Biography
James McColley was one of five young Black men detained in the 1936 Huntsville, Alabama investigation into the killing of Vivien Woodward. The Daily Worker of April 3, 1936 reported that authorities failed to connect the four principal suspects to the killing and that several officials acknowledged their innocence. The four principal suspects were transferred under National Guard escort from Huntsville jail to Jefferson County jail in Birmingham after a lynch mob threatened them. The report says a wire rope had already been placed around Eugene Hambrick’s neck. The photograph caption uses the spelling James McCallie; the accompanying article uses James McColley. Photo: individually identified from left-to-right caption in Daily Worker, April 3, 1936, page 5; source newspaper crop.
