Louis Allen, an American farmer and logger, was murdered on January 31, 1964, because of his efforts to vote in Amite County, Mississippi. Allen was born on April 25, 1919, to unnamed parents in Amite County, Mississippi. He served in the United States Army during World War II. After the war, Allen returned to Mississippi, where he worked as a logger and farm laborer. He built his logging business and bought land, where he raised vegetables and cattle. Allen married Elizabeth Allen, and the couple had four children.
On September 25, 1961, white segregationist and state legislator Eugene Hunter Hurst Jr murdered Allen’s childhood friend, Herbert Lee, at the Westbrook Cotton Gin because he campaigned for Black voting rights in Mississippi. Allen and eleven other men witness the murder. At a coroner’s jury held a few hours later, Hurst claimed that Lee attacked him with a tire iron and that he killed Lee in self-defense. Local authorities pressured Allen and the other witnesses into giving false testimony. As a result, an all-white jury returned a verdict of justifiable homicide on grounds of self-defense.
Allen later told Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) civil rights activists, including Julien Bond, the truth concerning Lee’s murder. They asked him to meet with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the United States Civil Rights Commission to see if federal protection would be available if he changed his testimony and truthfully described Lee’s murder. The Justice Department heard Allen’s account but could not promise him protection.
After white segregationists in Liberty, Mississippi, heard rumors of Allen’s meeting with the FBI and the Justice Department, Allen’s logging business suffered as he lost customers. He also started receiving numerous threats and harassment from whites. Allen reported the harassment to the FBI, which referred the matter to Sherif Daniel Bryant Jones, who soon joined in the harassment. In one incident in September 1962, Jones assaulted Allen by breaking his jaw with a flashlight. Allen filed a complaint against Jones for assault to the FBI. Despite the harassment, in November 1962, Allen and two other Black men attempted to register to vote at Amite County Courthouse. All three were shot and wounded by an unknown assailant.
Allen testified about the incident before an all-white federal grand jury, which dismissed his complaint. In November 1963, Allen was again arrested by Jones, who falsely charged him with bouncing a check and having a concealed weapon. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) bailed Allen out of jail.
Fearing for his life, Allen arranged to leave Mississippi and move to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to live with his brother. On January 31, 1964, the night before his departure, Allen was ambushed and murdered with two shotgun blasts to the head by unknown assailants. His body was found by his son, Hank Allen. No one investigated his murder.
In 2007, the FBI reopened Allen’s case, identifying Sheriff Jones as the prime suspect in his murder. By 2011, however, the FBI could not collect enough evidence to prosecute anyone and suspended the case. It remains unresolved.
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“Louis Allen,” Equal Justice Initiative, https://calendar.eji.org/racial-injustice/jan/31; “Louis Allen,” Civil Rights Division, https://www.justice.gov/crt/case/louis-allen; “Louis Allen,” SNCC Digital, https://snccdigital.org/events/louis-allen-murdered/.
