Ben Chester White (January 5, 1899 – June 10, 1966) was an African-American caretaker, uninvolved in the civil rights movement, shot down by the KKK. This was likely in an attempt to move focus away from

James Meredith James Howard Meredith (born June 25, 1933) is an American civil rights activist, writer, political adviser, and United States Air Force veteran who became, in 1962, the first African-American student admitted to the racially segregated Univers ...

’s

March Against Fear The March Against Fear was a major 1966 demonstration in the Civil Rights Movement in the South. Activist James Meredith launched the event on June 5, 1966, intending to make a solitary walk from Memphis, Tennessee, to Jackson, Mississippi vi ...

or to lure

Martin Luther King, Jr Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister, civil rights activist and political philosopher who was a leader of the civil rights movement from 1955 until his ...

. in an assassination attempt. This murder went unnoticed by King.

Biography

Early life

For his whole life, Ben Chester White was a caretaker to the Carter family farm on Liberty Road in

Natchez, Mississippi Natchez ( ) is the only city in and the county seat of Adams County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 14,520 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located on the Mississippi River across from Vidalia, Louisiana, Natchez was ...

, as well as a

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian denominations, such as the Cathol ...

in the local Baptist church. He would perform tasks around the farm and with a limited ability to read would still quote vast passages from the bible.

Children

* Jesse White - left to

Baton Rouge Baton Rouge ( ; , ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It had a population of 227,470 at the 2020 United States census, making it List of municipalities in Louisiana, Louisiana's second-m ...

* Louis White - left to

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

Death and afterward

Ben Chester White was murdered by James L. Jones, Claude Fuller, and Ernest Avants of the Ku Klux Klan on June 10, 1966; he is buried in Southwood Lodge Church Cemetery,

. After buying Ben Chester White a soda, the three men took him into the

Homochitto National Forest Homochitto National Forest is a U.S. National Forest in southwestern Mississippi comprising . In the mid-1930s, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) began reforestation of the area and developing a system of roadways and recreational areas. G ...

, ostensibly to help them find a lost dog, where he was shot eighteen times, dumped into Pretty Creek; the murderers burned the car in a planter's driveway across the county. Jones would be the one to soon after confess to the crime. Fuller and Jones were indicted but never tried, and Avants was acquitted (White's family later won a financial judgment that was never paid). In 1968, Jesse White sued the KKK for his father's death and was awarded $1 million from the court. This was the first time in history the organization was legally held responsible for one of its members. The $1 million was never received. In 1989, White was featured in the

Civil Rights Memorial The Civil Rights Memorial is an American memorial in Montgomery, Alabama, created by Maya Lin. The names of 41 people are inscribed on the granite fountain as martyrs who were killed in the civil rights movement. The memorial is sponsored by ...

. In 2000, Ernest Avants, the only surviving perpetrator, was arrested by federal officials. It had recently been discovered that White was killed on federal property, meaning his murder was a federal crime. In 2003, Avants was found guilty of first degree murder by a federal jury in Mississippi and sentenced to life in prison. He died in prison on June 14, 2004. Footage about White was shown in a 2013 episode of the documentary ''Civil Rights Movement Road Trip''. Avans was also implicated in the 1965 murder of Earl Hodges, a disillusioned former Klansman who had disavowed the group and whom colleagues feared was going to tell the police about their crimes.

Biography

Early life

Children

Death and afterward

References

Further reading