On this day in Labor History the year was 1961.
That was the day when Herbert Lee was murdered just outside of Liberty, Mississippi.
He was a successful black cotton farmer, who became active in efforts to register black voters.
Lee had nine children.
He was one of the few area black farmers with a vehicle.
This made him very valuable to the voter registration movement.
Lee would drive Bob Moses from the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee around Amite County to reach unregistered voters.
It was dangerous work to register black share croppers and farmers in rural Mississippi.
Attempts by black residents to gain legal or economic equality were met with threats and violence.
On the morning of his murder, Lee had come to the Westbrook Cotton Gin outside of Liberty to drop off a truck load cotton.
There he was met by a childhood friend, Mississippi State Representative, E. H. Hurst.
Hurst came up to the truck and started shouting at Lee.
He then took out a gun and shot Herbert Lee in the head.
Witnesses stated that Lee had brandished a tire iron at Hurst.
Hurst claimed self-defense.
A jury declared the murder a justifiable homicide.
Louis Allen, a black farmer and timber worker, was one who had testified about witnessing the shooting.
Later he recanted his testimony, saying he had lied about Lee threatening Hurst because he feared for his life.
After Allen began to talk about what he saw that day, he became the victim of harassment and beatings.
Finally, on January 31, 1964 he too was gunned down in his driveway.
No one was every convicted or arrested for his murder.
October 29 - Alice Doesn’t Day
October 28 - The Pony Express
October 27 - The 1948 Donora Smog
October 26 - America’s Florence Nightingale
October 25 - NY Daily News On Strike!
October 24 - Eight Hours for Work, Eight Hours for Rest, Eight Hours for What We Will!
October 23 - John Sweeney is Elected
October 22 - Pretty Boy Floyd Is Gunned Down
October 21 - Through Rain, Sleet, Snow & Anthrax
October 20 - Remembering Debs
October 19 - Tragedy on the Tracks
October 18 - Voice of an Era
October 17 - Fighting to End Poverty
October 16 - Thank A Farmer
October 15 - Too Little, Too Late for Radiation Sickness
October 14 - Marching for Equality
October 13 - We Whipped the Ivy League and You Can Too!
October 12 - Workers Begin to Come Together
October 11 - Remembering Mary Heaton Vorse
October 10 - With a Push of a Button, Oceans Are Joined
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