Will Gravely collection - Willie Earle investigation, 1947-2001 (bulk 1947)

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Will Gravely collection - Willie Earle investigation, 1947-2001 (bulk 1947)

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/225894123

The collection consists of photocopies of correspondence, memoranda, clippings, teletypes/telegrams, excerpts from lab reports, an oral history interview with transcripts, and an investigative report concerning the February 17, 1947 lynching of Willie Earle. The files document the Federal Bureau of Investigation's involvement in the case and documentation of its coverage in the media. Professor Will Gravely obtained the bulk of this material under the Freedom of Information Act in 2001. Prior to obtaining these files, Gravely conducted an interview with Senator Strom Thurmond concerning the incident. Thurmond was Governor of South Carolina in 1947 when Mr. Earle was killed. The interview took place in Washington, DC on August 21, 1989. The investigative report includes a synopsis of the case; report on the crime scene investigation, preliminary investigation and interviews; copies of statements by suspects, divided into those who did and did not confess to the lynching; copies of corroborating interviews. Gravely created an item level log for this material and divided it into three sections with the first section being divided into two parts. These files include documents that have redactions and can be compared with similar files found in Mss 156, Alan Schaffer Collection of F.B.I. files of the Willie Earle Case that he obtained in the 1980s. There is material related to the defense lawyers John Bolt Culbertson and Thomas Wofford as well as J. Edgar Hoover's interest in the case.

1 box .3 cubic ft.

Clemson University Libraries, Robert Muldrow Cooper Library

Information

SNAC Resource ID: 7078209

Clemson University Libraries, Robert Muldrow Cooper Library

Related Entities

There are 6 Entities related to this resource.

United States. Federal Bureau of Investigation

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6mw65wc (corporateBody)

The FBI established this classification when it assumed responsibility for ascertaining the protection capabilities and weaknesses of defense plants. Each plant survey was a separate case file, with the survey, supplemental surveys, and all communications dealing with a plant insofar as plant protection was concerned, filed together. On June 1, 1941, and January 5, 1942, the Navy and Army, respectively, assumed responsibility for surveying defense plants in which they had interests. Thereafter, ...

Gravely, William, 1939-

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6b57dsk (person)

On February 17, 1947 a group of white men lynched Willie Earle. Earle was accused of murdering a taxi driver in Pickens, South Carolina and arrested for the crime. A group of men seized him from the county jail and lynched him in Greenville. Investigations resulted in the arrest of thirty-one suspects who were tried in May 1947 and found not guilty. The files document the Federal Bureau of Investigation's involvement in the case and documentation of its coverage in the media. Professor Gravely o...

Earle, Willie, -1947

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6t44pbx (person)

Culbertson, John Mathew, 1921-2001

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w61842r3 (person)

John K. Culbertson worked in the salmon industry during the summers of 1951, 1952, and 1953. From the description of A young man's adventure, 1998. (Alaska State Library). WorldCat record id: 42064633 ...

Hoover, J.Edgar (John Edgar), 1895-1972

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6kk98z7 (person)

Director of the FBI. From the description of Typed letter signed : Washington, D.C., to Arthur William Brown, 1941 Sept. 12. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 269555861 John Edgar Hoover (1895-1972) served from 1924 to 1972 as the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). As its first director, Hoover molded the FBI into his image of a modern police force. He promoted scientific investigation of crime, the collection and analysis of fingerprints and the hiring and ...

Wofford, Thomas Albert, 1908-1978

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w66h5cnt (person)