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Jimmy Lee McDue

Released
Gender:Male
Race:Black
Era:1930s
State:Ohio
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Biography

Jimmy Lee McDue was one of two Black boys jailed after a nine-year-old girl in Massillon, Ohio, said that a Black man had lured her away. The March 5, 1932 Southern Worker reports the boys had been jailed for two weeks when the International Labor Defense learned of the case, although no formal charges had been filed. It says the girl could not identify them, that police pressured her to do so, and that a lynch mob prompted their hurried transfer to Canton jail. After an ILD attorney sought habeas corpus and public protests were held, the boys were set at liberty. The two boys were thirteen and fifteen, but the source does not assign an individual age. Two weeks is a documented minimum before intervention, not the complete custody total; exact arrest and release days are unreported. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/southernworker/v2n28-mar-05-1932-sw.pdf#page=2

Case

Charges: No formal charges filed; police held the boys following an unsubstantiated luring allegation.
Sentence: No sentence reported. Held at least two weeks before ILD intervention, then physically released after habeas corpus efforts and protests; total duration unknown.