Jimmy Lee Jackson

Who is Jimmy Lee Jackson? Well, he is one of those unsung heroes who played a pivotal part in one of the major events of the Civil Rights movement. Every March 7, we pay remembrance to one of the most brutal, cowardly and sadistic attacks in the race wars of the 1960’s in the United States. It would go down in history to be known as “Bloody Sunday.” Jimmy Lee Jackson is a part of that rememberance. Bloody Sunday – March 7, 1965

The Viking

You know something.. everytime I meet a black man with the middle name “Lee”, I unconsciously think of the Deep South. I mean the deep, deep south, where Grandma always has the family over for Sunday dinner, the children still use words like, yes sir, no mam, thank you and please. Where nobody fixes banana pudding like mama’s and daddy is outside joking around with Uncle Robert and Uncle Bill. A black person with the middle name Lee just puts me in that state of mind. On the other hand, everytime I meet a white person with the middle name “Lee,” I automatically go into my Gomer Pyle state of mind. I see a trailer park with confederate flags and handmade “Trump for Prisadent” signs. Bobby Lee is riding down the middle of the street on his jacked up motorcycle trying to find out who stole the water hose he uses for his shower and Lilly Mae is yelling at Frog to get the F#@! out and don’t come back until he tells her why he’s wearing Old Spice to work. Go figure.. As a black person, I’m not sure why some of them named their children “Lee.” Lee was the commanding general of the confederate army and personally I would rather name my son “Gloria of the United Seven Neptunes,” before I name my son Lee or anything that sounded like it. Anywho, it is what it is. Maybe the black folks was just poking them rebels in the eye and every time they saw a black Lee, it reminded them of who won the war. Back a few minutes ago when I was coming up there was a gradual change in what parents were naming their children. Progressive parents shied away from giving their children European names or what they considered slave names. Now some of y’all went a little bit too far, but I feel you. I am an African American with a European name that originated with the Normans, better known as the Vikings! I can see me right now waltzing into a Neo- Nazi bar. I go in there and yell my name is “Gerald The Viking!!” The Nazi’s come to attention and give me the Nazi salute, “Hail Gerald, The Dead Viking!” and then they put the “Closed” sign on the door and turn out the lights…

The Alabama Resolutions

Ephesians 6:5: – Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ.

Jimmy Lee Jackson was from a little town called Marion in Alabama. Now for a town that barely ever had over three thousand people in it for the last 250 years, Marion has been at the center of numerous historical decisions which resulted in racial implications for African Americans. For instance in 1844 the Alabama Baptist State Convention was held in Marion, where they passed the “Alabama Resolutions.” Now I don’t know about you, but I thought it was some kinda sin for pastors to keep slaves, but it’s a little more complicated. Now, I would like to get into that biblical verse, but we will save it for another article. Suffice it to say that from the scant investigation I did research on the verse, it was the consensus of biblical scholars that the connotations we have for modern slavery was not the same type of slavery that was occuring in biblical time. Furthermore, there is a discussion of whether the word slave was the correct translation of the ancient language of the Hebrew text, with some scholars believing the translation from Hebrew meant servant and some racist saying it meant slave. Anywho, some members of the clergy didn’t think it was moral for pastors to keep slaves and threatened to quit. Nonetheless, some of those those Alabama baptist pastors wanted to have their slaves and preach the word of God out the side of dey mouf anyways. Among the resolutions passed at the Alabama Baptist State Convention was this little gem: “Resolved, That our duty at this crisis requires us to demand from the proper authorities in all those bodies to whose funds we have contributed, or with whom we have in any way been connected, the distinct, explicit, avowal that slaveholders are eligible, and entitled, equally with non-slaveholders, to all the privileges and immunities of their several unions; and especially to receive any agency, mission, or other appointment, which may run within the scope of their operation or duties.” That’s right… I paid my money, now I want to play the game… So we all know cotton picking well, and believe me there was a lot of cotton picking going on in 1844, that true believers of the Baptist persuasion were not going to let them slaveholders walk up to the pulpit with a slave standing beside them and talk about the love of our Savior. So you know what they did? They broke off from the Alabama Baptist State Convention and became the Southern Baptist Convention!! It is the world’s largest Baptist denomination and second largest Christian denomination in the United States, with only the Catholic Church being larger. Almost half of all African Americans identify with being baptist, including yours truly. But that’s not “even” all the impact this antebellum southern race pot had on African Americans…

To Bifurcate Or Not

Yep you’re right.. I couldn’t even wait to use the word “bifurcate,” which means forked into two branches:>).

I wish I was in the land of cotton,
Old times dar am not forgotten,
Look away! Look away! Look away! Dixie Land. – Daniel Decatur Emmett -1859

The Confederacy did not have an “official” national anthem, but Dixieland was as close to it as you could get. Written by Daniel Emmett in 1959, the song is one of the most well known songs in U.S history. Where “Dixieland” actually was is kind of a mystery. There are several stories widely published about where Dixieland is. Two seemed to have gained more traction than the others. The first one is that there was a farmer named Johaan Dixie or some variation thereof, who had a farm in the North. In the North slaves were idle during the winter months because of the weather, but you still had to feed and take care of them. Well good old Johaan decided that it was too much. It was costing him more to keep the slaves than he was making off their labor. So he sent them to be sold in Charleston, South Carolina. Down in Charleston the massa worked you from the crack of dawn till the black of night, unless you had one like Edwin Epps, who lit torches at night so that a cotton picking ##@! could see. After this type of treatment and the relatively easy life up North, it was said the slaves often lamented about how they sure wish they was back in Dixieland. (Just an aside, Edwin Epps was the slave master tormenting Solomon Northup in Twelve Years A Slave.) The other story about where Dixieland was come from a boundary dispute that was settled in the 1700’s. It was called the Mason- Dixon line. During the Civil War the Mason-Dixon line was the boundary between North and South. Now Mason and Dixon were a team, so it’s not like if you made it to Mason’s side you were free and equally if you were caught on Dixon’s side you be strung up from the highest tree. .. no if you were caught anywhere near the Mason Dixon line you was strung up from the highest tree, because “you was” trying to escape. Massa Longwhip: “Don’t you lie about it “n-word or you gonna get this azz whoppin too!!” The Mason- Dixon line was under constant patrol by slave bounty hunters and sadistic racist. If you happened to make it deep into the free states of Delaware or Pennsylvania you was safe. Now, during the Civil War our flag was called the Stars and Stripes, while the confederate traitor’s flag was known as the Stars and Bars.

The Stars And Bars

Now it’s time to bifurcate… and no I don’t have to go to the bathroom or nothing like that for those who skipped over the meaning… While Dixieland is one of the most well known songs in the United States, the Stars and Bars is one of the most well known flags in the world. Although the meaning of these two confederate relics is not widely known in the greater sense by the people of the world, their meaning is quite clear here. So it’s no wonder that when you hear the song and see the flag together at the same time you better be wearing a white hood and white robe with a burning red star on it… cause if you are not, you are probably the person they are slinging that noose over the tree branch for… get outta there fast man!!… Okay, now that you are safe, let’s get back to the story…  Nicola Marschall was a German-American artist and a teacher at the old Marion Female Seminary. Back in the Civil War days educational opportunities were scarce for women. Seminary’s were set up so that women could get an academic education. Before then southern men either wanted their women in the bedroom or in the kitchen. The seminaries were part of an expanding trend toward women’s equality and while most of them were one or two year affairs, they gradually evolves into four year institutions of higher learning. Salem College, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina began as a seminary and is now one of the oldest female institutions in the United States. Anyway, Marschall was a teacher at Marion Female Seminary where he taught art. In February of 1861 he was approached by the daughter-in-law of Alabama Governor Andrew B. Moore. Believe it or not Moore was a moderate in 1861 when it came to slavery and while that’s saying something to hold that type of attitude while deep down inside the belly of the racist homeland, right next to the scrotum… a moderate then just meant that you didn’t beat your slaves in front of the kids. (Reader’s: Dag editor, do you hit em every chance you get? Editor: Yep.) As I was saying earlier, Marschall was approached by Moore’s daughter-in-law to do the next thing this small town is noted for… It was Marschall who designed the confederate flag!! He gave Moore three designs and Moore picked what we now know as the Stars and Bars. The flag was first hoisted in Montgomery, Alabama in March of 1861. But wait.. not so fast.. it was Marschall who also designed those funky grey hard cotton confederate uniforms!! Less than 100 miles from the cradle of the confederacy in Montgomery, Alabama, the very symbols which we associate with of racism and hate originated in Marion, Alabama.

What!! There’s More?

Yes indeed, like I said before, this little town and its people made significant historical impacts which affects African Americans to this very day. Coretta Scott was born in Marion, Alabama. She would go on to become the wife of Dr. Martin Luther King. They were married at her mother’s house just outside of Marion. In 1958 when the race wars were heating up in the Jim Crow south, the world paused to pay attention to one Jimmy Wilson of Marion, Alabama. Now before we talk about Jimmy Wilson, I want to say he wasn’t no angel. As a matter of fact he was a straight up polecat. Anyway, Jimmy was a small time criminal. He had been arrested at least 8 times between 1927 and 1957. Now of course they was arresting black folks back in them days for being black and I reckon maybe half of them arrest were for being at the wrong place at the wrong time. Nevertheless, in the 1950’s when black people were arrested, most of them also got that azz whipped and I mean w.h.i.p.p.e.d!! So your average negro wasn’t trying to mess with those folks more than once, twice at the most, after that, it was get out of town and go north. Anywho, in 1958 Jimmy was accused of stealing $1.95 from this 74 year old white widow, who also said he tried to rape her, because why wouldn’t he want to rape a 74 year old white women in 1950’s Alabama? Of course he got that azz whipped, but that was not what the world was looking at. Marion, Alabama gave Jimmy the death penalty. Now mind you, in 1950’s Alabama you could get the death penalty for robbery… but not never a folk had ever been given the death penalty for stealing under $5.00. Yessiree Bob!! In addition, the case went all the way up to the Alabama Supreme Court which promptly asked Marion, Alabama, court, “Are you gonna use 120 or 240 volts.” They denied his plea for clemency. Luckily for Jimmy the world was watching. The story was being played out in newspapers all over the world. The Governor of Alabama, Jim Folsom at the time was receiving thousands of letter a day from all over in protest. When I read his name was Folsom, I thought about Johnny Cash who played at a prison named Folsom. I thought the prison was named after him, but nah, Johnny Cash’s Folsom prison is in California… So finally after thousands of letters coming in daily and at the urging of the Congress of Racial Equality, then United States Secretary of State, John Dulles wrote to Folsom and told him the communist were using the story as a propaganda tool and that the United States was receiving intense negative international attention. On September 29, 1958, Folsom commuted Wilson’s sentence to life. He was finally paroled in October of 1973 at the age of 70 years after serving 16 years. Nothing is known about his life after he was paroled… I’m shocked…( in my sarcastic voice)

Dag.. So What About Jimmy Lee Jackson?

Earlier I said that Jimmy Lee Jackson would forever be a part of the remembrance of the vicious attacks which occured on March 7, 1965, known as Bloody Sunday. On that day Alabama State Troopers along with local police and armed racist thugs attacked a peaceful group of 500 marchers as they crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. It was Jackson’s death which precipitated the Selma to Montgomery Voting Rights Marches. Remember there were three marches. The first one ended in the attacks of Bloody Sunday on the 7th. The second one ended on the 9th of March and cost Reverend James Reeb from Boston his life. After Bloody Sunday Dr. King put out a call to all clergy to come down to Selma and stand with them against the evil racist aggressors. Reeb along with two other clergymen were attacked by three club weilding KKK monsters and I am using monsters instead of the word I want to use.. they were attacked and Reeb succumbed to his injuries a day later. It was also the second march that Dr. King decided to turn back and wait for a court order that would that would prohibit the racist mobs and police from attacking innocent men, women and children who were participating in the march against racist subjugation. Finally there was the third march which ended successfully at the Capitol Building in Montgomery, where Dr. King delivered the captivating “How Long, Not Long..” speech.

 My goodness…that was a moment in history…

Dr King gave that speech on March 25, 1965, but before all of that happened, a black man named Jimmy Lee Jackson had to die. Jackson born in Marion Alabama, was a 26 year old Vietnam veteran, father and son. He worked as a laborer making six dollars a day to take care of his mother, grandfather and daughter, his father dying when he was 18. He was no different from any other young black man or women growing up in the stifling racism of the 1960’s Jim Crow south, which constantly beat the brow low and withered the spirit. For years under the apartheid like system he along with millions of others were denied the rights and privileges under the same United States Constitution he had been forced to kill for in defense of other people’s rights and privileges!! Curse, Curse, Curse!! After coming back and settling in, he became a deacon of the St. James Baptist Church in Marion. It was during this time he became involved in activism and it was also during this time he became inspired by Dr. King who had been asked by the people in nearby Selma to come down and help with voter registration. Dr. King was a frequent speaker and young Jackson would attend his talks regularly at the Zion Chapel Methodist Church in Selma. Now before we continue, I wanna take a minute, because I need a minute… I just want to say after doing my research I never more than now realize that we owe these folks big time… I mean BIG TIME!! I have never been a big church goer.. but I finally understand why they say… “Glory Hallelujah.. Glory Hallelujah!!”

Walking Into History… For The Last Time…

On the night of February 18, 1956, civil rights worker James Orange was being held in the Perry County jail. Now Orange was a big dude, 6’3 and about 300 pounds and believe me if he wasn’t committed to nonviolence this might be the end of this story. We all know a dude that big can tear up some @!## if you get it wrong. Anywho, Orange was committed to nonviolence and the local KKK members on the police force locked him up for “contributing to the delinquency of minors.” He had kids working with him to help with voter registration drives. Those kinda of racist was nothing to be playing with.. they was “really” vicious back in the day!! There was some concern that the racist considered Orange a threat. After all they figured this wasn’t your usual nig@@r, they wasn’t just going to waltz into that cell with that big black man and give out no azz whooping. Well the folks in Marion started to hear talk about a lynching, so they decided to organize a march to the Perry County jail. Silently they marched, past the whites only barber shop, past the whites only drug store, past the whites only park and playground, finally coming to the post office where a line of Marion police officers, county sheriff’s deputies, and Alabama state troopers with their hoods off waited. When they got there, the street light suddenly went out… some say they were shot out. Under cover of darkness, the government authorized and protected thugs proceeded to do their foul work. They attacked the peaceful marchers and the newsmen who were covering them. They were relentless and unyielding in their evilness and hatred. The sounds of broken flesh and bone permeated the still night as the racist aggressors wielded their batons against the innocent and righteous, scattering them as the wind scatters the dead leaves of fall. Jimmy and his family managed to escape the onslaught and made their way to Mack’s, a black establishment behind the church. It was there, right there, that a page of history would be turned.

The Mountaintop – “Well, I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn’t matter with me now, because I’ve been to the mountaintop. And I don’t mind. Like anybody, I would like to live – a long life; longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land. So I’m happy, tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.” – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. – April 3, 1968,

Jackson, his sister, his mother Viola Jackson, and his 82-year-old grandfather Cager Lee, had rushed into the establishment being hurriedly pursued by the Alabama State police. They bust through the door and began clubbing Jimmy. He fell to the floor in pain and anguish. His mother seeing her child so viciously attacked, tried to pull the racist aggressors off of him. She too was kick and beaten to the floor. When Jimmy saw that they were attacking his mother, he did what any son would do, he went to protect her and pulled the animals off her. They turned their attention again to Jimmy, who they threw up against the wall. A few seconds later there was the sharp sound of a gun being fired. Jimmy had been shot twice in the stomach. The varmints then left. Jimmy was clubbed again after leaving to seek medical help. He died of his wounds eight days later at Good Samaritan Hospital in Selma. At one of the memorial services held for Jimmy, Dr. King spoke, saying at one point, “Jimmie Lee Jackson’s death says to us that we must work passionately and unrelentingly to make the American dream a reality. His death must prove that unmerited suffering does not go unredeemed. We must not be bitter and we must not harbor ideas of retaliating with violence. We must not lose faith in our white brothers.” Do you see their strength? In my lifetime I have seen cities burned down for something like that. As a result of Jimmy’s death and the ongoing malaise of unending racist violence and intimidation, James Bevel, SCLC Director of Direct Action and the director of SCLC’s Selma Voting Rights Movement, initiated and organized the first of the Selma to Montgomery marches. The Voting Right Act Of 1965 was finally signed into law on August 6, 1965, by Lyndon B. Johnson and Crager Lee, Jimmy’s grandfather voted for the first time in his 82 years.

Did Anyone Pay For The Murder Of Jimmy Lee Jackson?

Shortly after Jackson murder,it came to light that a State Trooper by the name of James Fowler was the racist who shot Jackson in front of his family. In 1965 a grand jury refuse to indict him and he went back to work as a police officer. Now some of you are going to be fired up when I tell you what happened next. He was transferred to Birmingham, Alabama, and promoted. Now you know what type of cloth we talking about… It wasn’t until 2005 that he was finally identified. But before then, Fowler was involved in another shooting of an unarmed black whom he killed in 1966. The man’s name was Nathan Johnson. According to reports at the time, Johnson had a lengthy criminal record and was intoxicated at the time of the shooting. Fowler claimed Johnson grabbed his billy club and was attacking him with it and he was force to shoot him… twice in the chest. He walked away from that one too. However in 1968 he was fired from the state police for physically attacking him supervisor. His excuse was that he was in mourning after the death of his father and that he wasn’t given time off. So he grabbed his supervisor as he was getting into his car and rammed his head through the windshield. The supervisor was left unconscious and taken to the hospital. Of course racist or no racist he had to get outta there..don’t go mad.. just go… Anywho, after leaving the state troopers Fowler joined the Army and did some tours in Vietnam. After the war Fowler remained in Vietnam and eventually ended up in Thailand. He stayed there for 20 years eventually marrying and settling down in Thailand, occasionally coming back to the states to take care of business. Now karma is a $##@. While Fowler was over in Thailand he got caught up with the dope trade and was convicted of heroin trafficking. He spent five years in a Thai prison with little brown Thai gangsters at his throat every day. He and his wife returned to the US in 1996 for good and he moved back to Alabama. Now earlier I said he was identified in 2005 as the racist that killed Jimmy Lee Jackson. Although they did not indict him in 1965, in 2005 the case was reopened. In 2010 he copped a plea to manslaughter and was sentenced to six months in prison but was released one month early because of health reasons. Following his release in 2005 he said, “I greatly respect such black leaders as Nelson Mandela and Colin Powell, but generally do not think that blacks and whites should mix in society.” Fowler died of pancreatic cancer on July 5, 2015, at the age of 81.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. died April 4, 1968, one day after giving his Mountaintop speech.

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