In September 1935, Elwood Higginbotham was lynched by a white mob in Oxford, Mississippi.

Background

Elwood Higginbotham was a 29 year old African American tenant farmer. He was indicted and jailed for allegedly shooting his landholder in self-defense. It appeared that a conviction was unlikely.

Murder

On September 17, 1935, a mob broke into his cell and abducted him. He was lynched at the intersection of North Lamar Boulevard and Molly Barr Road. No one was ever prosecuted for his murder. His mother and family fled Mississippi after the lynching.

Legacy

After Higginbotham's lynching, NAACP Secretary Walter White wrote to President

Franklin Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

to call for a federal anti-lynching bill. In 2018, a plaque was placed where he was believed to have been lynched.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Higginbotham, Elwood 1935 murders in the United States 1935 in Mississippi Deaths by person in Mississippi Lynching deaths in Mississippi Murdered African-American people People murdered in Mississippi Racially motivated violence against African Americans