From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Judge Edward Aaron
Born (1923-01-24 ) January 24, 1923Died March 11, 1991(1991-03-11) (aged 68) Occupation Handyman
Judge Edward Aaron (January 24, 1923 – March 11, 1991) was an
African American
handyman in
Birmingham, Alabama , who was abducted by seven members of
Asa Earl Carter 's independent
Ku Klux Klan group on
Labor Day , September 2, 1957.
[1]
Background
Aaron, or Arone, was born in
Barbour County , Alabama on January 24, 1923, and grew up in
Batesville .
[2]
Aaron, who was mildly developmentally disabled, was abducted by Klan members who beat him with an iron bar, carved the letters "KKK" into his chest, castrated him with a razor, and poured turpentine on his wounds. They then put him in the trunk of a car and drove him away from the scene, finally dumping him near a creek.
[3] Police found Aaron, near death from blood loss, and took him to
Hillman Hospital .
[4]
Two of the six Klansmen
turned state's evidence and received five-year sentences in exchange for testifying against the other four men. Those four were convicted and received 20-year sentences at
Kilby Prison . However, when
George Wallace became governor of Alabama, he pardoned the four convicted men, but not the two who had turned state's evidence, with no explanation.
[1]
[5]
The 1988 film
Mississippi Burning references the story of Judge Aaron, but gives his name as Homer Wilkes.
[6] He was interviewed about the abduction and attack in 1965.
[7]
Aaron died on March 11, 1991, in Dayton, Ohio, aged 68.
[8]
[9]
See also
Notes
^
a
b W. Edward Harris (January 1, 2004).
Miracle in Birmingham: A Civil Rights Memoir, 1954–1965 . Stonework Press. pp. 41–.
ISBN
978-0-9638864-7-7 . Retrieved July 8, 2013 .
^
"U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947" . Ancestry . Retrieved May 30, 2023 .
^ Harris, W. Edward (2004).
Miracle in Birmingham: A Civil Rights Memoir, 1954–1965 . Stonework Press. p. 45.
ISBN
9780963886477 .
^ Eskew, Glenn T. But for Birmingham: The Local and National Movements in the Civil Rights Struggle , Chapel Hill :
University of North Carolina Press , 1997. (p.115)
^
"The Birmingham Church Bombing: Bombingham" . Archived from
the original on June 1, 2009. Retrieved July 8, 2013 .
^
"Mississippi Burning Quote" .
IMDb .
^
"User Clip: Judge Edward Aaron | C-SPAN.org" . www.c-span.org . Retrieved September 12, 2021 .
^
"Obituary" . Dayton Daily News . March 17, 1991. Retrieved May 30, 2023 .
^
"U.S., Veterans' Gravesites, ca.1775-2019" . Ancestry . Retrieved May 30, 2023 .
Before 1900 1900–1940 After 1940
Multiple victims
Death of Joseph Smith (
Joseph Smith ,
Hyrum Smith ) (1844)
Marais des Cygnes, KS, massacre (1858)
Great Hanging at Gainesville, TX (1862)
New York City draft riots (1863)
Detroit race riot (1863)
? Lachenais and four others (1863)
Fort Pillow, TN, massacre (1864)
Plummer Gang (1864)
Memphis massacre (1866)
Gallatin County, KY, race riot (1866)
New Orleans massacre of 1866
Reno Brothers Gang (1868)
Camilla, GA, massacre (1868)
Steve Long and two half-brothers (1868)
Pulaski, TN, riot (1868)
Samuel Bierfield and Lawrence Bowman (1868)
Opelousas, LA, massacre (1868)
Bear River City riot (1868)
Chinese massacre of 1871
Meridian, MS, race riot (1871)
Colfax, LA, massacre (1873)
Election riot of 1874 (AL)
Juan, Antonio, and Marcelo Moya (1874)
Benjamin and Mollie French (1876)
Ellenton, SC, riot (1876)
Hamburg, SC, massacre (1876)
Thibodeax, LA, massacre (1878)
Mart and Tom Horrell (1878)
Nevlin Porter and Johnson Spencer (1879)
Elijah Frost, Abijah Gibson, Tom McCracken (1879)
T.J. House, James West, John Dorsey (1880)
New Orleans 1891 lynchings (1891)
Ruggles Brothers (CA) (1892)
Thomas Moss, Henry Stewart, Calvin McDowell (TN) (1892)
Porter and Spencer (MS) (1897)
Phoenix, SC, election riot (1898)
Wilmington, NC, insurrection (1898)
Julia and Frazier Baker (1898)
Pana, IL, riot (1899)
Watkinsville lynching (1905)
1906 Atlanta race massacre
Kemper County, MS (1906)
Walker family (1908)
Springfield race riot of 1908
Slocum, TX, massacre (1910)
Laura and L.D. Nelson (1911)
Harris County, GA, lynchings (1912)
Newberry, FL, lynchings (1916)
East St. Louis, IL, riots (1917)
Lynching rampage in Brooks County, GA (1918)
Jenkins County, GA, riot (1919)
Longview, TX, race riot (1919)
Elaine, AR, race riot (1919)
Omaha race riot of 1919
Knoxville riot of 1919
Red Summer (1919)
Duluth, MN, lynchings (1920)
Ocoee, FL, massacre (1920)
Tulsa race massacre (1921)
Perry, FL, race riot (1922)
Rosewood, FL, massacre (1923)
Jim and Mark Fox (1927)
Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith (1930)
Tate County, MS (1932)
Thomas Harold Thurmond and John M. Holmes (1933)
Roosevelt Townes and Robert McDaniels (1937)
Beaumont, TX, Race Riot (1943)
O'Day Short, wife, and two children (1945)
Moore's Ford, GA, lynchings (1946)
Harry and
Harriette Moore (1952)
Anniston, AL (1961)
Freedom Summer Murders (
James Chaney ,
Andrew Goodman ,
Michael Schwerner ) (1964)
Henry Hezekiah Dee and Charles Eddie Moore (1964)