Killing of Elwood Higginbotham in Mississippi in 1935

Incident

Case summary

Elwood Higginbotham, age 29, a sharecropper and union leader, was killed in 1935 by a lynch mob in Oxford, Lafayette County, Mississippi. Higginbotham was on trial for the murder of Glenn Roberts, a white planter. As the jury deliberated on whether Higginbotham should be acquitted on the grounds of self-defense, the mob seized him from jail, hung him, and shot him multiple times. There were no arrests. An essay on this case, researched and authored by a CRRJ student, is available on request.

Victim(s):

Elwood Higginbotham


Alleged perpetrators/other named individuals: [ ]
Perpetrator group type: mob

Date of incident: 1935-09-18
Location: Oxford, Lafayette County, Mississippi
Location type: public space - urban
Allegation against victim: murdering a white man

Coroner process
Coroner/inquest: [ ]
Finding of no legal responsibility: [ ]

Criminal process
Arrest: [ ]
Charge/indictment/information: [ ]
Grand jury: [ ]
Trial: [ ]
Conviction: [ ]
Sentence: [ ]


Document(s):
advocacy group resources
death certificates
federal agency records
news articles - closed
Data Fields
To learn more about data fields, refer to the data dictionary.
Cite this Page
Refer to how to cite.