Cellos Harrison was an African American man in Marianna, Florida who was lynched on June 16, 1943 after being rearrested when his murder conviction was overturned by the

Supreme Court of Florida The Supreme Court of Florida is the highest court in the U.S. state of Florida. It consists of seven members: the chief justice and six justices. Six members are chosen from six districts around the state to foster geographic diversity, and one ...

because his confession was obtained under duress. He was twice convicted by an all-white jury of murdering a white man who was working as a gas station attendant and store clerk. State and federal investigations were launched into the lynching but no one was ever indicted or convicted. A decade earlier

Claude Neal Claude Neal (b. 1911 – d. October 26, 1934) was a 23-year-old African-American farmhand who was arrested in Jackson County, Florida, on October 19, 1934, for allegedly raping and killing Lola Cannady, a 19-year-old white woman missing since the ...

was lynched in Marianna. The area was also wrought by a wave of violence against African Americans and Republicans during the

Reconstruction Era The Reconstruction era was a period in American history following the American Civil War (1861–1865) and lasting until approximately the Compromise of 1877. During Reconstruction, attempts were made to rebuild the country after the bloo ...

after the American Civil War in what is known as the

Jackson County War Jackson County is a county located in the U.S. state of Florida, on its northwestern border with Alabama. As of the 2020 census, the population was 47,319. Its county seat is Marianna. History Jackson County was created by the Florida Terri ...

. Harrison, a farm worker, was convicted of killing gas station attendant Johnnie Mayo in 1940. His conviction was overturned when his confession was thrown out on appeal. Cellos was reindicted and then taken from the Jackson County, Florida jail by four masked men and killed by a blow or blows to the head. His body was found 5 miles outside Marianna.

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...

lawyer

Harry T. Moore Harry Tyson Moore (November 18, 1905 – December 25, 1951) was an African-American educator, a pioneer leader of the civil rights movement, founder of the first branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in B ...

, who was later assassinated in a 1951 bombing of his home, wrote a letter to Florida governor

Spessard Holland Spessard Lindsey Holland (July 10, 1892 – November 6, 1971) was an American lawyer and politician. He served as the 28th Governor of Florida from 1941 to 1945, and later as a US senator for Florida from 1946 to 1971. He would be the first pers ...

calling for an investigation and one was ordered. Tameka Bradley Hobbs wrote about this and three other lynchings in her 2015 book '' Democracy Abroad, Lynching at Home: Racial Violence in Florida''.

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Record of one of the successful appealsRecord of U.S. Supreme.Court overruling its earlier ruling based on the confession being obtained under durress
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harrison, Cellos 1943 in Florida 1943 murders in the United States June 1943 events in the United States Lynching deaths in Florida Year of birth missing 1943 deaths