The Lynching of William Bradford

Marker Text: On Friday, June 16, 1911, a mob of at least 50 white men abducted a Black man named William Bradford from police custody and lynched him near Hickory, Mississippi. The mob riddled Mr. Bradford’s lifeless body with bullets for sport and left it to hang by the roadside – a warning to anyone in the Black community who dared assert their rights to self-defense. William Bradford was employed by a lumber company in Chunky, Mississippi. That Thursday, he had a disagreement with two white men over a livestock watering trough at the lumber commissary. While news reports differ as to the exact details of the conflict, it is clear that an altercation ensued. The white men attacked and disarmed Mr. Bradford, and when he attempted to defend himself, they beat him on the head with an iron pipe. Fearful of the retaliatory violence often inflicted on Black people by white mobs, Mr. Bradford fled. By Friday, local law enforcement officers captured and arrested Mr. Bradford 14 miles away from Chunky where he was still suffering from his head wounds. On the way to the local jail in Hickory, a white mob abducted and swiftly lynched Mr. Bradford. Armed officers made no effort to protect the Black man in their custody. While the Black community was traumatized by Mr. Bradford’s lynching, local newspapers applauded the mob’s act as a “Neat Lynching in Newton.” No one was ever held accountable for the lynching of William Bradford.