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Peter Ackerberg

Released
Date of birth:1939
Gender:Male
Race:White
Era:1960s
State:Mississippi
Time Imprisoned:
5 Days
Support
Civil Rights
Peter Ackerberg

Biography

Peter Ackerberg was arrested in Jackson, Mississippi, on May 24, 1961, for participating in the Freedom Rides and challenging segregation in interstate transportation — one of the arrests recorded by the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission and preserved in the Civil Rights Digital Library. The catalog establishes the arrest, the participation, and the individually identified police photograph, but not the court disposition, any transfer to Parchman, or the physical release date; those fields are unresolved pending county-jail, court, or penitentiary records.

The Jackson police placard in the verified photograph reads 5-24-61 where the catalog dates the record May 25, 1961; the placard date is entered.

The jointly filed petition individually lists this rider and explicitly states that all petitioners entered pleas of not guilty for their Hinds County Court trials de novo. The previously blank plea field records that county-trial plea only; it does not change the later disposition or establish physical custody dates.

Thomas v. Mississippi certiorari petition, individually named cohort and county-trial pleas, PDF pages 1, 8, 14 and 33.

Case

Arrested: May 24, 1961
Incarcerated: May 24, 1961
Released: May 1961
Sentence: Municipal court imposed a suspended 60-day sentence and a $200 fine; the county-court retrial imposed four months and a $200 fine. These are sentences, not verified time served. The U.S. Supreme Court reversed the conviction on April 26, 1965. Individual custody endpoints remain separately documented or unresolved. Interview reporting establishes five days served, followed by bail.
Convicted: Yes
Plead: Not Guilty