Wilbur Little (also William[1][2] or Wilbert[3] in some sources) was a black American veteran of World War I, lynched in April 1919 in his hometown of Blakely, Georgia, for refusing to remove his military uniform. Servicemen who had been discharged from the army were permitted under War Department regulations to wear their service uniforms for three months after their demobilization date.[4][5] Reportedly, Little was still in uniform beyond that date.[6][7] He was one of many African-American servicemen of the time who were subjected to violence for continuing to wear their uniforms after being discharged from the military.[8]
Little was killed by Blakely residents, but the details of his death are uncertain. One source says he was hanged and burned.[9] Another states he was beaten to death.[10] The lack of authoritative information about these types of killings was not uncommon.[10]
- ^ "The Lynching Project: Early County". African American Experience in Athens. Retrieved July 26, 2020.
- ^ Gambino, Lauren (February 10, 2015). "Jim Crow lynchings more widespread than first thought, report concludes". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved July 27, 2020.
- ^ Gilbert, Tony (March 25, 2015). "The meanest little town...: A lingering humiliation from 96 years ago". Early County News. Blakely, Georgia. Retrieved July 27, 2020.
- ^ Onion, Rebecca (March 4, 2015). "Red Summer: In 1919, white Americans visited awful violence on black Americans. So black Americans decided to fight back". Slate Magazine. Retrieved July 20, 2020.
- ^ Krugler, David F. (December 8, 2014). 1919, The Year of Racial Violence: How African Americans Fought Back. Cambridge University Press. pp. 41–42. ISBN 978-1-316-19500-0 – via Google Books.
- ^ Klay, Phil (November 9, 2019). "Opinion | The Soldiers We Leave Behind". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 20, 2020.
- ^ Du Bois, William Edward Burghardt (July 1919). The Crisis: A Record of the Darker Races. Vol. 18. National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. p. 155.
- ^ "Navy admiral gets it all wrong about Kaepernick at Pearl Harbor ceremony". Andscape. December 9, 2016. Retrieved July 20, 2020.
- ^ Fessenden, Tracy (April 27, 2018). Religion Around Billie Holiday. Penn State Press. ISBN 978-0-271-08720-7 – via Google Books.
- ^ a b Mikkelsen, Vincent (2007). Coming from Battle to Face a War: The Lynching of Black Soldiers in the World War I Era (PDF) (PhD). Florida State University College of Arts and Sciences. pp. 139–140. S2CID 161488986. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 27, 2020.