Dr. James Cameron, Museum Founder and Lynching Survivor

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Griot: Fran Kaplan, EdD

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The black press has played a vital role, both in advancing the ideals of American democracy and in supporting African American identity and culture.

Early Life

James Herbert Cameron, Jr. was born in LaCrosse, Wisconsin. His father was a barber who cut white men's hair. He was also an abusive alcoholic who often lost his job. Seeking employment, he moved the family frequently. First they moved to Indianapolis, then through a series of small towns in Central Indiana. Finally, the family went to live in Birmingham, Alabama, when James was five. By the time he was seven, his parents had divorced.

When he was about fourteen, his mother moved her children to the North Central Indiana town of Marion to be near relatives. Cameron describes his mother as a very loving, religious woman. She took in washing to support James and his two sisters. They lived in very humble circumstances. In Marion their home was a former stable on the edge of town.

Lynched!

James was just sixteen years old in 1930, when he and two other black teenagers were brutally lynched. Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith died, but, miraculously, with the rope already around his neck, James was saved. He was tried and convicted as an accessory to the murder that incited the lynching. He spent five years in prison. While there, he began writing a memoir, the story of his life up to the age of twenty-one. Completely fearless, a few years after his release he returned to the site of the lynching to interview eyewitnesses for the book. (Read more about the lynching here.)

Violence and Love

Witnessing violence is a theme that runs through young James' life growing up. He and his sister watched a murderous, bloody knife and gun battle that felled a neighbor woman. James was also forced by a white man to watch the public hanging of a black man. Despite coming of age in the Indiana State Reformatory among hardened adult criminals, Cameron emerged at age twenty-one determined "to pick up the loose threads of my life, weave them into something beautiful, worthwhile and God-like."1 In among the dark threads, Cameron's book describes many strands of light: care and mentoring by older men, including a white sheriff and several black prisoners; the unconditional love and support of his mother; and the world of books and the life of the mind he discovers in prison.

His Memoir: A Time of Terror

For fifty years Cameron searched in vain for a company courageous enough to publish his frank story. In the book, he wrote about lynching as a tragic feature of American history and culture. No publisher would touch the controversial book! Cameron finally mortgaged his home in 1982 to self-publish and distribute A Time of Terror: The true story by the third victim of this lynching in the North who missed his appointment with death. Cameron sold that 4000-copy run of the book out of the trunk of his car and at speaking engagements in schools and universities around the Midwest.

Finally, in 1994, Black Classic Press republished the book as A Time of Terror: A Survivor's Story. Twelve-thousand of the 15,000-copy run sold out in the first year 2, but the book has been out of print since 2003. A revised 3rd edition of the memoir is planned for re-issue in 2015. Read an excerpt: [download id="1" format="1"] (PDF). Used copies of the 2nd edition can often be found here.

Self-Taught Historian, Public Speaker, and Consciousness-Raiser

Cameron became a brilliant, well-read, self-taught historian and lecturer. He gave many interviews on national television, including on Larry King Live, the Oprah Winfrey Show, and the 700 Club. The BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation), a Dutch film company, and several public television stations featured him in documentary movies made about the lynching.3

Dr. Cameron's lifework focused on raising Americans' consciousness and conscience about the atrocity of lynching. He did this by publicly and tirelessly retelling his personal experience. To educate the public about the injustices suffered by people of African descent in America, Cameron founded and ran the America's Black Holocaust Museum from the mid-eighties until his death.

His Philosophy

As an adult, Cameron became a devout Catholic. He was partly inspired by the brave and devoutly Catholic Sheriff Bradley, who mentored him in jail while he awaited trial. Dr. Cameron believed that hatred was a poison that corrupted the hater from within. He taught, by word and example, how to "forgive but never forget." He dreamed of our nation as "one single and sacred nationality" and fought to hold Americans to our ideals of freedom and equality for all.

Summary of a Long, Active, and Fruitful Life

Dr. James Cameron passed away peacefully in 2006 at the age of ninety-two, just a month after he and his wife Virginia celebrated their sixty-eighth wedding anniversary. Hundreds of people packed Milwaukee's Cathedral of St. John to pay tribute to this much-respected elder. They listened to eulogies by US Congresswoman Gwendolyn Moore and public officials from Milwaukee and Marion.

Cameron had lived a long, fruitful life that encompassed:

  • rearing and college-educating five children
  • organizing for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
  • serving as Indiana's Director of Civil Liberties
  • traveling and lecturing nationally and internationally
  • writing an important American memoir and hundreds of articles on American history and politics
  • operating several successful businesses
  • founding the one-of-a-kind America's Black Holocaust Museum in Milwaukee
  • marching for civil rights and against the Ku Klux Klan
  • receiving an honorary doctoral degree from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 1999

Dr.Cameron was an honored guest of the US Senate, when, in 2005, eighty Senators passed a resolution apologizing for never outlawing lynching.

But of all the recognitions he had received in his lifetime, the most meaningful was his official pardon from Indiana Governor Evan Bayh and the Indiana Parole Board. "'When (the Parole Board Chairman) told me that,' said Cameron, 'I broke down and cried over the telephone. I'd been carrying that load all these years and didn't know it was on me until it was lifted.'"4

Endnotes

1. This line is the last sentence in all three known versions of A Time of Terror.

2. Dr. Kaplan’s email correspondence with Paul Coates, owner of Black Classic Press, November 22, 2011.

3. Available at the Marion, Indiana, Public Library.

4.“Man Who Escaped Lynch Mob After Being Jailed In Murder-Rape Case Pardoned 62 Yrs. Later,” Jet Magazine, Chicago: Johnson Publishing Company, April 19, 1993, 23.

Dr. Fran Kaplan, independent scholar, filmmaker, and social activist, is Coordinator of the America's Black Holocaust Virtual Museum. She co-authored an award-winning screenplay, Fruit of the Tree, based on the life of James Cameron, and is currently working on a revised third edition of Cameron's memoir, A Time of Terror.

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36 Comments

  1. thomas nance on March 14, 2012 at 2:08 AM

    Thank you for the site. There is a void in Milwaukee’s soul, since we lost Dr. Cameron an ABHM. This goes towards filling that void. Thank you.

  2. National Million Woman March/Universal Movement on July 3, 2012 at 3:22 PM

    Greetings:

    It is so unfortunate that so many of our People have never heard of this great Black man and the museum. We will certainly make this information available at our upcoming Black/African Holocaust Conferences (beginning Sept 2012-13 throughout in North America) and the “International African Diaspora Human Rights Convention” 2012 that will take place in Benin, West Africa December 1-9, 2012. We invite all interested persons to join us as we now prepare to embark upon holistic healing and recovery by way of “reconciliation, restitution, and retribution.

  3. Monique Bell on July 29, 2012 at 3:24 PM

    My friends and I where having a discussion on the word Picnic. Some people are saying that it come from pic a nigger and other say that it is something that black people have made up, if there is any information that you have so that I can post it on my page it would be greatly appricated.

    • dr_fran on August 3, 2012 at 12:03 AM

      Monique, thanks for asking. There is lots of information about the origins of the word “picnic” on the web. I particularly recommend the answer provided here (https://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/question/jan04.htm) on the site of the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilial explains how the original French word, which just meant a kind of meal, got connected to act of lynching. To quote a part of that piece:

      “It is clear that picnic was not derived from “pick-a-nigger,” “pick-a-nig,” or similar racist phrases. However, some of the almost 4,000 blacks who were lynched between 1882 and 1962 were lynched in settings that are appropriately described as picnic-like. Phillip Dray, a historian, stated: ‘Lynching was an undeniable part of daily life, as distinctly American as baseball games and church suppers. Men brought their wives and children to the events, posed for commemorative photographs, and purchased souvenirs of the occasion as if they had been at a company picnic.'”

  4. Daniel Skopp on August 13, 2012 at 2:28 PM

    In my opinion, this Museum is very much in need of being “brought back to life” It is a History of our Culture and our inhumane treatment of our fellow man!!

  5. Seri on August 15, 2012 at 2:55 PM

    I am grateful for this Museum, so many things that I should already know but didn’t I can be sure to teach my children and grandchildren and will share the link from time to time on my facebook/Twitter/Pintrest to be sure people know to stop by

  6. Spencer Crew on August 29, 2012 at 11:49 AM

    Dr. Cameron had an amazing life story. Does the fragment of rope he saved from the lynching still exist?

  7. dr_fran on August 29, 2012 at 12:45 PM

    Yes, the piece of rope from the lynching is part of Dr. Cameron’s estate, owned by his heirs.

  8. Brandy Johnson on October 30, 2012 at 11:38 PM

    I want you to know that I praise you in all the work that you have done for the blacks. I am so sorry that you had to go thru what you did but it has taught us all something that we need to understand. As a white I am very ashamed of my race. I hate to see the hell that you had to go thru at the hands of whites. God Bless you and all that you do

    • dr_fran on November 1, 2012 at 10:04 PM

      Brandy, thank you for your comment about the meaningfulness of Dr. Cameron’s work and teachings. Were he still with us, I’m sure he would appreciate the sentiment, as all of us at ABHM do. There are many ways to oppose the racism in our country, and I hope you find a way that fits for you. As a start, I invite you to take the pledge and join with other freedom lovers on ABHM’s Freedom Lovers Roll Call Wall at https://www.abhmuseum.org/freedom-lovers-roll-call-wall/

  9. elizabeth on November 18, 2012 at 8:59 PM

    Often I am amazed at how dismissive and willfully ignorant the general population strives to be. I am always blown away when I hear folks talk about “the Holocaust,” and follow those talks with hateful words toward Hitler and his followers. Not to take away the importance of what happened in the ghettos, death camps, work camps, and etc., how could we be so hesitant to acknowledge the atrocities in our own house? We will never forget Auschwitz, but are very quick to sum up the struggles of African Americans through quotes from Dr. King and Rosa Parks. No one wants to read the stories or see the photos because we don’t want to believe what we are capable of. But when the video of Sadaam Housein’s hanging went viral, people downloaded it and played it again and again. As long as we feel justified, or that we are being vindicated for something, there is no limit to the things we do to each other. So we don’t want to know the truth. We celebrate one month a year on the calendars and buy extra copies of Disney’s Princess and the Frog to give out at Christmas, and we call it progress. COINTELPRO didn’t happen, and we didn’t kill innocent people or torture anyone. There were some protests and Civil Rights was born. History needs to be rewritten.
    I only inadvertently stumbled across Dr. Cameron’s story. It is remarkable as it is unsettling, and we all should know it. When people act this way, we say they’re acting like animals. Nature may be cruel, but animals don’t treat each other the way we do. What we do is uniquely, and tragically human.

  10. Rheta Jane Wellman on February 9, 2013 at 6:04 PM

    James is an inspiration for all man kind. It would have been great if Dr. Cameron could have lived long enough to witness President Obama’s election in 2008.

  11. Earline Bentley on July 6, 2013 at 10:51 AM

    Thank you for such an inspiring and courageous story!!!!!!Never heard of a lynching survivor.

  12. Jeannie Day on August 28, 2013 at 7:04 AM

    I, also, came across this site accidently when I was searching for “Two Tone Twins”– twins, one black and one white, born to two black parents. I teach in the inner city and will definitely point my students and others to this website.

  13. Russel Bragg on September 5, 2013 at 6:26 PM

    Please add William “Buck” Johnson as detailed on the webpage listed if his trial and subsequent hanging despite the varying stories and confessions he spouted forth,

  14. Billy Vincent on September 24, 2013 at 8:56 AM

    Rev 21:4-He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” AMEN!!

  15. Linda Roberson on December 1, 2013 at 1:50 AM

    For many years I have told these stories that I’ve heard and read to my grandchildren about slavery and the unimaginable consequences we have suffered as a people. This particular picture of Thomas and Abram is a constant reminder of our past; a picture that I’ve seen on many occasions. The story of many black men, women and children who died at the hands of hatred. The true untold stories of the countless lives destroyed by hate. It enlightened my heart to know that Dr. Cameron struggle did not go unheard. I am touched by the love and forgiveness of man that endured pain and suffering that he did can still love the brother of other color who once condemned him to death. I’m amazed to know that the last lynching was in 1981. Much has changed in this new millennium, but we’ve still got a ways to go. I thank God for all the unknown and nameless faces being brought to light for the future of the children. They don’t understand that they have what they have cause someone, somebody, somewhere lost a life in a struggle sometimes was not their own. God bless

  16. Michael D. Moses on April 13, 2014 at 10:24 AM

    Racism is a monster that will never go silently into the night. It lies waiting in the shadows only to devour those that are unable to protect themselves. We as people must fight to annihilate this beast forever. God give us the strength do accomplish the task at hand, only to grasp that brass ring of equality and freedom.

  17. Yinshi L.T. on June 5, 2014 at 3:55 PM

    Thank you for making this information and interviews available. Dr. Cameron was a hero. Like many others, I am writing about this event and photograph, in an effort to remember the legacy of violence and injustice against black people in America. Let us hope we are moving towards something better as we remember these horrific events of the past.

  18. Monica Cherry on November 6, 2014 at 3:56 PM

    Hello,

    I’m a high school teacher at Destiny High School. I’m interest in having someone speak to my classes about Dr. James Cameron. His story is inspiring and I believe my students would love to hear a testimony from someone who knew him.

  19. Yvonne Sutherland on January 4, 2015 at 8:19 AM

    My name is Yvonne Sutherland I have seen Dr.Cameron one a show in N.Y.C. called Like It Is
    with Gil Noble 1982 I can’t begin to say how I felt hearing the story or to think about the story!I left America in 1983 I have a message for the family of Dr.Cameron of how world leaders have read the book! If any of Dr.Cameron family can contact me I would like to give a message that I seen that most people haven’t! Thank you

  20. Alton C. Thompson on January 17, 2015 at 8:48 PM
  21. Linae Jackson on March 20, 2015 at 12:40 PM

    Greetings All:
    I came across this site as I searched for information to complete a project for my under grad degree. My Capstone Project is about ways to build the Black economic status. Having a passion for Black history and future. I found the information on this site very informative. My question, why is information like this site and organizations designed for social movements to stimulate the Black economy left out of the media, Mega Black Churches. Moreover, why must one stumble upon such relevant information with with mass communication today?
    Can someone tell me why we Blacks cannot organize a social movement today? If Zimmerman, can murder a child, and within weeks raise funds on social media for his defense, why can’y we raise funds to stimulate our own communities? Please, I welcome all comments and thank you in advance. Black in California

  22. rashaud Burnett on April 21, 2015 at 12:53 PM

    I am one of his family members, I’ve met him in person, he is one of the great men that i know, my great-grandpa helped him around Marion, IN he helped him with the book. They were cousins and Cameron was my great-great- cousin

  23. Cynthia Cameron-Brown on April 21, 2015 at 10:16 PM

    My daughter came across this website in class and brought it to my attention.
    James Cameron looks exactly like my uncle Lewis Cameron and favors my father Robert J. Cameron, his school picture look like my cousin Andrew Cameron (uncle Lewis’s son). I wonder if it’s possible that we could be related.
    If someone from the Cameron family could get in touch with me it would be greatly appreciated.
    I can be reached at Cynthia.cameron@medstar.net or brownce54@gmail.com
    Thank you

    • dr_fran on April 23, 2015 at 6:40 PM

      Cynthia, I’ll send your comment and contact info along to Dr. Cameron’s heirs.

  24. Julie on November 27, 2015 at 4:58 AM

    Thanks for your website, it’s very interesting. I think it permit to people to learn more about salvery and many other themes. Your articles are accessible by evryone, and it permit to foreigner people like me to understand a lot of things.
    Thanks a lot.

  25. Mathieu Bourdon on November 27, 2015 at 5:03 AM

    I’m in a senior literary class in France. I descovered it in english class, I think it was a great idea to make this museum because, in my opinion, it’s important for all the people to remember the events that happened in the USA from slavery to the African American civil rights movement, in order to not recreate these events in our present time or in the future. But most of all everyone can have an easy access to it because we all have the internet.

  26. Anne-Lise on November 27, 2015 at 5:09 AM

    Hello, I am a student, my name is Anne-Lise, I’m 17 years old. I am from France and in class, I studied the African American Recognition.I went on ABH musem for my English lessons. I think that it is a good website to learn all about that. This is a very good idea and I think that it could help a lot of people to be more interested in this issue; Have a nice day!

  27. Jovine on November 27, 2015 at 5:18 AM

    I’m so glad to have discovered your web-site ! It’s full of history and information essential for the developement of my knowledge. In reality , not only mine but for all my class.

    In fact, I am a French student and I discover your web site thanks to my English teacher.
    In class ,we study the Blacks americans history. How can we know the history of black American’s without speaking about the holocaust, the slavery, the centuries of barbarity ?

    I think that your museum gives the possibility to people who don’t know anything about it to evoluate and be more in the truth about their historical knwoledge.
    It is so essential to an understanding of the dynamics of social justice in our world and, most especially, in the United States. Indeed, it is aslo important not to forget the past beacause everyone who forget their past , is condemn to witness it happen again.

  28. Aurore on November 27, 2015 at 5:21 AM

    Hi,

    I have to discover the site in class. I find the site very complementary. The history on the segregation is sad and unbelievable. I will never understand the inequality between the colors during this period and sadly still today…

    Thank for your site and good continuation.

  29. Joyce FTF on December 4, 2015 at 5:15 AM

    As a French student learning English, in class we are studying many themes linked to African American Recognition. I personnally worked on the Jim Crow Laws without any expectations of what it would lead me to: thanks to my researches, I learned, felt and realized so many things about America’s history, but mainly about humanity and its story. I, with my co-worker, were very shocked and affected by what we read and saw, which, sadly, is still real nowadays. Then our English teacher showed us your website: it immediatly caught my attention. Dr. James Cameron’s personal story and experience especially stroke me: I was speechless, hurt but also in admiration concerning him and every people who were in the same painful situation but, however, stood up for their rights and freedom. I am very thankful for the America’s Black Holocaust Museum and its website for sharing that unbelievable but true testimony to the entire world and next generations. It’s really important and significant to every person to know our ancestors’ faults and learn from them to not repeat them next. Thank you for your meaningful work and perseverance.

  30. Henry Williams on January 28, 2016 at 2:49 PM

    Can you please let me know where the American Black Holocaust Musem is located. I think I read somewhere that it’ in Milwaukee, but I haven’t been able to find an address. I will be visiting Milwaukee in September and I would love to visit. Thank you for the website and bringing this issue to light.

    • dr_fran on February 2, 2016 at 9:12 AM

      ABHM is currently located primarily in cyberspace, that is, online. After the museum’s building closed in 2008, we instituted a 21st Century solution: take the whole thing online! We continue to provide public programming in the Milwaukee area , Southeast Wisconsin, and occasionally nationally – in libraries, universities and other public venues. Meantime we are working towards reopening a building one day in Milwaukee WI.

  31. Darla on February 15, 2016 at 12:40 PM

    Unfortunately, the article doesn’t mention the horrific crime that the perpetrators exacted upon the innocent couple. True, the law should have been followed in punishing the criminals if found guilty, but to ignore the brutality of the criminals is inexcusable in the written article.

  32. Jason on May 31, 2016 at 7:22 AM

    Thank you wonderful site ill tell my students to use this site more often.

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