National Archives digitize cold cases of Black American murders

By Russell Contreras, Axios

An Axios review of a new National Archives portal found just three digitized unsolved cases of lynchings, racial violence and murders of Black Americans, spawning several decades.

The big picture: The Civil Rights Cold Case Records Collection portal is the federal agency’s latest attempt to index civil rights violations and provide a subject guide, part of an aim spelled out by law to bring justice to the victims in those cases.

Why it matters: After Reconstruction, the federal government — and many states — rarely prosecuted allegations of civil rights violations and racial violence until the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement.

• The lack of action built decades of distrust, and families seldom saw justice for victims.
• The new portal starts with victims in three cases.

They include:

• Hattie Debardelaben, a 46-year-old farmer, who was killed in 1945 by Deputy Clyde White and federal officers in Alabama during a warrantless search of her home for illegal whiskey;

Keep reading to learn more of the names of lynching victims discovered by Axios.

ABHM also honors victims of lynching.

More Black history and news articles.