Existing comment:
Johnnie Mae Chappell: The Forgotten
The names of all those who lost their lives to racial violence during the Civil Rights Movement will never be known.
The media often paid little attention to the death of black people. Many murders were never fully investigated.
Johnnie Mae Chappell was one of these forgotten victims.
She was gunned down along a roadside in Jacksonville, Florida, on March 23, 1964. Her killers -- enraged by the prospect of racial equality -- shot her from a passing car. Two detectives were fired for exposing a police cover-up in the case.
Only four months old when his mother was killed. Shelton Chappell devoted his life to uncovering the facts surrounding her death. In 1966 -- six years after the dedication of the Civil Rights Memorial -- one of the fire detectives located Shelton. Together, they pushed for justice and recognition for Shelton's mother.
In 2000, the Memorial was re-dedicated to the memory of Johnnie Mae Chappell and all the other victims of racial injustice whose stories will never be known. |