Herbert Lee (activist) facts for kids

Herbert T. Lee (born January 1, 1912 – died September 25, 1961) was an important civil rights activist from Mississippi. He worked hard to help African Americans gain their right to vote. At that time, many Black people in Mississippi were not allowed to vote.

Herbert Lee was a founding member of the NAACP in Amite County. He encouraged other African Americans to register to vote. In 1961, he helped Bob Moses with voter registration efforts. Because of his work, Lee faced threats. He became one of the first people killed for their civil rights work. He was murdered by a state representative named E. H. Hurst near Liberty.

Herbert Lee's Early Life

Herbert Lee was born in Liberty, Mississippi, on January 1, 1912. His parents, Albert and Elvira Lee, were farmers. Herbert did not go to school for very long. However, his wife, Prince Melson, taught him how to write his name. They had nine children together. By the 1950s, Lee had built successful dairy and cotton farms. These farms earned enough money to support his large family.

Working for Voting Rights

In 1952, Herbert Lee's friend, E. W. Steptoe, started the NAACP chapter in Amite County. The NAACP worked to help Black Americans register to vote. Herbert Lee became a founding member of this group. He attended meetings at a nearby farmhouse.

At that time, Mississippi had laws that stopped Black Americans from voting. These laws included poll taxes (fees to vote) and literacy tests (reading tests). These rules made it very hard for Black people to register. In all of Amite County, only one Black person was registered to vote, and he never actually voted.

In 1961, Bob Moses from the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) came to Amite County. He wanted to organize a movement to help people register to vote. Herbert Lee often drove Moses and other SNCC activists around. As civil rights activities grew, white people in the community tried to scare Black people. They used threats and intimidation to stop them. Bob Moses worried a lot about Herbert Lee's safety.

The Murder of Herbert Lee

Herbert Lee was not as well-known as some other leaders. But he became one of the first victims of violence in the voting rights movement. On September 25, 1961, he was taking cotton to a cotton gin near Liberty. There, Mississippi state representative E. H. Hurst met him. Hurst had a pistol. In front of several witnesses, Hurst shot and killed Lee.

Hurst later claimed he acted in self-defense. He told a jury that Lee had attacked him with a tire iron during an argument about money. Hurst said his gun went off during the fight. Louis Allen was one of the witnesses forced to agree with Hurst's story. He was scared for his life in a courtroom full of armed white men. An all-white jury decided that Hurst's killing was justified. In 1964, Louis Allen was killed after he told federal investigators that he had been forced to lie.

People who knew about Lee's work for voting rights believed he was targeted. Ten days after his death, 115 Black high school students marched in McComb, Mississippi. They were protesting Lee's murder. Herbert Lee's death caused the SNCC's voter registration work in Amite County to stop. Bob Moses left the county in 1962 because he could not keep activists safe. Later, the cotton gin where Lee was killed became a restaurant. In 2010, the restaurant owner put up a historical marker at the spot where Herbert Lee died.