On March 21, 1981, James "Tiger" Knowles and Henry Francis Hays, local members of the United Klans of America, lynched Michael Donald. In retribution for the mistrial of a black man accused of killing a white police officer in Birmingham, Hays and Knowles took Donald's body and hung it from a tree on Herndon Avenue near his home. The investigation into the murder stalled for over a year until, after prodding from Thomas Figures, the assistant U.S. attorney in Mobile, the local division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation launched a new inquiry. That inquiry resulted in the arrest and conviction of Henry Hays for Donald's murder in February 1983. Hays was sentenced to the death penalty. Knowles was also convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. In 1987, Morris Dees, founding partner of the Southern Poverty Law Center, sued the United Klans of America on behalf of Michael Donald's mother. Beulah Mae Donald v. United Klans of America resulted in a $7 million verdict for the Donald family and bankrupted the UKA and its founder, Robert Shelton. Henry Hays was executed in June 1997, becoming the first white man to be put to death for the murder of a black man in Alabama in over sixty years. In 2006, Herndon Avenue was renamed for Michael Donald.
From the description of Papers, 1981-2004. (University of South Alabama). WorldCat record id: 162154119
