Biography
Walter Brown was a Black union worker sentenced to twenty years on an alleged sexual-assault charge during the Birmingham, Alabama repression of labor organizers in 1935. The International Labor Defense reported that the prosecution relied on a white complainant's claim to recognize his voice, while her escort refused to corroborate her account. An all-white jury deliberated for twelve minutes before convicting him. The case was among those the labor-defense movement challenged during the campaign against the Share Croppers Union and other Black and white organizers.
Page 3’s May 10 Birmingham report prints Walter R. Brown of Bessemer, removed to Jefferson County Jail for supposed safekeeping following an alleged kidnapping and attempted assault on Lucille Bailey. The report says Bailey and her escort Gavin Howton initially supplied only a vague racial description and that she later identified his voice under police guidance. The city, year and distinctive voice-identification allegation link this to the existing Walter Brown prosecution. This is evidence of pretrial confinement and lynching danger, separate from his later twenty-year conviction; exact dates and total remain unknown. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1935/v12-n113-NAT-may-11-1935-DW-Q.pdf
