James Byrd Jr.

James Byrd Jr. in the United States

James Byrd Jr. (1949–1998) in relation to Crime and Race

James Byrd Jr. (1949–1998) is included in the Encyclopedia of Race and Crime (1), beginning with: James Byrd, Jr., was an African American man who, on June 7, 1998, in the small segregated east Texas town of Jasper, was brutally dragged to his death after being chained by the ankles to the back of a pickup truck by three White men (John William King, Lawrence Russell Brewer, and Shawn Allen Berry). Byrd, the third of seven children born to James and Stella Byrd, was born and raised in Jasper. In 1967 Byrd was in the last segregated class to graduate from Jasper’s Rowe High School before it was consolidated with Jasper High as part of a desegregation plan. He was a gifted musician and played the trumpet and piano. Byrd married in 1970 and had three children before divorcing in 1993. Between 1969 and 1996, Byrd was incarcerated several times for various offenses, including theft, forgery, and violation of parole.

Resources

Notes and References

  1. Entry about James Byrd Jr. (1949–1998) in the Encyclopedia of Race and Crime

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