There have been many infamous photographs taken during America ’s
dark time of racism. Among one happened not in the South but in the heartland—Marion , Indiana
This particular photograph had inspired poet, Abel Meeropol,
to write the song Strange Fruit, which
became one of Billie Holiday’s greatest hits. The emotions of Meeropol,
perhaps, aren't different compared to anyone who views the picture today. You
would not be human if it didn't spark an unnerving anger as you see someone’s
son or brother hanging lifeless on a maple tree.
Worse, the crowd that swelled by the thousands stood proudly
in front of photographer, Lawrence Beilter, which later sold the photograph for
fifty cents. With boasting smiles and pointing fingers in the photograph as if
they were at a County Fair, there was supposed to been a third person on that
lone branch. Yet his life was spared.
On August 6, 1930—eighty-one miles from the capitol of Indianapolis —James
Cameron (16), Thomas Shipp (18), and Abram Smith (19) were accused of armed
robbery and murder of factory worker, Claude Deeter, and the rape of his
companion, Mary Ball.
By Cameron’s accounts in a 2006 Washington Post article, he
recalled Shipp and Smith wanted to rob someone and saw Deeter’s car parked at
Lover’s Lane. Cameron remembered one of the teens placing a gun his hand but
when he discovered the man in the car was the person he shined shoes in town,
he refused and ran home. While in his pursuit, the sixteen-year-old heard
ringing of gunshots. He continued his mission home without looking back.
The youths were later arrested and sent to jail, and the news
of the murder and rape went rapidly through the small town—forming an angry mob.
Indiana University Professor and the Author of, Lynching in the Heartland, James H. Madison wrote: “The mob broke
into the jail and removed the prisoners. First Shipp was hanged through the bar
windows and dragged to a maple tree to the town’s square and lynched.”
The facts if Shipp or Smith were already dead before the
noose went around their necks were sketchy. In an online video, Marion Indiana 1930 Lynching, there were
actual witnesses speaking in detail of that night. One of the witnesses had
said Abram Smith was alive all the way to the tree. "As they placed the noose
around his neck, he tried to loosen rope but the mob lowered him back down to
break his arms and hoister him up again and lynched him."
Another witness from same video said the crowd began to
sound like spectators at a football game by chanting: “We want Cameron!” In a
February 2003 article with the Associated Press, Cameron vividly described the
moment as he was led through the crowd: “Pearl-white glowing moon, the roar of
the frenzied mob, and the rough hands forcing my head into the noose.”
While waiting for his demise, he began to pray to God for
his sins. Cameron said a voice came from the crowd. “Take this boy back—he had
nothing to with any killing or raping”. According to him the voice sounded
angelic, almost as if came from Heaven. He also continued to say the crowd
became quiet and obeyed. They released Cameron, and he returned back to the
jail.
Cameron was later convicted and served four years in prison
for the crime. And at the age of twenty-one he was released and began his new
life with hope. He moved to Detroit
and worked in a factory. As Cameron settled into married life, he returned to Indiana to live in the town of Anderson . Yvonne Shinhoster in a Washington
Post article wrote that he owned the only black business in town—a combination
of shoeshine parlor, record shop, and knickknack store.
 |
| James Cameron |
In the late-1970’s, he and his wife went to Israel and was
inspired by a trip to Yad Vashem Memorial—a museum to remember the Holocaust
victims. Cameron were so moved by what he saw that he told his
wife it should be a museum in the United States to honor the lost lives of
African Americans from racial injustice.
When he returned to Milwaukee
he was determined to build the museum that told the stories of thousands of
Americans—of whom were predominately black—lynched from 1882 to 1968. More
importantly, it would be an institution to house the contributions and sacrifices
of African Americans. “I wonder if God saved me for this mission” Cameron later
said to the Associated Press. “It had to be. And I thank him for that”.
In addition of opening The Black Holocaust Museum, James
Cameron published his memoirs in 1982 titled, A Time of Terror as well
publishing articles and booklets; such as, What
is Equality in American Life and The
Lingering Problem.
In 1993, Cameron was pardon by the Indiana Governor, Evan
Bayh and the Mayor of Marion, Indiana—the town that changed his life forever—by giving him the key to the city. In 2005 he went to Washington D.C.
On June 11, 2006, James Cameron—the only person to have
known to survived lynching—passed away at 92. He left a lasting legacy spanning
from that sweltering night in Marion , Indiana , to neighboring town of Anderson
leaving an imprint of his civil right causes, and to Milwaukee
where a simple dream became a reality—the Black Holocaust
Museum
In a video titled “Marion Indiana 1930 Lynching, Cameron
proved he was beyond the resentment from leftover scars from racism after his
pardon: “Indiana forgave me, and I forgave Indiana ”.
Sources:
ChicagoReader.com – online article, Fredrick H. Lowe
Hypetext.com – online article, unknown author
NPR.com – online article, unknown author
NPR.com – online article, Abel Meeropol Biography, unknown
author
Youtube.com – Strange Fruit, Billie Holiday
Youtube.com – Marion Indiana 1930 Lynching
Youtube.com – James Cameron, Being Saved from Lynching
