via GoodFreePhotos
During a time when most Black folks didn’t own large plots of land, the Reverend Isaac Simmons of Amite County, Mississippi owned 270 acres!
He grew crops and sold lumber, working the land with his family. But in 1941, word got around that reverend’s land sat on oil...
Six white men decided they wanted the land, but Reverend Simmons sought the help of a lawyer to ensure it would go to his progeny.
On March 26, 1944, however, things took a horrific turn. The white men showed up to the home of Simmons’ eldest son, Eldridge, and demanded that he show them the property line.
The monsters jumped Eldridge while in the car, then kidnapped Reverend Simmons and beat him, as well, taking the men further into the property.
For seeing a lawyer to protect land that ran in their family for six decades, the white assailants degradingly called them “smart n*ggers.”
Then, they shot Reverend Simmons three times. And cut out his tongue. But they let Eldridge leave with a message...
The family had 10 days to vacate the property. Three days later, the reverend’s brutalized body was found. Shortly after burying him, his family left.
The evil attackers took the land but never paid the price for the crime - a painful reminder that white wealth was often built on plunder and inflicted trauma.