Ben Chester White (January 5, 1899 – June 10, 1966) was an African-American caretaker, uninvolved in the civil rights movement, shot down by the KKK. This was likely in an attempt to move focus away from James Meredith’s March Against Fear or to lure Martin Luther King, Jr. in an assassination attempt. This murder went unnoticed by King.[1][2][3]
Biography
Early life
For his whole life, Ben Chester White was a caretaker to the Carter family farm on Liberty Road in Natchez, Mississippi, as well as a deacon in the local Baptist church.[1][3] He would perform tasks around the farm and with a limited ability to read would still quote vast passages from the bible.[1]
Children
- Jesse White - left to Baton Rouge[1]
- Louis White - left to Vietnam[1]
Death and afterward
Ben Chester White was murdered by James L. Jones, Claude Fuller, and Ernest Avants of the KKK on June 10, 1966; he is buried in Southwood Lodge Church Cemetery, Natchez, Mississippi.[4] After buying Ben Chester White a soda, the three men took him into the Homochitto National Forest, ostensibly to help them find a lost dog, where he was shot eighteen times, dumped into Pretty Creek; the murderers burned the car in a planter's driveway across the county. Jones would be the one to soon after confess to the crime. Fuller and Jones were indicted but never tried, and Avants was acquitted (White's family later won a financial judgment that was never paid).[1][2][3][5]
In 1968, Jesse White sued the KKK for his father's death and was awarded $1 million from the court. This was the first time in history the organization was legally held responsible for one of its members. The $1 million was never received.[2] In 1989, White was featured in the Civil Rights Memorial.
In 2000, Ernest Avants, the only surviving perpetrator, was arrested by federal officials. It had recently been discovered that White was killed on federal property, meaning his murder was a federal crime. In 2003, Avants was found guilty of first degree murder by a federal jury in Mississippi and sentenced to life in prison. He died in prison on June 14, 2004.[6]
Footage about White was shown in a 2013 episode of the documentary Civil Rights Movement Road Trip.[7]
References
- ^ a b c d e f "KKK killed Ben Chester White, hoping to lure & kill MLK". The Clarion Ledger. Retrieved 2019-10-26.
- ^ a b c "Ben Chester White: Murdered by Klansmen as Attempt to Lure and Kill Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr". Black Then. 2018-02-22. Retrieved 2019-10-26.
- ^ a b c "White, Ben Chester – MS Civil Rights Project". Retrieved 2019-10-26.
- ^ "Mississippi History Timeline » Ben Chester White Killed". Retrieved 2019-10-26.
- ^ Bragg, Rick (2003-03-01). "Former Klansman Is Found Guilty of 1966 Killing". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-10-26.
- ^ "Ernest Avants, 72, Plotter Against Dr. King (Published 2004)". 2004-06-17. Retrieved 2023-08-12.
- ^ "Civil Right Movement Road Trip" Civil Rights Memorial, Montgomery Alabama (TV Episode 2013) - IMDb, retrieved 2019-10-26
