African American demonstrators arriving in Cullman, Alabama, after marching from Decatur to protest the upcoming trial of Tommy Lee Hines.

Klansmen and state troopers are waiting for them at the city limits sign. The demonstration had been organized by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference; when they arrived in Cullman, participants were arrested for not having a permit to march. Tommy Lee Hines, a 26-year old man who was said t...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Jones
Format: Electronic
Published: Alabama Department of Archives and History
Subjects:
Online Access:http://cdm17217.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/amg/id/124889
Description
Summary:Klansmen and state troopers are waiting for them at the city limits sign. The demonstration had been organized by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference; when they arrived in Cullman, participants were arrested for not having a permit to march. Tommy Lee Hines, a 26-year old man who was said to have the mind of a 6-year-old child, had been charged with raping three white women in Decatur. Because his lawyer argued that he could not get a fair trial in Morgan County, it was moved to Cullman, where an all-white jury convicted him of one rape and sentenced him to thirty years in prison. Two years later, a different jury found him mentally incompetent to stand trial, and he was transferred to Partlow State School and Hospital in Tuscaloosa, where he stayed for more than a decade.