Location: Wilkinson County, Mississippi
Age: 24
Year: 1945
Tom Jones Jr., 24, was a longshoreman who was killed by a night watchman in Wilkinson County, Mississippi, in 1945.
A bus driver alleged that Jones had been rude to him when asking for his luggage, which was stored in a compartment in the lower part of the bus.
Subsequently, the driver struck Jones in the head with a blackjack, then left his bus and returned with the watchman, David McDonald.
McDonald then proceeded to shoot Jones.
For more information, search CRRJ’s archive.
Read more about Jones’ death on the Burnham-Nobles Digital Archive
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.
Documents relating to Jones' death
For newspaper reports, advocacy group documents and more, search our archive.
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