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Chief Ralph Dance told WTVA TV he was about two blocks away when he heard the shots, several of them, about 10:30 Saturday night. When he got there at the Nash Way Apartments, he found one of the victims shot several times.
Both men were shot several times. Dance was expected to give out names at the 10 o’clock press conference. He said his department is working to find out who did it.CORINTH, Miss.–A double murder at a Corinth apartment complex Saturday night may be gang-related. The chief of police heard the shots and went to the scene first. He’s expected to hold a press conference Monday morning.
On November 5, 1959, the eight white teenagers found to have been in the truck, including the one who fired the gun, were arrested, charged with murder and released on bond, pending a grand jury hearing. In January 1960, the grand jury indicted one of the white teenagers for manslaughter but recommended he be treated with leniency. The teen pleaded guilty to the charge and was sentenced to five years in prison, four of which were suspended. The grand jury recommended that the six remaining juveniles be certified to youth court and the one adult subject be rolled over to a grand jury later that year.Shogaolu rooted the visuals in the powerful symbolism of trees. In the United States, trees evoke the ideal of liberty, but also speak to an oppressive history of racially motivated violence. In Persian myth, trees are humanity’s ancestors, while in Toraja, Indonesia, they serve as sacred burial sites. According to a Department of Justice memo relying heavily on statements from witnesses at the time of the incident, Prather was walking home with his friends when a group of white teenagers in a truck drove by and threw firecrackers at the Black youths. In turn, the Black teenagers reportedly threw rocks and bricks at the truck. At some point that evening, the white teenagers retrieved a firearm and shells from one of their homes and returned to the Black section of town. One of the white teenagers then shot Prather in the face. Prather was taken to an emergency room but died the following morning. With support from the CRRJ, FRONTLINE reporters gathered what could be known about the individuals on the list, conducting interviews with family, friends and witnesses, delving into newspaper archives and gathering documentation including headstone applications, draft cards and archival photographs.The FBI initiated a review of the case in 2009. As part of its investigation, the FBI interviewed two of Prather’s family members, as well as Black and white witnesses to the events of that night (some of whom had given statements in 1959; others who had not), a Corinth police officer and the physician who treated Prather in the emergency room. The FBI also reviewed witness statements and local news reports from the time of the killing and sought additional information from the Southern Poverty Law Center and the NAACP.“I was really inspired by looking at the role of the tree as a symbol in American history” Shogaolu said. “It’s been looked at as a symbol of freedom, we look at it as a connector between generations, and also there’s the association of trees with racial terror.” When designing the creative vision for Un(re)solved Shogaolu wondered whether she might be able to reclaim the symbol of the tree. “As a person of color, we’re often terrified of being in isolated places in the woods. And I thought it was kind of crazy that there are natural environments that instinctually give great fear because of this connection with racial terror and I wanted to reclaim that — to turn these into beautiful spaces.”A project like Un(re)solved would not be possible without the historic and contemporary contributions of universities, civil rights groups, and the press, particularly the Black press, who have ensured the ongoing public record of racist violence in the United States. To pay homage to these groups, the web interactive begins with a quote from journalist, activist and researcher Ida B. Wells, one of the first to document with precision the horrors of racial terror in America. “The way to right wrongs,” she wrote, “is to turn the light of truth upon them.”
