George Washington Lee | |
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Born | |
Died | May 7, 1955 | (aged 51)
Cause of death | Assassination |
Occupation(s) | Civil rights leader, Baptist minister, grocer |
Known for | Civil Rights Movement; Voter registration; NAACP; Regional Council of Negro Leadership |
Spouse | Rosebud |
George Washington Lee (December 25, 1903 – May 7, 1955) was an African-American civil rights leader, minister, and entrepreneur. He was a vice president of the Regional Council of Negro Leadership and head of the Belzoni, Mississippi, branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. He was assassinated in 1955 in retaliation for his efforts to register African Americans to vote. Since 1890 they had been effectively disenfranchised in Mississippi due to a new state constitution; other states across the South passed similar acts and constitutions, excluding millions of people from the political system and establishing one-party states.