Location(s): Woodville, Mississippi
Decade: 1940s
On September 8, 1945, Tom Jones Jr., 24 years old, was shot and killed by David McDonald, a Woodville night officer, at a Greyhound bus stop in Woodville, Mississippi. The New Orleans Branch of the NAACP wrote to the Attorney General seeking a federal investigation of the murder. After an eight-month investigation by the FBI and the Department of Justice, the Department of Justice closed the case because Jones’s labor activities labeled him as a “troublemaker.” No charges were filed.
The collection includes: photographs, NAACP file, news articles, DOJ file, Interviews, census records, Jones death certificate, and CRRJ student Kiersten Blume’s essay, “Not in New Orleans Anymore: A Legal History Regarding the Death of Tom Jones, Jr.”