Filmed on location in rural Louisiana, featuring a corrupt local police force and a racist sheriff (Don Johnson) viewers may wonder if the recently released thriller Rebel Ridge is based on a true story.
In the film, ex-marine Terry Richmond (Aaron Pierre) is on his way to pay his cousin’s $36,000 bail in a small town in Louisiana, when he is pulled over on his bicycle on by police officers. Richmond, a Black man, is subjected by the two white police officers to numerous accusations until eventually they search his backpack and discover the money, which the officers proceed to illegally seize. Richmond is trapped in a convoluted legal system that protects law enforcement and those with power. And so begins the struggle for Richmond to regain his property, save his cousin from death at the hands of prison mobs, and reveal the corruption at the heart of this force’s illegal forfeiture practices. Rebel Ridge, Netflix’s latest action thriller-cum-social drama, directed by Jeremy Saulnier (Blue Ruin; Green Room) topped 31 million views during its first week when it aired in September.
Although some elements of the plot have been ripped from the headlines – like cops buying themselves a margarita machine with confiscated money – Rebel Ridge wasn’t inspired by one single case. But there are many cases in the Burnham-Nobles Digital Archive, home to more than 1,000 incidents of anti-Black violence in the Jim Crow South, that could have inspired Rebel Ridge. Here are some cases that make clear the Rebel Ridge story is rooted in historical precedents; African Americans have indeed been killed as a result of illegal forfeitures gone awry, property seizure, police corruption and in some cases, pure greed.
Atmos Shaw, a 42-year-old laborer, was killed on April 16, 1948, by police officers in Birmingham, Alabama. Early that morning, Shaw was on his way to the bus station to visit his children and make a payment on the family homestead he had inherited from his father. He was carrying $1,000 for the mortgage payment when police stopped him. Officer Steve Wideman claimed that Shaw resisted arrest and during the ensuing struggle both men fell, and Shaw’s head hit the base of a stone building. In the hospital before he died, Shaw told his brother Frank and sister Daisy that the police had beaten him and warned the doctors not to provide any medical assistance for him. Shaw’s death certificate notes his cracked skull. The police never returned the thousand dollars they seized to the Shaw family.
Search the Burnham-Nobles Digital Archive for more information about Shaw’s death
About the Archive
The Burnham-Nobles Digital Archive houses case files and documents for more than 1,000 cases of racial homicides in the Jim Crow South. Co-founded by Melissa Nobles, professor of political science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Margaret Burnham, CRRJ director and professor of law at Northeastern, these uncovered stories highlight how violence affected lives, defined legal rights and shaped politics between 1930 and 1954.
Matt James McWilliams, a farmer and veteran, was killed on January 5, 1947, by Sheriff Arnold Harbor in Kemper County, Mississippi. McWilliams, owner of valuable timber land, had received a notice of eviction from his land. When he refused to vacate his property for a second time, Sheriff Harbor went to McWilliams’ home to serve him with a warrant for trespassing. There, the sheriff shot McWilliams, claiming that McWilliams had attempted to take his pistol. Harbor was cleared in a preliminary judicial hearing.
NAACP records, housed in the Burnham-Nobles Digital Archive note that, according to Phillip McWilliams, the victim’s nephew, Sheriff Harbor had purchased the tax lien on McWilliams’ land right before the farmer’s death. The lien had been attached for a supposed failure to pay taxes.
In other words, the sheriff had a direct material interest in the eviction of McWilliams from his land.
Walter Henry, a 39-year-old highway paving contractor was killed in 1931 by R.L. Goff, in Reidsville, Rockingham County, North Carolina. Goff shot Henry for allegedly prowling on the white man’s property on the evening of March 29. After some investigation by local police, a coroner’s jury cleared Goff of any charges. However, Walter Henry’s brother, Dr. William Henry, travelled to Reidsville and discovered several facts about his brothers’ death that led him to believe that Goff had committed a murder, and that his brother’s wealth may have been the true motive for the killing. William Henry detailed his findings in letters to the NAACP, appealing to the organization for help and noting that he wished to press formal charges against Goff.
William Henry’s first finding was that his brother had had a very good reputation in the town, making it unlikely he’d spend an evening prowling outside a white man’s house. He also discovered that Walter Henry had used the profits from his successful road contracting business to invest in the purchase of a couple of lots in town. In fact, according to William Henry, the last contract his brother signed before his death was for $140,000. He learned that there was a history of white men in Reidsville demanding work contracted to Walter Henry be turned over to them. There was obvious competition over Walter Henry’s trade and success.
William Henry concluded his brother was murdered because he was deemed too prosperous for a Black man, and because whites coveted the businesses and properties Walter Henry had amassed.
William and Cora Wales were killed on May 15, 1936, after a long siege with a mob of armed civilians and police officers, inside their home in Madison, Orange County, Virginia.
Sheriff William B. Young arrived at the property May 15, to serve a “lunacy warrant” to have William Wales institutionalized, following allegations that William Wales had threatened his neighbor, a wealthy widower, Mrs. George Zinn. Zinn later denied any such threat was ever made.
When Young approached the house, he broke through the glass of the door, unlocked it, and was shot through the chest by William Wales, in defense of his property. Following the sheriff’s killing, the Wales siblings barricaded themselves inside their home. Once word of what took place at the Wales’ property spread, a mob formed and surrounded the Wales’ house. The 2000-strong mob fired hundreds of rounds into the home, eventually setting the house aflame. The brother and sister continued to fight until the 10-room-home eventually collapsed upon them.
Newspaper accounts as to the mob’s motivations vary. In one version, the mob was incensed by the rumors that William Wales had threatened his white neighbor. In another account, the Maplewood Cemetery Association, a white organization, wanted to purchase land owned by Wales and his sister, but the pair refused to sell and so the mob was summoned. Local whites were enraged that the Wales family-owned significant real estate, land these white men had sought to purchase from them for years. William Wales had already conceded part of his land in 1926 to the town cemetery, six years after his brother was killed by a white man who had tried to make a pass at his brother’s sweetheart.
There was clearly bad blood between the Wales family and white people in Madison. A letter from Prof. C. E. Trimble to the Department of Justice claimed this killing was solely about the Wales’ property.
These Burnham-Nobles Digital Archive cases illustrate how lethal racial violence was spurred by illegal seizure of property, financial greed and illegal asset forfeiture. Many others like these remain unknown and uninvestigated. The cases demonstrate the many ways in which white communities as well as police authorities perceived Black wealth and financial power as a threat.
The contempt with which the officers treat Richmond in Rebel Ridge, fictional on the screen, is real and lethal in the historical record.
Join our mailing list
Receive the latest news about CRRJ's work, events and programs.
By submitting this form, you are consenting to receive email communications from The Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project https://crrj.org. You can unsubscribe any time by using the SafeUnsubscribe link found at the bottom of every email. Serviced by Constant Contact.