Battered remains of Charles Mack Parker, lynched in Poplarville, Mississippi by a mob and thrown in the Pearl River after being accused of the rape of a pregnant white woman. South of Bogalusa, Louisiana, United States. May 4, 1959. [650×519]
>Mack Charles Parker (1936 – April 24, 1959) was an African-American victim of lynching in the United States. He had been accused of raping a pregnant white woman in northern Pearl River County, Mississippi. Three days before he was to stand trial, Parker was kidnapped from his jail cell in the Pearl River County Courthouse by a mob, beaten and shot. His body was found in the Pearl River, 20 miles west of Poplarville, 10 days later. Following an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the men who killed him were released. Despite confessions, no one was ever indicted for the killing.Historian Howard Smead called the killing the "last classic lynching in America."
The investigation was, as one might expect in the 1950s Mississippi, very difficult: Judge Sebe Dale, Sr., who previously prevented any action to prevent Parker from being at risk from lynching, blocked the investigation by calling locals to " stand against any tyranny". Poplarville mayor Pat Hyde stated that “you couldn’t convict the guilty parties if you had sound film of the lynching” while a Poplarville businessman rhetorically asked why the FBI even bothered to investigate since no jury would convict the killers. Some even aired support for the deed, such as this resident who said to a journalist that "Parker’s a good nigger now. The only good nigger is a dead nigger."
No jury ever returned indictments, much less conviction, against any member of the lynch mob, even after confessions by some.
As for the guilt, some have argued the allegued victim, June Walters, lied to protect an adulterous liaison, while other have argued Parker was guilty, but deserved a trial.
EDIT: Added more information about the case.
shillyshally
Probably most people on reddit look at this as happening so, so long ago.
I was eleven in 1959. It seems like a long, long time ago to me as well but not because of the passage of time but rather in terms of the great change I have witnessed.
giveherthebatwing
People are still driving cars that are older than this event. Not that long ago at all.
zdavis1987
What are they spraying on the body? It looks like the man directly over the body has a spray bottle in his hand.
Johannes_P
About the lynching of Mack Charles Parker:
>Mack Charles Parker (1936 – April 24, 1959) was an African-American victim of lynching in the United States. He had been accused of raping a pregnant white woman in northern Pearl River County, Mississippi. Three days before he was to stand trial, Parker was kidnapped from his jail cell in the Pearl River County Courthouse by a mob, beaten and shot. His body was found in the Pearl River, 20 miles west of Poplarville, 10 days later. Following an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the men who killed him were released. Despite confessions, no one was ever indicted for the killing. Historian Howard Smead called the killing the "last classic lynching in America."
The investigation was, as one might expect in the 1950s Mississippi, very difficult: Judge Sebe Dale, Sr., who previously prevented any action to prevent Parker from being at risk from lynching, blocked the investigation by calling locals to " stand against any tyranny". Poplarville mayor Pat Hyde stated that “you couldn’t convict the guilty parties if you had sound film of the lynching” while a Poplarville businessman rhetorically asked why the FBI even bothered to investigate since no jury would convict the killers. Some even aired support for the deed, such as this resident who said to a journalist that "Parker’s a good nigger now. The only good nigger is a dead nigger."
No jury ever returned indictments, much less conviction, against any member of the lynch mob, even after confessions by some.
As for the guilt, some have argued the allegued victim, June Walters, lied to protect an adulterous liaison, while other have argued Parker was guilty, but deserved a trial.
EDIT: Added more information about the case.
shillyshally
Probably most people on reddit look at this as happening so, so long ago.
I was eleven in 1959. It seems like a long, long time ago to me as well but not because of the passage of time but rather in terms of the great change I have witnessed.
giveherthebatwing
People are still driving cars that are older than this event. Not that long ago at all.
zdavis1987
What are they spraying on the body? It looks like the man directly over the body has a spray bottle in his hand.