Lynching Of Willie James Howard
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Willie James Howard (July 13, 1928 – January 2, 1944) was a 15-year-old African-American living in Live Oak,
Suwannee County, Florida Suwannee County is a county located in the north central portion of the state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 43,474, up from 41,551 in 2010. Its county seat is Live Oak. Suwannee County was a dry county until August 2011 ...
. He was lynched for having given Christmas cards to all his co-workers at the Van Priest Dime Store, including Cynthia Goff, a white girl, followed by a letter to her on New Year's Day.


New Year's Day letter

The New Year's Day letter read:


Reaction to letter and death of Willie James Howard

Cynthia was offended by the card and letter, and gave them to her father A.P. "Phil" Goff, the Live Oak postmaster and a former state legislator. Goff, along with S.B. McCullers and Reg H. Scott, allegedly went to Willie's house and took the youth from his mother at gunpoint. They picked up Willie's father, James Howard, at the Bond-Howell Lumber Company where he worked, then drove to the Suwannee River east of Suwannee Springs, where they bound Willie by the hands and feet, and forced the youth to choose between getting shot and jumping into the Suwannee River. After his father said he could do nothing to save him, Willie jumped into the river and drowned. Goff, McCullers, and Scott signed an affidavit which stated that they had only wanted James Howard to whip his son and, rather than be whipped by his father, Willie had committed
suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...
by jumping into the river. James Howard also signed the affidavit, but after selling his home and moving to Orlando, he recanted. Harry T. Moore, of the NAACP, interviewed the parents. After a county grand jury failed to indict, Moore was able to get a federal investigation started, but no convictions followed. Goff, McCullers, and Scott died without having to face murder charges.


Aftermath

A documentary film on the murder, ''Murder on the Suwannee River'', was produced in 2006 by Marvin Dunn, a historian, who tried to get
Charlie Crist Charles Joseph Crist Jr. (; born July 24, 1956) is an American attorney and politician who served as the 44th governor of Florida from 2007 to 2011 and as the U.S. representative for from 2017 to 2022. Crist has been a member of the Democratic ...
, then attorney general and later governor of Florida, to reopen the case, but to no avail; neither was his case investigated under the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act. It is frequently cited as comparable to the case of Emmett Till, who was also lynched (at age 14) for allegedly making advances at a white woman at a grocery store. Tameka Hobbs wrote about the lynching and three other lynchings in her 2015 book ''Democracy Abroad, Lynching At Home, Democracy Abroad, Lynching at Home: Racial Violence in Florida''.


See also

*List of unsolved murders (1900–1979), List of unsolved murders


References


External links


"Willie James Howard"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Howard, Willie James 1944 deaths 1944 in Florida 1944 murders in the United States African-American history between emancipation and the civil rights movement 1940s crimes in Florida Deaths by person in Florida Anti-black racism in Florida History of Suwannee County, Florida January 1944 events Lynching deaths in Florida Lynching victims in the United States Murdered African-American people People from Live Oak, Florida People murdered in Florida Racially motivated violence against African Americans Race-related controversies in the United States Suwannee County, Florida Unsolved murders in the United States