Murder of Willie Brewster

On the evening of July 13, 1965, Hubert Damon Strange shot Willie Brewster as Brewster drove past him on Highway 202 outside Anniston, Alabama; two days later, Brewster died in hospital. In December of that year, Strange was convicted of second-degree murder; this was the first time in the history of Alabama that a white man had been convicted of killing a black man.[1]

Murder of Willie Brewster
Part of the Civil Rights Movement
Brewster was killed while driving on Highway 202.
LocationAnniston, Alabama
DateJuly 15, 1965 (1965-07-15)
Attack type
Shooting
Deaths1
VictimsWillie Brewster
PerpetratorsHubert Damon Strange

Killing

On July 15, 1965, Brewster was driving home with his coworkers from a nightshift at the Union Foundry, when shots were fired into the car by white supremacist Hubert Damon Strange. Brewster was hit in the neck and died three days afterwards from his wounds. The Anniston Star published a full-page advertisement announcing that they would "pledge the sum of $20,000 to the person who supplies information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the shooting Thursday night of Willie Brewster."[2] Hubert Damon Strange was later convicted of the murder by an all-white jury on December 2, 1965.[1] After seven hours of deliberation, the jury sentenced him to 10 years in prison. It was the first such decision by any all-white jury in Alabama.[3] The plot of shooting a black person was allegedly hatched at Ku Klux Klan member Kenneth Adams' filling station the night before Brewster was killed. [2] The men behind the killing belonged to the National States' Rights Party, a violent Neo-Nazi group whose members had been involved in church bombings and murders of blacks.[4]

Aftermath

Strange never served his sentence: he was released pending appeal, and in 1967 was killed in a fight.[5] His appeal was subsequently dismissed.[6]

Legacy

A memorial marker was erected near the site of the shooting in 2016, by the City of Anniston Historic Trails Program.[7] Brewster's name was placed on the Southern Poverty Law Center's list of Civil Rights Martyrs.[4]

References
  1. "Willie Brewster". www.annistoncivilrightstrail.org.
  2. large, John FlemingEditor at. "The Death of Willie Brewster: Guns, bombs and Kenneth Adams". The Anniston Star.
  3. "Crime and Punishment--Southern Style - News - The Harvard Crimson". www.thecrimson.com.
  4. "Civil Rights Martyrs". Southern Poverty Law Center.
  5. The Death of Willie Brewster: Where are they now?, by John Fleming, in The Anniston Star; published March 25, 2009
  6. Strange v. State - 197 So. 2d 447 (1967), at Justia
  7. "The Murder of Willie Brewster, July 15, 1965 Historical Marker". www.hmdb.org.
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