His cousin James Fenderson was only six when Hall died but grew up hearing that Hall had flirted across the colour line, which could easily get a black man lynched in the South. Transcribed by lhn; HTML editing by Tod Roberts. This show will take you on an epic, unexpected American exploration of family, history and cultural identity. As soon as he was through the door, he told her mother that hed found the body of a black man hanging in the woods. Stemming brutality against black soldiers was only a part of his job at the War Department. He named his grandmother as the beneficiary. I uncover our human connectionthrough painting. For the past thirty years, printmaking (in particular intaglio and lithography), painting and collage have been Ms. Scotts primary means of expression and concentration. In 2014, Northeastern University Law Schools Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project, which seeks to uncover details of racially motivated murders during the Jim Crow era, began digging up documents on Halls case. His death certificate does not say where he was buried. He was assigned to Fort Benning in neighbouring Georgia, where he would join the 24th Infantry Regiment, one of the first all-black military units, organized after the Civil War. Read more about cookies here. He was a man by the book, she said. On the afternoon of May 15, 1916, renowned Waco photographer Fred Gildersleeve set up his box camera on the second floor of City Hall . There is no record of follow-up questioning of witnesses or any other effort to distill the truth from the conflicting information, no attempt to get to the bottom of what transpired at the mill. The FBI developed a theory that the two men spent the day drinking at Greens house and captured Hall when he was passing by on his way to the post exchange. In the various reports, correspondence, lab results and photographs that make up this file, there is no record that anyone on base went looking for Hall when he disappeared. Florence Cotton lived at 742 North McDonough Street, Montgomery. His death certificate does not say where he was buried. The lynchings were among 4,743 reported nationwide during the same period [Lynching, Whites and Negroes, 1882-1968, Tuskegee University.] Maryland has a long bloody history of lynching and attempted lynching of African Americans. Then, while he still had breath, he desperately scraped dirt loose from the ravine wall, trying to scoop out enough of the sienna-colored earth to build up a mound beneath his feet that he could stand on to take the strain from his neck, the FBI would later report. I said, What do you mean, Mama, Ill get in trouble?, She said, You dont know what happened to Poss., I said, What happened to Poss?, I said, Lynched? I said, Whats that?. Both terms are derived from the name of Charles Lynch (1736-96), a Virginia planter and . Lee Hall was shot, then hanged, and his ears were cut off. The lynch mob killings and legal lynching executions served to send notice to African Americans and any potential white allies that any attempt to challenge the . In my paintings, the colors are vibrant. The public interprets this silence as indicative of indifference., William H. Hastie, Civilian aide to the Secretary of War, 1940-1942. Fort Benning. Although he appears to have vanished after walking through a white neighbourhood on base in the middle of the afternoon, investigators did not identify anyone who could detail his movements. When scary things happened, they were hushed up.. , Civilian aide to the Secretary of War, 1940-1942. On Jan. 31 he made his first and only payment, 65 cents, on a life insurance policy. My sister said and she got around the neighborhood more that the neighbors said they werent supposed to talk about it, Follett said. That really stuck in my mind. In an interview, she said she remembered the spring day in 1941 when her stepfather, Army Sgt. As soon as he was through the door, he told her mother that hed found the body of a black man hanging in the woods. James Arthur Perry, also black, heard that Hall was ordered not to return to work. Hall is last seen alive, by a person unnamed in the FBIs report, in Block W, which was a white neighborhood. Cardmounted gelatin printingout paper. I began to smell the odour of something dead, Pvt. Hall was born on New Years Day 1922 in Millbrook, Ala., a rural town 11 miles north of Montgomery. I hope your personal reflection will have a lasting impact on the next generation. Frank O. Williams, who had trained Hall, and reported his impressions: WILLIAMS stated that he was very familiar with [Halls] habits, and considered him an all right individual; that he had no trouble with him during training, and that his discipline was good, although at times HALL seemed to be more of a kid than a soldier, as he was usually playing pranks on others, and almost always in a very jovial mood. She added: If a group got together, he would have been right in the middle of it saying, Lets go. Such comments are posted in the exhibitHateful Speech. Published for the benefit of the family of Henry Vance (Paris, Texas, 1893), 19; At the 1916 lynching of Jesse Washington in Waco, Texas, a local photographer named F.A. He turned 19 on Jan. 1. Marcus Gaveys idea was probably the best alternative to continued abuse in Christian and Muslim nations. In short, the accounts provided by the black soldiers who in the Jim Crow South would ordinarily have been afraid to tell a white investigator anything they knew about the hanging of a black man were simply set aside. Scott was also an instructor at Robert Morris Collage, Harold Washington Collage, and Oakton Community Collage. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information and details on how to adjust your email settings. A dentist from New Jersey, the women of a Baptist church in Alabama, a World War I veteran from around the country came letters of anger and concern. Capt. But at the time, the FBI conducted a tag-team investigation over the course of 17 months. No other suspects were seriously considered by the FBI, records show. Inscription on reverse in brown ink: "Lee Hall col, lynched Saturday Feb, 7th 1903 about 11 o'clock P.M." Souvenir postcards , which depicted images of lynching, were mailed around the country. Walking further I saw a body hanging from a tree on the embankment.. The Newberry Six lynchings took place in Newberry, Alachua County, Florida, on August 18, 1916.. None were seasoned agents the youngest investigator was just 24, the eldest 31. Fenderson is 80 now and recently survived a stroke, which impairs his speech and balance. Commercial promotions, impersonations, and incoherent comments likewise fail to meet our goals, so will not be posted. Marvin J. Coyle, who as provost marshal was head of the military police at Fort Benning, believed that Hodges had a motive to kill Hall and a reason to commit this crime in the manner in which it was committed, according to the FBI. This October, a dozen additional productions join the Broadway lineup, including the return of Ain't Too Proud, Jagged Little Pill and Tina alongside new entries . 1Sepia is a brown tone found in many old photographs. A Black soldier was lynched on Fort Benning 80 years ago. When the shift ended, he told two friends he was heading to the post exchange the only one for blacks on the segregated base where he could order a hot meal and eat it at the counter. I developed Stories Behind the Postcards to cause an emotional shift in the viewer and a thoughtful shift in the conversation around race. Banks Lawing later told a board of officers at Fort Benning. He said that he couldnt remember the last date he had seen Hall at work, that hed never argued with a black soldier and that he did not manage black soldiers. She holds in her pain. The lynchers used a small rope, tying the rope under his arms and . The official did not say who they were. Fenderson left Alabama a year later, at 16. I was afraid the people were going to lynch me, too, he said. He is perhaps most associated with the film Billy Elliot (2000), for which he wrote the screenplay, and with Spoonface Steinberg (1997), written for radio and later adapted for the stage. Hall didnt seem the kind of person to go AWOL. His mother and other older relatives told Fenderson that Halls ghost still roamed the railroad tracks in Millbrook. His neighbor, Mrs. S.S. Thompson, reported at the time that Green had been sitting outside his house with a shotgun, prepared to shoot a colored Peeping Tom who had been disturbing the residents. Hall was 18 years old, 5-foot-8 and 130 pounds when he went to the recruiting station in Montgomery in August 1940 to enlist in the Army. City Hall will be illuminated in purple, the color of mourning, throughout the weekend. Hall was . At bugle call the next morning, for the first time during his military service, Hall did not report for duty. Fort Benning officials and military police also had a part in the probe. The last major wave occurred during the 1930s at a time when public interracial efforts to overturn Jim Crow were just beginning in the state. Lee Hall was put to death on Thursday evening at Riverbend Maximum Security Institute in Nashville. There is no known gravestone for Felix Hall. But the War Department, alongside the American Red Cross, thwarted even his effort to integrate the blood at blood banks. In addition to exhibiting, Scott has taught in numerous schools, institutions, private and public agencies, universities and colleges from 1979-2001. He turned 19 on Jan. 1. Fort Benning officials and military police also had a part in the probe. It had a hand-drawn picture of Felix Hall, in uniform, hanging by a noose from a tree. His feet, bound with baling wire, were attached by a second rope to three other saplings, and his hands were tied behind him. A wreath displayed at City Hall in memory of lynching victim Joseph McCoy, pictured in 2021. . A quarter-inch noose, tethered to a sapling on the earthen bank above him, dug into the flesh of his neck. The lynching of Lee Hall, his body hung from a tree, bullet hole in head, ears cut off, discarded cookstove and trash. Phone: (414) 209-3640 The removal of Native peoples was mostly complete by then, and the last of the Indian Territory was converted into the state of Oklahoma in 1907 . This reminds us that these horrors took place amidst the beauty of nature and often in clear daylight. FORT BENNING, Ga. Felix Hall was 18 years old when he left home in Millbrook, Ala., to join other young men preparing to serve in World War II. Felix Hall. Note: We moderate submissions in order to create a space for meaningful dialogue, a space where museum visitors adults and youth can exchangeinformed, thoughtful, and relevant comments that add value to our exhibits. Capt. For months after his body was discovered, military authorities told the public that Halls death may have been a suicide, though a military physician who examined the body within two weeks of its recovery ruled it a homicide and put that on Halls death certificate. Former Waco City Councilwoman Toni Herbert is among those who deserve credit for the long-awaited state historical marker commemorating the May 15, 1916 lynching of . Osie Goldsby, Hall had said that he was planning to desert the Army because, an FBI agent wrote, he was afraid of a foreman by the name of SMITH at the saw mill who had threatened to kill him because the victim and other negros at the saw mill had been teasing SMITH.. As word of Halls death at Fort Benning, Ga., spread across the nation, criticism of the federal governments silence about the killing grew louder. I began to smell the odor of something dead, Pvt. Special days closed - Thanksgiving, Christmas Day. When I walk down the hall of the history department now, the names on the doors have all changed. I said, What do you mean, Mama, Ill get in trouble? , She said, You dont know what happened to Poss. , I said, Lynched? I said, Whats that? . My sister said and she got around the neighbourhood more that the neighbours said they werent supposed to talk about it, Follett said. Above: Pvt. In the reports compiled by the FBI and the War Department, there is no record of investigators asking Halls friends and cousins whether they had looked for him after he disappeared or whether they suspected foul play. Now 87, Follett is a retired social worker with short white hair and pale blue eyes. Lee "died as a result of a hemorrhage and probably asphyxiation from the face . Halls body was recovered on the morning of March 28,1941, by a platoon of the 20th Engineer Regiment, which was training in the woods. His lynching was an inconvenient reminder of violence against black servicemen at a time when the military was working hard to recruit young men of all races for a looming war. On Feb. 12, he went to work as usual at the sawmill, where he was detailed by the Army, assigned to keep the fire burning. James Fenderson is probably the last living relative who knew Hall. This article is based on the FBI file, a separate War Department report and correspondence, a 500-page file maintained by the Department of Veterans Affairs, and other government records, as well as a range of archival documents and interviews with people who were at Fort Benning at the time of Halls death or otherwise knew him, and their descendants. According to the official record, Halls decomposing body was discovered by an engineer regiment on a training exercise six weeks after the killing. Instead, he became the victim of the only known lynching on a U.S. military base in American history. According to the FBI, Hall was last seen alive in the vicinity of Hodgess house. The headline read, Negro Soldier Killed by Lynchers.. But nearly a month after Hall vanished, he was declared a deserter. She moved to Chicago in 1997 and taught printmaking at the Art Institute of Chicago and figure drawing in their Continuing Education Department. Racial slurs, personal attacks, obscenity, profanity, and SHOUTING do not meet the above standard. Click Here To Learn More >. The only states that had more lynching incidents were Mississippi and Georgia. ABHM builds public awareness of the harmful legacies of slavery and Jim Crow in America and promotes racial repair, reconciliation, and healing. Hundreds were killed for interacting with white women, sometimes after nothing more than a glance. Memorial to the Victims of Lynching. According to the accounts of black soldiers, someone had threatened to kill Hall just a day before he vanished: Henry J. Smith, the white civilian foreman at the sawmill. On the field, Curt Schilling's Hall of Fame case includes 216 wins, three World Series titles and a reputation as one of baseball's top clutch pitchers. Green admitted that he had a gun and that he had said he would kill any black Peeping Tom who came to his window. His boss, a white civilian named Henry J. Smith, allegedly threatened to kill Hall and told him not to return to work the next day. The lynching of Lee Hall, his body hung from a tree, bullet hole in head, ears cut off, discarded cookstove and trash. Back in 1941, the word at Fort Benning was that Hall had his eyes on a white woman and was killed for it. The chapters follow Seidule's life, from his upbringing in Alexandria (which he later learned was a major slave-trading hub) and Monroe, Ga. (where a grisly 1946 quadruple lynching remains . I did not see the family members left behind to take down the victim, to mourn and bury the remains-if there was enough to bury. Maggots were eating his flesh. We can assume that they are trying to cut him down. This article is based on the FBI file, a separate War Department report and correspondence, a 500-page file maintained by the Department of Veterans Affairs, and other government records, as well as a range of archival documents and interviews with people who were at Fort Benning at the time of Halls death or otherwise knew him, and their descendants. Later, he married Pearl Stowers and the couple had one daughter, Minnie Lee Stowers. She now resides in Chicago, IL. The FBI continues to withhold this information, citing a legal exemption designed to prevent the disclosure of information that would be considered an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Lynchings were less common in northeast Georgia and along the coast. The soldiers mother handed his letter over to her local NAACP chapter in Ohio, whose director sent it on to New York. [1] A black man from Alabama, he had volunteered to join an African-American unit being trained in Fort Benning. But he denied that he sat outside waiting for one, and he denied having any involvement in Halls death. Dorothy Carter, Hodgess eldest living child, was 12 in 1941. Eighty years after Pvt. Hall went home to Alabama for Christmas in 1940. His cousin James Fenderson was only 6 when Hall died but grew up hearing that Hall had flirted across the color line, which could easily get a black man lynched in the South. The public, both blacks and whites, wrote countless letters and petitions to the government demanding justice and information about his killing. A "multi-function" face cream from the French brand Clarins that addresses skin concerns such as radiance, firmness and plumpness. No other suspects were seriously considered by the FBI, records show. He wouldnt have done it on his own, but if a group was going, he would have been right in the middle of it.. In their investigations, the FBI and the War Department failed to obtain and in some cases ignored critical information about the crime. On May 19, 1955, the day after the FBI lab issued their findings, the Coroner's Jury came to the decision that Rev. imprison and prosecute the mob of Maryland men which came into Virginia intent upon lynching the Mulatto." Hall started looking into lynching in 2000, when he worked on his master's degree from Virginia Commonwealth University. William Lee (d. 1906) MSA SC 3520-13955 Executed on July 26, 1906 in Crisfield, Maryland. Scotts work has also been displayed in Albuquerque and Santa Fe, Up-State New York, Providence, and Minneapolis. According to the FBI, Hall was last seen alive in the vicinity of Hodgess house. Sergeant WILLIAMS knew of no trouble in which HALL had been involved, and knew no one that disliked [the] victim.. The royalty of black Harlem W.E.B. Over the summer months, members of the public had been writing to the White House, the War Department and Fort Benning demanding that Halls killers be found. She was also an instructor with the Gallery 37 After-School-Program, for five years, and work in several Chicago public high schools. On Sept 8, 1941, William H. Hastie wrote a memo to his boss, Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson, raising concerns about several cases of violence against black soldiers, including Hall. Please try again. The government did not prosecute either Green or Hodges. It was early in 1941, eight months before Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, and with World War II already raging overseas, the United States was recruiting young men to serve their country. There was an error, please provide a valid email address. Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion and encourage all readers to share their views on our articles. When Fenderson was 15, his mother warned him against becoming too friendly with a white boy in Millbrook and used Halls death as a life lesson. When investigators eventually arrived on the scene and examined his body, hed been suspended in this position, in the woods of Fort Benning, for more than six weeks. I want to hold your attention there for as long as possible. There is no known photo of Hall taken when he was alive. It matched the place that her stepfather had described. According to the accounts of black soldiers, someone had threatened to kill Hall just a day before he vanished: Henry J. Smith, the white civilian foreman at the sawmill. What about the inhuman treatment of American Indians, and countless other injustices suffered by other immigrant groups?" A lynching is the public killing of an individual who has not received any due process. Bill Whitaker. Board of officers at Fort Benning was that Hall was shot, then hanged and... 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