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The museum started as a grassroots effort and became one of the largest
African-American museums in the country. In 2008, the museum closed because of financial problems. It reopened on Cameron's birthday, February 25, 2012, as a virtual museum. It reopened as a physical museum on February 25, 2022.
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Cameron studied history on his own and lectured on the
African-American experience. From 1955 to 1989 he published hundreds of articles and booklets detailing civil rights and occurrences of racial injustices, including "What is Equality in American Life?"; "The Lingering Problem of Reconstruction
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Courthouse Square took all three youths from the jail. The lynch mob killed the older two first: they took Shipp out of the cell and beat him, and hanged him from the bars of his jail window; Smith was dead from beating before the mob hanged both the boys from a tree in the square. The mob beat
260:. People said they attempted to rob a young white man, Claude Deeter, and killed him. Initial reports said that Shipp and Smith raped Deeter's girlfriend, Mary Ball, who was with him at the time, although she later denied it. Cameron said he ran away before the man was killed.
263:
The three youths were caught quickly, arrested, and charged the same night with robbery, murder and rape. A lynch mob broke into the jail where
Cameron and his two friends were being held. According to Cameron's account, a lynch mob of 12,000–15,000 at the
235:
373:, they decided on Milwaukee when he found work there. There Cameron continued his work in civil rights by assisting in protests to end segregated housing in the city. He also participated in two marches on Washington in the 1960s, the 1963
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on violations of the "equal accommodations" laws designed to end segregation. During his eight-year tenure, Cameron investigated more than 25 incidents of civil rights infractions. He faced violence and death threats because of his work.
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through lynchings, and the 20th-century civil rights movement. When he first started collecting materials about slavery, he kept it in his basement. Working with others to build support for the museum, he was aided by philanthropist
311:
Cameron studied at Wayne State
University to become a boiler engineer and worked in that field until he was 65. At the same time, he continued to study lynchings, race, and civil rights in America and trying to teach others.
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official, and the State
Attorney General worked to gain indictments against leaders of the mob in the lynchings but were unsuccessful. No one was ever charged in the murders of Shipp and Smith, nor the assault on Cameron.
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Because of his personal experience, Cameron dedicated his life to promoting civil rights, racial unity, and equality. While he worked in a variety of jobs in
Indiana during the 1940s, he founded three chapters of the
273:, intervened and removed the noose from Cameron's neck, saying he deserved a fair trial. Faunce escorted the young man to a return to the jail. The rope scarred Cameron's neck; years later, he bought a piece of it.
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in
Milwaukee. Two sons, David and James, had died before him. He was survived by his wife Virginia and three children: Virgil, Walter, and Dolores Cameron, and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
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Cameron and put a noose around his neck; before he was hanged, the voice of an unidentified woman intervened, saying that he was innocent. Frank Faunce, a local sports hero and football All-American from
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Cameron was convicted at trial in 1931 as an accessory before the fact to the murder of Deeter, and served four years of his sentence in a state prison. After he was paroled, he moved to
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was still active in the
Midwest, although its numbers had decreased since its peak in the 1920s. Cameron established and became the first president of the NAACP
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Cameron and his wife, Virginia
Hamilton, had five children. He died on June 11, 2006, at the age of 92, from congestive heart failure. He was a devout
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By the early 1950s, the emotional toll of threats led
Cameron to search for a safer home for his wife and five children. Planning to move to
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He also served as the Indiana State Director of Civil Liberties from 1942 to 1950. In this capacity, Cameron reported to Governor of Indiana
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174:(February 25, 1914 – June 11, 2006) was an American civil rights activist. In the 1940s, he founded three chapters of the
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in 1988. He used material from his collections to document the struggles of African Americans in the United States, from
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178:(NAACP) in Indiana. He also served as Indiana's State Director of the Office of Civil Liberties from 1942 to 1950.
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In August 1930, when Cameron was 16 years old, he had gone out with two older teenage African-American friends,
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Milwaukee added his name to four blocks of West North Avenue, from North King Drive to North 7th Street.
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in American Life: Black Suffrage"; and "The Second Civil Rights Bill". In 1982 he published his memoir,
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Meg Jones, Leonard Sykes, Jr., and Amy Rabideau Silvers, "Cameron brought light to racial injustices"
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Our Town: A Heartland Lynching, A Haunted Town, and the Hidden History of White America,
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attempt, which occurred when he was a 16-year-old suspect in a murder/robbery case in
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907:"Challenger & Nurturer: Wisconsin Civil Rights Pioneer James Cameron (1914-2006)"
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in the city, devoted to African-American history from slavery to the present.
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A Festival of Violence: An Analysis of Southern Lynchings, 1882–1930
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791:"Director of America's Black Holocaust Museum to Speak at MSU"
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National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
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National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
705:, America's Black Holocaust Museum, accessed 15 July 2008
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In 1999 Cameron was awarded an honorary doctorate by the
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In 1991, Cameron was pardoned by the state of Indiana.
816:"Street could be renamed for good Samaritan who died"
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After being inspired by a visit with his wife to the
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854:Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America
607:"Anatomy of a Murder: Review of Cynthia Carr's
200:; two older teenagers were killed by the mob.
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1000:Recipients of American gubernatorial pardons
873:(Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1992)
935:Activists for African-American civil rights
902:, The National Visionary Leadership Project
900:James Cameron's oral history video excerpts
797:, 11 September 2003, accessed 15 July 2008
220:. When James was 14, his mother remarried.
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27:American civil rights advocate (1914–2006)
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543:Lamb, Yvonne Shinhoster (June 12, 2006).
471:presented Cameron with a key to the city.
181:In the 1950s he moved with his family to
767:"Dr. Cameron: Founder Lynching Survivor"
678:"James Cameron Holocaust Museum founder"
375:March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom
230:Lynching of Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith
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208:Cameron was born February 25, 1914, in
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1005:Lynching victims in the United States
980:20th-century African-American writers
756:, 11 June 2006, accessed 15 July 2008
574:Thomas-Lester, Avis (June 11, 2005).
18:James Cameron (civil-rights activist)
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985:21st-century African-American people
930:African-American non-fiction writers
576:"75 years later, scars still linger"
503:A Time of Terror: A Survivor’s Story
391:A Time of Terror: A Survivor's Story
869:Tolnay, Stewart E. and E. M. Beck,
831:Further reading (most recent first)
995:Prisoners and detainees of Indiana
814:Sandler, Larry (August 30, 2006).
506:, self-published, 1982; reprinted
480:, and Dutch and German television.
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955:Writers from La Crosse, Wisconsin
485:University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee
884:America's Black Holocaust Museum
771:America's Black Holocaust Museum
461:produced a documentary entitled
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403:America's Black Holocaust Museum
397:America's Black Holocaust Museum
364:America's Black Holocaust Museum
187:America's Black Holocaust Museum
133:America's Black Holocaust Museum
605:Bradley, David (May 24, 2006).
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795:Michigan State University News
324:). This was a period when the
32:James Cameron (disambiguation)
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950:Wayne State University alumni
715:Widen, Larry (May 31, 2023).
224:Arrest and attempted lynching
717:"Who's Buried in Milwaukee?"
258:Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith
239:Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith
192:Cameron was a survivor of a
970:People from Marion, Indiana
889:"Obituary of James Cameron"
641:A Lynching in the Heartland
639:"Review of James Madison's
545:"Obituary of James Cameron"
474:Cameron was interviewed by
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990:African-American Catholics
820:Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
754:Milwaukee Sentinel Journal
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93:, Wisconsin, United States
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682:African American Registry
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276:Flossie Bailey, a local
204:Early life and education
118:surviving an attempted
912:July 27, 2011, at the
383:Poor People's Campaign
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298:Wayne State University
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859:Twin Palms Publishers
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355:Civil rights activism
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294:Stroh Brewery Company
292:, where he worked at
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508:Black Classics Press
463:A Lynching in Marion
210:La Crosse, Wisconsin
183:Milwaukee, Wisconsin
72:La Crosse, Wisconsin
916:, La Crosse History
843:Random House, 2007.
801:12 May 2009 at the
581:The Washington Post
446:Holy Cross Cemetery
245:August 7, 1930, in
214:Birmingham, Alabama
940:Lynching survivors
637:Little, Monroe H.
415:, Cameron founded
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271:Indiana University
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144:Virginia Hamiliton
102:political activist
945:Crimes in Indiana
905:David J. Marcou.
865:on March 8, 2012.
453:Legacy and honors
444:and is buried at
334:Anderson, Indiana
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107:Years active
68:February 15, 1914
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127:Notable work
85:(2006-06-11)
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965:2006 deaths
960:1914 births
849:Als, Hilton
776:February 5,
647:History-net
587:January 18,
332:chapter in
924:Categories
616:The Nation
515:References
409:Yad Vashem
99:Occupation
64:1914-02-15
726:April 18,
131:Founding
110:1940–2006
91:Milwaukee
910:Archived
851:(2000).
799:Archived
688:July 15,
657:June 11,
609:Our Town
556:July 14,
442:Catholic
290:Michigan
194:lynching
162:Children
120:lynching
510:, 1994.
421:slavery
286:Detroit
251:Indiana
243:lynched
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684:. 2006
413:Israel
371:Canada
307:Career
247:Marion
139:Spouse
322:NAACP
278:NAACP
150:(
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778:2022
728:2024
690:2008
659:2014
624:2015
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80:Died
58:Born
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