Killing of Milo Bentley, Clifford James, Jim McMullen, and Ivy Moss in Alabama in 1932
Incident
Clifford James, 46, a farmer and leader in the Sharecroppers Union, was killed in 1932 by a “posse” convened by Sheriff Elder in Tallapoosa County, Alabama. Jeans owed W.S. Parker interest on the farm mortgage and was unable to pay. Parker sought a legal attachment on Jeans’s livestock, and when Sheriff Elder came to execute it, Jeans pleaded with Elder not to take his livestock. Elder left and returned with a posse, which opened fire on Jeans and several other sharecroppers. Jeans and at least three other sharecroppers died of their wounds. Milo Bentley, 45, a sharecropper active in the Sharecroppers Union, was killed in 1932 by a posse led by Sheriffs T. A. Riley and J. Kyle Young in Tallapoosa County, Alabama. It was alleged that Bentley and several other sharecroppers were “communist sympathizers.” They were arrested, allegedly in connection with a gun fight during which four officers were wounded and a Black person killed. Sheriff Riley claimed Bentley had resisted arrest and that “it was necessary to shoot him” – five times. Bentley died as a result of infected wounds and traumatic pneumonia after being denied medical treatment in jail. Jim McMullin, 45, a farmer, was killed in 1932 by Deputy Sheriff Clifford Elder, Chief Deputy Dowdle Ware, and former sheriff J.M. Gantt and J. H “Stool” Alford in Tallapoosa County, Alabama. The officers tried to repossess livestock from Clifford James, who was a leader of the Sharecroppers Union. James refused to surrender the livestock. When Elder returned with a warrant, a group of sharecroppers, including McMullin, had gathered at James’s property. McMullin was shot and killed during a gunfight that ensued between the officers and the group. Ivy Moss, a sharecropper, was killed in 1932. A sharecropper active in the Sharecroppers Union, Moss was arrested by a sheriff’s posse headed by Sheriff T. A. Riley in 1932 in Montgomery, Alabama. Moss was held in Montgomery County jail in connection with a gun fight near Reeltown, Alabama, during which four officers were wounded and a Black person was killed.
advocacy group resources
- Administrative file on lynching from the NAACP
- Clippings by the NAACP
- Administrative file on lynching from the NAACP
- Advocacy Group: 2020-02391-RACE RIOTS Tallapoosa (1335593596)
- Advocacy Group: 2020-02391-RACE RIOTS Tallapoosa (1335593596)
- Administrative file on Mississippi flood control from the NAACP
- Advocacy Group: 2020-02391-RACE RIOTS Tallapoosa (1335593596)
- Organizational records by the NAACP
- Advocacy Group: 2022-03982-JEANS Clifford (1412495597)
- Advocacy Group: 2020-02391-RACE RIOTS Tallapoosa (1335593596)
- Advocacy Group: 2020-02391-RACE RIOTS Tallapoosa (1335593596)
- Advocacy Group: 2022-03982-JEANS Clifford (1412495597)
- Advocacy Group: 2020-02391-RACE RIOTS Tallapoosa (1335593596)
- Genealogy : 2020-02391-RACE RIOTS Tallapoosa (1335593596)
- Genealogy : 2020-02391-RACE RIOTS Tallapoosa (1335593596)
- Genealogy : 2020-02391-RACE RIOTS Tallapoosa (1335593596)
- Genealogy : 2020-02391-RACE RIOTS Tallapoosa (1335593596)
- Genealogy : 2020-02391-RACE RIOTS Tallapoosa (1335593596)
- Genealogy : 2020-02391-RACE RIOTS Tallapoosa (1335593596)
- Genealogy : 2020-02391-RACE RIOTS Tallapoosa (1335593596)
- Genealogy : 2020-02391-RACE RIOTS Tallapoosa (1335593596)
- Genealogy : 2020-02391-RACE RIOTS Tallapoosa (1335593596)
- Genealogy : 2020-02391-RACE RIOTS Tallapoosa (1335593596)
- Genealogy : 2020-02391-RACE RIOTS Tallapoosa (1335593596)
- Genealogy : 2020-02391-RACE RIOTS Tallapoosa (1335593596)
- Genealogy : 2020-02391-RACE RIOTS Tallapoosa (1335593596)
- Genealogy : 2020-02391-RACE RIOTS Tallapoosa (1335593596)
- Genealogy : 2020-02391-RACE RIOTS Tallapoosa (1335593596)
- News article from the Daily Worker about funerals for Milo Bentley and Clifford James : January 6, 1933
- News article from the Daily Worker about sharecropper resistance and the deaths of Milo Bentley and Clifford James : January 7, 1933
- Journalism : 2020-02391-RACE RIOTS Tallapoosa (1335593596)
- News article from the Baltimore Afro-American about the widows of Clifford James and Milo Bentley : January 28, 1933
- News article from the Daily Worker about the surrender of Clifford James to police : December 26, 1932
- Journalism: 2020-02391-RACE RIOTS Tallapoosa (1335593596)
- News article from the Baltimore Afro-American about the fatal shootings of Clifford James and Milo Bentley : January 21, 1933
- News article from the Baltimore Afro-American about the death of Clifford James : January 28, 1933
- News article from Bee about killing of Jim McMullen : December 28, 1932
- Journalism : 2020-02391-RACE RIOTS Tallapoosa (1335593596)
- Journalism : 2020-02391-RACE RIOTS Tallapoosa (1335593596)
- News article from the Daily Worker about the denial of medical aid to and deaths of Milo Bentley and Clifford James : December 28, 1932
- News article from the Daily Worker about trial of sharecroppers, mentions the deaths of Milo Bentley and Clifford James in jail : January 11, 1933
- News article from the Chicago Defender about the killings of Clifford James and Milo Bentley : January 14, 1933
- News article from the Labor Defender about the fatal shooting of Jim McMullen and death of Clifford James in Montgomery County jail : 1933-02-01T01:00-04:00
- News article from the Daily Worker about protests in Chicago in solidarity with Alabama sharecroppers, mentions the deaths of Clifford James and Milo Bentley : January 5, 1933
- News article from the Daily Worker about the resistance of sharecroppers and the deaths of Milo Bentley and Clifford James : January 18, 1933
- News article from unidentified newspaper about death of Jim McMullen : 1932
- News article from the Boston Globe about the fatal shootings of Clifford James, Milo Bentley and Jim McMullen : December 28, 1932
- News article from the Baltimore Afro-American about the fatal shootings of Clifford James and Milo Bentley : January 7, 1933
- News article from the Daily Worker about funerals for Milo Bentley and Clifford James : January 9, 1933
- News article from the Daily Worker about funerals for Milo Bentley and Clifford James : January 5, 1933
- News article from the Atlanta Daily World about the moving of Clifford James, Milo Bentley and others to Montgomery County jail : December 27, 1932
- News article from the Baltimore Afro-American about fatal shootings of and funerals for Clifford James and Mil Bentley : January 14, 1933
- News article from the Daily Worker about the deaths of Milo Bentley, Ivy Moss and Clifford James in jail : January 12, 1933
- Journalism : 2020-02391-RACE RIOTS Tallapoosa (1335593596)
- News article from the Western Worker about solidarity between Black and white sharecroppers which discusses the death of Clifford James : January 16, 1933
- News article from the Daily Worker about the denial of medical aid to Milo Bentley and Clifford James : December 31, 1932
- News article from the Daily Worker about protests related to deaths of Milo Bentley and Clifford James in jail : December 30, 1932
- Journalism : 2020-02391-RACE RIOTS Tallapoosa (1335593596)
- News article from the Daily Worker about arrested protestors dying while in police custody : January 12, 1933
- News article from the Daily Worker about the resistance of sharecroppers which mentions the death of Clifford James : February 6, 1933
- News article from the Atlanta Daily World about the moving of Clifford James, Milo Bentley and others to Montgomery County jail : December 26, 1932
- Journalism : 2020-02391-RACE RIOTS Tallapoosa (1335593596)
- News article from the Daily Worker about sharecropper protests : January 10, 1933
- News article from the Chicago Defender about planned monuments at the graves of Clifford James and Milo Bentley : January 28, 1933
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