Hundreds picket; chain themselves at Lincoln Memorial: 1951
Several hundred protesters against the pending execution of Willie McGee picket in front of the Lincoln Memorial while other protesters chain themselves to the columns May 6, 1951.
McGee was facing execution after being convicted of the rape of a white women in 1945 in Mississippi.
He was the subject of a six-year campaign by the Civil Rights Congress involving demonstrations, letters and petitions from around the world and legal maneuvering that brought attention to the routinely imposed death penalty on black men charged with raping white women.
The campaign resulted in two re-trials and numerous stays of execution, but McGee was ultimately executed May 8, 1951, two days after this demonstration.
McGee wrote to his wife the night before his execution, “Tell the people the real reason they are going to take my life is to keep the Negro down.... They can't do this if you and the children keep on fighting. Never forget to tell them why they killed their daddy. I know you won't fail me. Tell the people to keep on fighting. Your truly husband, Will McGee.
For more information and related images, see flic.kr/s/aHsk2FV8xQ
The photographer is unknown. The image is courtesy of Fight for Racial Justice and the Civil Rights Congress: Papers of the Civil Rights Congress. New York Public Library. Archives Unbound.
Hundreds picket; chain themselves at Lincoln Memorial: 1951
Several hundred protesters against the pending execution of Willie McGee picket in front of the Lincoln Memorial while other protesters chain themselves to the columns May 6, 1951.
McGee was facing execution after being convicted of the rape of a white women in 1945 in Mississippi.
He was the subject of a six-year campaign by the Civil Rights Congress involving demonstrations, letters and petitions from around the world and legal maneuvering that brought attention to the routinely imposed death penalty on black men charged with raping white women.
The campaign resulted in two re-trials and numerous stays of execution, but McGee was ultimately executed May 8, 1951, two days after this demonstration.
McGee wrote to his wife the night before his execution, “Tell the people the real reason they are going to take my life is to keep the Negro down.... They can't do this if you and the children keep on fighting. Never forget to tell them why they killed their daddy. I know you won't fail me. Tell the people to keep on fighting. Your truly husband, Will McGee.
For more information and related images, see flic.kr/s/aHsk2FV8xQ
The photographer is unknown. The image is courtesy of Fight for Racial Justice and the Civil Rights Congress: Papers of the Civil Rights Congress. New York Public Library. Archives Unbound.