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James Cameron

4.4/5 ( ratings)
Born
February 04 1914
Died
1010 06 20062006
James Cameron survived being lynched from a maple tree in Marion, Indiana, when he was sixteen years old. Cameron, who kept a piece of the rope that had scarred his neck moments before he was spared, was the only known survivor of a lynching attempt. He detailed his experience in his well written memoir, A Time of Terror: A Survivor’s Story, now in its 3rd edition. In the 1940s, he founded three chapters of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People . He also served as Indiana’s State Director of the Office of Civil Liberties from 1942 to 1950. In 1988 Cameron founded America’s Black Holocaust Museum in Milwaukee, devoted to African-American history from slavery to the present.

James Herbert Cameron, Jr. was born on February 25, 1914, in La Crosse, Wisconsin, to James Herbert Cameron and Vera Carter. His father was a barber who cut white men’s hair. He was also an abusive alcoholic who often lost his job. Seeking employment, he moved the family frequently. First they moved to Indianapolis, then through a series of small towns in Central Indiana. Finally, the family went to live in Birmingham, Alabama, when Cameron was five. By the time he was seven, his parents had divorced. When he was about fourteen, his mother moved her children to the North Central Indiana town of Marion to be near relatives. Cameron describes his mother as a very loving, religious woman. She took in washing to support him and his two sisters. They lived in very humble circumstances. In Marion their home was a former stable on the edge of town.

On Aug. 7, 1930, 16-year-old Cameron and two older teenage friends, Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith were arrested and accused of murder, robbery and rape. A white couple was parked in a lovers lane when the trio came upon them and one of the group suggested robbing the couple. Cameron later said he changed his mind and ran away before the man, Claude Deeter, 23, was fatally shot. The woman later denied being raped. The three were caught quickly and arrested and charged the same night.

A lynch mob broke into the jail where Cameron and his two friends were being held. According to Cameron’s own account, the two older boys were taken out first, beaten and lynched by a mob of 12,000-15,000 at the Grant County Courthouse Square. Shipp was taken out and beaten, hanged from the bars of his jail window; Smith was dead from beating before the mob hanged both the boys from a tree in the square. The bodies of these two men, Tom Shipp, 18, and Abraham Smith, 19, hanging from a tree is depicted in a famous and disturbing photograph.

Cameron was beaten and a noose was put around his neck; but, miraculously he was saved. The voice of an unidentified woman intervened, saying that he was not guilty: “Take this boy back. He had nothing to do with any raping or shooting of anybody.” Cameron, with his neck scarred from the rope, was returned to the jail. He was tried and convicted as an accessory to the murder that incited the lynching. He spent five years in prison.

After he was paroled, Cameron moved to Detroit, Michigan, to live with an aunt. In Detroit, he attended Wayne State University and got married before moving in 1939 to Anderson, Indiana. There he owned the only Black business in town — a combination shoeshine parlor, record shop and knickknack store. At the same time, he continued to study lynchings, race and civil rights in America and trying to teach others. Because of his personal experience, Cameron dedicated his life to promoting civil rights, racial unity and equality. In the 1940s, he founded three chapters of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People , becoming the first president of the NAACP Madison County chapter in Anderson, Indiana.

He also served as the Indiana State Director of Civil Liberties from 1942 to 1950. In this capacity, Cameron reported to Governor of Indiana Henry Schricker on violations of the “equal accommodations” laws design

James Cameron

4.4/5 ( ratings)
Born
February 04 1914
Died
1010 06 20062006
James Cameron survived being lynched from a maple tree in Marion, Indiana, when he was sixteen years old. Cameron, who kept a piece of the rope that had scarred his neck moments before he was spared, was the only known survivor of a lynching attempt. He detailed his experience in his well written memoir, A Time of Terror: A Survivor’s Story, now in its 3rd edition. In the 1940s, he founded three chapters of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People . He also served as Indiana’s State Director of the Office of Civil Liberties from 1942 to 1950. In 1988 Cameron founded America’s Black Holocaust Museum in Milwaukee, devoted to African-American history from slavery to the present.

James Herbert Cameron, Jr. was born on February 25, 1914, in La Crosse, Wisconsin, to James Herbert Cameron and Vera Carter. His father was a barber who cut white men’s hair. He was also an abusive alcoholic who often lost his job. Seeking employment, he moved the family frequently. First they moved to Indianapolis, then through a series of small towns in Central Indiana. Finally, the family went to live in Birmingham, Alabama, when Cameron was five. By the time he was seven, his parents had divorced. When he was about fourteen, his mother moved her children to the North Central Indiana town of Marion to be near relatives. Cameron describes his mother as a very loving, religious woman. She took in washing to support him and his two sisters. They lived in very humble circumstances. In Marion their home was a former stable on the edge of town.

On Aug. 7, 1930, 16-year-old Cameron and two older teenage friends, Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith were arrested and accused of murder, robbery and rape. A white couple was parked in a lovers lane when the trio came upon them and one of the group suggested robbing the couple. Cameron later said he changed his mind and ran away before the man, Claude Deeter, 23, was fatally shot. The woman later denied being raped. The three were caught quickly and arrested and charged the same night.

A lynch mob broke into the jail where Cameron and his two friends were being held. According to Cameron’s own account, the two older boys were taken out first, beaten and lynched by a mob of 12,000-15,000 at the Grant County Courthouse Square. Shipp was taken out and beaten, hanged from the bars of his jail window; Smith was dead from beating before the mob hanged both the boys from a tree in the square. The bodies of these two men, Tom Shipp, 18, and Abraham Smith, 19, hanging from a tree is depicted in a famous and disturbing photograph.

Cameron was beaten and a noose was put around his neck; but, miraculously he was saved. The voice of an unidentified woman intervened, saying that he was not guilty: “Take this boy back. He had nothing to do with any raping or shooting of anybody.” Cameron, with his neck scarred from the rope, was returned to the jail. He was tried and convicted as an accessory to the murder that incited the lynching. He spent five years in prison.

After he was paroled, Cameron moved to Detroit, Michigan, to live with an aunt. In Detroit, he attended Wayne State University and got married before moving in 1939 to Anderson, Indiana. There he owned the only Black business in town — a combination shoeshine parlor, record shop and knickknack store. At the same time, he continued to study lynchings, race and civil rights in America and trying to teach others. Because of his personal experience, Cameron dedicated his life to promoting civil rights, racial unity and equality. In the 1940s, he founded three chapters of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People , becoming the first president of the NAACP Madison County chapter in Anderson, Indiana.

He also served as the Indiana State Director of Civil Liberties from 1942 to 1950. In this capacity, Cameron reported to Governor of Indiana Henry Schricker on violations of the “equal accommodations” laws design

Books from James Cameron

Time of Terror: A Survivor's Story

4.4/5 ( ratings)
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