Ceremony Sheds Light on a Dark Past for Higginbottom Family

By Alyssa Schnugg
News Editor
alyssa.schnugg@hottytoddy.com

“The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them.” ― Ida B. Wells-Barnett

EW Higginbottom, the son of Elwood Higginbottom, was 4 years old when his father was killed in Lafayette County.
Photo by Alyssa Schnugg.

Louis Burroughs grew up in Ohio hearing bits and pieces of the story about a great uncle who died after being lynched by an angry mob in the hills of northern Mississippi more than 80 years ago.

However, it wasn’t until he read a news article in April that he learned the name of his relative – a name, he spoke over and over again Saturday so that all would know and remember Elwood Higginbottom.

“Some say telling the story and speaking the names helps to ease the pain,” Burroughs said at Second Baptist Church in Oxford during a ceremony to remember and honor his great uncle. “I speak your name now, Elwood Higginbottom. I hear you and our ancestors. Elwood Higginbottom, we speak your name.”

The hour-and-a-half-long ceremony drew a standing-room-only crowd inside the church where more than 300 people came to honor Higginbottom and his descendants, of which many attended the event, including Higginbottom’s son, EW Higginbottom, who was just 4 years old when his father was lynched.

Higginbottom was killed on Sept. 17, 1935, at the age of 28 while he was being held in the Oxford jail for the murder of landowner Glen Roberts.

According to records by the Equal Justice Initiative, Roberts led a posse to Higginbottom’s house over a property dispute where Higginbottom defended himself by shooting and killing Roberts. During Higginbottom’s trial, a group of 50 to 100 white men gathered outside the jail, breaking in eventually and dragging Higginbottom to a wooded area near what is now the Three-Way intersection.

No one was ever charged for Higginbottom’s death.

Oxford Alderman Janice Antonow and Lafayette County Supervisor Kevin Frye welcomed those attending and thanked the organizations who helped bring the Higginbottom lynching to light. Frye, a local attorney, said the justice system failed Higginbottom 83 years ago.

Other guests include representatives of the Equal Justice Initiative, Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project and the William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation.

Alonzo Hilliard, one of the leaders of Lynching Memorialization in Lafayette County,  a local organization that spearheaded the creation of the plaque presented Saturday, read the names of the seven known racially-motivated murders from Lafayette County that included Higginbottom.

Several of Higginbottom’s relatives sang, “How Excellent.” Photo by Alyssa Schnugg.

“We have limited ways to right the wrongs of the past but one thing we can do is publicly remember those victims and their untimely deaths,” he said at the start of the ceremony.

Local singer Effie Burt sang, “Strange Fruit,” a song recording in 1939 by Billie Holiday based on a poem written by American writer, teacher and songwriter Abel Meeropol, which garnered her a standing ovation.

Winners of the recent scholarship essay contest by the Equal Justice Initiative were announced during the ceremony. Taking first place and winning a $2,000 scholarship was Oxford High junior Tobi O’Donnell who wrote about the rise of police violence against black men.

Several of Higginbottom’s relatives sang, “How Excellent,” which brought tears to eyes of many at the ceremony.

The event closed with the unveiling of the large marker that was placed Saturday evening at the corner of Molly Barr and North Lamar Road, in the area where Higginbottom was killed.