Source:
Associated PressRaces unite as Missouri college town of Columbia honours 1923 lynching victim James T. Scott
Saturday, 30 April 2011 19:14
Alan Scher Zagier, The Associated Press
COLUMBIA, Mo. - They came by the hundreds to honour a man whose life ended in indignity, wrapped in a noose as an eager crowd that included women, children and college students cheered.
James Thomas Scott was killed in April 1923, dragged from his jail cell to a public lynching near the University of Missouri campus before he could stand trial on charges of raping a white professor's 14-year-old daughter. Scott professed his innocence until his final breath, and said a cellmate confessed to the attack.
On Saturday, black and white residents of a Midwest college town that takes pride in its reputation for tolerance gathered in Columbia to honour Scott's life, not dwell on his brutal death. They also came in an effort to heal an open wound.
"We are here today not to mourn the circumstances of his passing, but to celebrate his life," said the Rev. Clyde Ruffin, a theatre professor at Missouri who is also pastor of Second Missionary Baptist Church.
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http://www.medicinehatnews.com/world-news/races-unite-as-missouri-college-town-of-columbia-honours-1923-lynching-victim-james-t.-scott.html
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Old Stewart Road Bridge in Columbia, Missouri
is the site of James T. Scott's lynching in 1923Crowd honors life and death
Lynching victim had ‘same values, ideals.’
By Andrew Denney Columbia Daily Tribune
Sunday, May 1, 2011
One night more than 88 years ago, hundreds of Columbia residents banded together for a single violent cause — to enact their own brand of swift and deadly justice upon James T. Scott, a University of Missouri custodian who they believed sexually assaulted a young white girl.
Yesterday afternoon, Scott’s infamous lynching death at the Stewart Bridge once again brought together hundreds of Columbia residents. This time, they gathered with a desire to see Scott honored.
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The service was intended to recognize Scott not as the victim of a senseless act but as a father, civic leader, soldier and a “man of faith,” said Patrick Huber, author of “The Lynching of James T. Scott: The Underside of a College Town,” who gave an introductory address.
~snip~
Also honored were members of Almstedt’s family. When Regina Almstedt’s father, Hermann Almstedt, a University of Missouri professor, heard that the man accused of raping his daughter was about to be lynched, he went to the Stewart Bridge and pleaded for Scott’s life.
More:
http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2011/may/01/crowd-honors-life-and-death/