Judge Edward Aaron

Judge Edward Aaron (January 24, 1923 – March 11, 1991) was an African American handyman in Birmingham, Alabama who was abducted by seven members of Asa Earl Carter's independent Ku Klux Klan group on Labor Day, September 2, 1957.[1]

Judge Edward Aaron
Born(1923-01-24)January 24, 1923
Birmingham, Alabama, U.S.
DiedMarch 11, 1991(1991-03-11) (aged 68)
Dayton, Ohio, U.S.
OccupationHandyman

Background

Aaron, or Arone, was born in Barbour County, Alabama on January 24, 1923 and grew up in Batesville.[2]

Aaron, who was mildly developmentally disabled, was abducted by Klan members who beat him with an iron bar, carved the letters "KKK" into his chest, castrated him with a razor, and poured turpentine on his wounds. They then put him in the trunk of a car and drove him away from the scene, finally dumping him near a creek.[3] Police found Aaron, near death from blood loss, and took him to Hillman Hospital.[4]

Two of the six Klansmen turned state's evidence and received five-year sentences in exchange for testifying against the other four men. Those four were convicted and received 20-year sentences at Kilby Prison. However, when George Wallace became governor of Alabama, he pardoned the four convicted men, but not the two who had turned state's evidence, with no explanation.[1][5]

The 1988 film Mississippi Burning references the story of Judge Aaron, but gives his name as Homer Wilkes.[6] He was interviewed about the abduction and attack in 1965.[7]

Aaron died on March 11, 1991 in Dayton, Ohio, aged 68.[8][9]

See also

Notes
  1. W. Edward Harris (January 1, 2004). Miracle in Birmingham: A Civil Rights Memoir, 1954–1965. Stonework Press. pp. 41–. ISBN 978-0-9638864-7-7. Retrieved July 8, 2013.
  2. "U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947". Ancestry. Retrieved May 30, 2023.
  3. Harris, W. Edward (2004). Miracle in Birmingham: A Civil Rights Memoir, 1954–1965. Stonework Press. p. 45. ISBN 9780963886477.
  4. Eskew, Glenn T. But for Birmingham: The Local and National Movements in the Civil Rights Struggle, Chapel Hill : University of North Carolina Press, 1997. (p.115)
  5. "The Birmingham Church Bombing: Bombingham". Archived from the original on June 1, 2009. Retrieved July 8, 2013.
  6. "Mississippi Burning Quote". IMDb.
  7. "User Clip: Judge Edward Aaron | C-SPAN.org". www.c-span.org. Retrieved September 12, 2021.
  8. "Obituary". Dayton Daily News. March 17, 1991. Retrieved May 30, 2023.
  9. "U.S., Veterans' Gravesites, ca.1775-2019". Ancestry. Retrieved May 30, 2023.
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