On September 3, 1907, Jerry Johnson’s body was found in an alley in Lewisburg, now part of the Fairmont area. He had been shot multiple times. The press reported that Mr. Johnson was believed to be the man a white mob had chased the day before. The mob had formed after a white woman said a black man had assaulted her. A jury decided the death was “by unknown parties.” The government did not take any further judicial action. 

I could not find any reports on this act of racial terror from any newspapers within Alabama. However, it was widely reported throughout many states, and even in Canada. 

Abigail Schneider 

Jefferson County Memorial Project

 

DOCUMENTATION 

We wish we had more documents to better tell the stories of these residents. However, the continued lack of documentation of these lives, and the difficulty fellows faced in tracing these stories and the descendants of the victims is another example of the oppression that black lives faced. Their history was not archived and recorded to the same degree and with the same respect as white history. 

Selected Sources 

“Body of Negro Found Full of Bullet Holes,” Winston-Salem Journal (North Carolina), Wed, September 4, 1907, page 5. 

“Natural Sequal,” Natchez (Mississippi), Wed, September 4, 1907, page 1.