Tuesday, June 13, 2006

James Cameron (1914-2006) -James Cameron surivivor of a lynching in Marion Indiana died Sunday

Thanks KGH.

From yahoo news "Founder of Black Holocaust Museum dies"

MILWAUKEE - James Cameron, who survived an attempted lynching by a white mob and went on to found America's Black Holocaust Museum, died Sunday at the age of 92.

Cameron had suffered from lymphoma for about five years, said Marissa Weaver, chairwoman of the Milwaukee-based museum's board.

In 1930, in Marion, Ind., Cameron and two friends were arrested and accused of killing a white man during a robbery and raping the man's companion.

A mob broke them out of the local jail and hanged Cameron's two friends, then placed a rope around his neck.

"They began to chant for me like a football player, 'We want Cameron, we want Cameron," he recalled in a 2003 interview with The Associated Press. "I could feel the blood in my body just freezing up."

The 16-year-old shoeshine boy was spared when a man in the crowd proclaimed his innocence. ("read the rest).

See also: ("Anatomy of a Murder" - Lynching)

2 Comments:

At 2:09 AM, Blogger Another Conflict Theorist said...

This news saddens me. I was fortunate enough to have met Mr. Cameron while visiting his museum when I lived in Milwaukee. It was one of the only culturally memorable experiences that I had in a city that I found racist, inhospitable and hypersegregated.

Most people who have seen pictures of African-American lynching victims have seen one in which there were two men hanging from trees while a white crowd gleefully watched. Mr. Cameron was to have been the third. One can only hope that those who cared about the man and his mission can keep the museum running.

 
At 5:16 AM, Anonymous Term Papers said...

Most people who have seen pictures of African-American lynching victims have seen one in which there were two men hanging from trees while a white crowd gleefully watched. Mr. Cameron was to have been the third,Its amazing and also horror able.

 

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