the morning of June 23, 1940, a fisherman found Williams's body in the Hatchie River.[5][3][4] The undertaker Al Rawls asked to meet Annie at the river so she could identify the body. Annie saw that William's had holes in his chest and there were visible bruises indicating he had been beaten.[1][5][3][2][4] Williams’ head looked twice its size because it had been beaten so badly. His hands and feet were bound.[1][5][4] His neck was wrapped with a rope that was attached to a log to ensure he stays underwater.[1][5][4] The coroner instructed that the body be immediately buried. On the same day that his body was found, Williams was buried at the Taylor Cemetery in Brownsville.[1][3][2] The Hatchie River was recorded as the place of death for Williams and the cause of death was listed as unknown.[1][5][3]
Federal and State Investigation
The Tennessee State authorities convened a grand jury under Judge W.W. Bond. According to the foreman of the grand jury, after a three-day investigation of the grand jury, there is no evidence found to identify a person who was the cause of the violent outbreaks.[1][5][3]
Williams's death was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Justice Department[4]. William McCalahan was the United States Attorney for the state of Tennessee led the investigation.[5][8][4] The secretary of the NAACP, Walter White, aided McCalahan with the NAACP's report of the events in Brownsville.[5][4]
The local FBI prepared a report on the case that indicated doubts that any laws had been violated and questioned the need for further investigation.[5][3] On July 12, 1940, Assistant Attorney General John Rogge told the NAACP of Brownsville that he has requested the FBI to actively investigate the case.[5][8] On November 28, 1940, the United States Attorney's office in Memphis told the FBI that no more contacts of the case needed to be investigated.[1][5] On March 31, 1941, Assistant Attorney General Wendell Berge sent a letter to McCalahan stating that the federal law was violated and the FBI should continue its investigation.[5] McCalahan presented an FBI report to Berge In September 1941 and on October 2, Berge wrote that the Department has decided to take the case to a grand jury.[5] On December 23, Victor Rotem, Chief of the Civil Rights Section at the Department of Justice, released a memorandum that Williams's case did not provide enough evidence to present to a trial jury. In January 1942, a year and a half after the assaullt and murder of Williams, the Justice Department determined that there was not sufficient enough evidence to warrant prosecution.[1][5][3][4]
References
- Bond, J. Z. (2011). Race, place, and family: Narratives of the civil rights movement in brownsville, tennessee, and the nation (Order No. 3489853).
- Joiner, L. L. (2017). Justice for Elbert Williams. Crisis (15591573), 124(2), 42.
- Emison, J. (2019, March 16). Elbert Williams (1908-1940)
- Sullivan, P. (2010). Lift every voice the Naacp and the making of the civil rights movement. New York: New Press.
- Catherwood, H. (2012) In the Absence of Governmental Protection. The Struggle of the Brownsville Naacp to Secure the Right to Vote(dissertation).
- Bennett, Kathy (2017). "Lynching". Tennessee Encyclopedia. Tennessee Historical Society.
- Grinberg, E. (2018, August 10). The killing of an NAACP activist will be investigated 78 years later.
- Congress, R. (2001). Blues mandolin man: the life and music of Yank Rachell. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi.