Biography
Willie White was a prisoner elected to the strike committee of the August 14, 1933 convict-miners' protest at Brushy Mountain Penitentiary. Jim Mallory's article in the Daily Worker of August 31, page 4, names Joe Morelock, Earnest Tweed and Willie White as the committee and describes 188 miners barricading themselves underground to demand removal of Deputy Warden O. C. Hendricks. Officials denied them food, threatened tear gas and discussed cutting off air; the main group surrendered after 34 hours and the rest later. The article identifies White as a Black prisoner from Chattanooga, reports that $2.50 was taken from his locker and describes 13 lashes inflicted by Captain Hodge while Deputy Warden Hendricks held him at gunpoint. The initial criminal charge and sentence, exact admission and ultimate release are not established. Existing confinement is documented; no new judicial conviction or additional quantified jail term is inferred from strike discipline.
