"it is known as the 'Catfish Capital of the World'; it is also known as the site of one of the first civil-rights-era lynchings. On May 7, 1955, two members of the local White Citizens' Council shot into the cab of Reverend George Lee's car; the bullets ripped off the lower half of his face. Lee had been a co-founder of the town's NAACP chapter and the first Black person to successfully register to vote in Humphreys County since Reconstruction."
"The Mississippi NAACP, led by Medgar Evers, began to investigate the death as a murder. But the county sheriff rejected the idea that there had been any foul play, instead suggesting that Lee had died in a car accident and that the lead bullets detected in his jaw were simply dental fillings. The local prosecutor refused to move forward with the case, and the white men went free."
Belzoni, Mississippi, a town of about 2,000 people, is known as the 'Catfish Capital of the World' and was the site of a civil‑rights‑era lynching. On May 7, 1955, two members of the local White Citizens' Council shot into the cab of Reverend George Lee's car, removing the lower half of his face. Lee co‑founded the town's NAACP chapter and became the first Black person to register to vote in Humphreys County since Reconstruction, registering about 100 fellow Black citizens. The Mississippi NAACP, led by Medgar Evers, treated the death as murder, but the county sheriff and local prosecutor declined to pursue the case. The National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery includes a pillar representing Humphreys County.
Read at The Atlantic
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