Revisiting Willie Brewster's death

About a month ago my dad sent me an Anniston Star series of articles about the 1965 killing of Willie Brewster. He was gunned down by nightriders on Highway 202 just outside of Anniston.

On that same stretch of highway on Mothers Day 1961, a Greyhound bus headed to Birmingham with Freedom Riders on board was torched by a Klan friendly mob dressed in their Sunday best. About one year after that incident, and just a few years before Brewster was shot dead, I spent my kindergarten year living in a little house just off of the Old Birmingham Highway 202, probably within a mile of these heinous crimes. I commend the Star for revising the events of 1965, including the trial that led to the conviction of Hubert Damon Strange in the killing of Willie Brewster.

I'm headed down to Anniston in about a week. I plan to go back to the historical marker out on Highway 202 where the bus was burned so that I can get GPS coordinates to help others find it. Not sure if there's a marker where Mr. Brewster was killed. In any case, I recommend the Annistar Star series, and especially the article ("Guns, bombs and Kenneth Adams") about the notorious Klan leader who set the tone for the terror metted out in violent doses against African Americans like Willie Brewster. Whites who tried to improve race relations were not immune from threats of violence as well, as is noted in the Anniston Star article. I'm particularly impressed with the bravery shown by the former pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Anniston, Phil Noble. I've written about him before in a previous post, but was struck again by the risks he took when I read in the article cited above about Kenneth Adams' plans to bomb Noble's church.

I encourage you to read the article. Read about Willie Brewster and his family. 1965 may seem like a long time ago, but his family continues to deal with their loss.