By ROSCOE BARNES IIIThe Natchez DemocratStanley Nelson is speaking at the Sept. 26 meeting of the
Natchez Historical Society at Historic Natchez Foundation. His topic is the
1966 execution of Ben Chester White by three members of the Ku Klux Klan…
By ROSCOE BARNES III The Natchez Democrat
Stanley Nelson is speaking at the Sept. 26 meeting of the
Natchez Historical Society at Historic Natchez Foundation. His topic is the
1966 execution of Ben Chester White by three members of the Ku Klux Klan. Photo courtesy of Jessica Ingram
NATCHEZ, Miss. -- Stanley Nelson's talk on the 1966
murder of Ben Chester White drew 120 people to the Sept. 26 meeting of the
Natchez Historical Society at the Historic Natchez Foundation, according to
people who attended the event.
The attendance set a record for the society, which
averages 50 people at the monthly meetings, according to Alan Wolf, a director
of the society and its program chair. However, the recent meeting with Nelson rivals the
society's annual dinner in January that set a record with more than 100
attendees, Wolf said. "It was electric," Wolf said. "There
were so many new faces, and we were on the edges of our seats." Jeff Mansell, lead historian of the Natchez National
Historical Park, agreed. "This is as good as it gets," he said.
"We had a great attendance, and people were deeply moved by the
presentation." "The NHS meeting Tuesday night was a huge
success," said Linda Ogden, society board member. "The audience was
indeed large and diverse." Society board member Adam Gwin said the gathering says a
lot about the community: "I think it says a great deal for a community
that wants to look at its past and face it honestly." The presentation Nelson’s presentation was titled, "Murder on Pretty
Creek: New Revelations on an Old Case." It focused on White, the
67-year-old Black man who was executed in 1966 by members of the Klan. White
lived in a small community known as Sandy Creek, where his house still stands
to this day. Nelson talked about White's alleged killers, two of whom,
Ernest Avants and James Lloyd Jones, were charged but not convicted in 1967;
and a third one, Claude Fuller, who was never brought to trial. Avants was
convicted decades later in federal court and died in prison a short time after
his conviction.
Ben Chester White
During his talk, Nelson focused on the Klan activities in
the Kingston community. He also discussed the personal life history of White
and his friends. Nelson said White was only five feet tall and weighed 155
pounds. He was known as a "soft spoken gentleman" who was not
involved with political or civil rights activism. Nelson spoke about Jimmy Carter and Boyd Sojourner, both
of whom became Adams County Supervisors. Both had also worked cattle together
with White, and they knew each other all their lives, Nelson said. Carter owned
the farm where White had lived and worked. Nelson zeroed in on the planning of the murder and how it
went down. He showed, among other things, that the Klan made two attempts on
White's life. One of White's murderers said they killed him in order to
lure Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to Natchez to be assassinated. Nelson
believes the killing was a "local action" and said he found no
evidence connecting the murder to higher ranks of the White Knights of the
Klan. Nelson said a longer version of his presentation will be
posted on Louisiana State University's website (lsucoldcaseproject.com). Nelson is the former editor of the Concordia Sentinel in
Ferriday, La. He is also the author of “Devils Walking: Klan Murders Along the
Mississippi River in the 1960s (LSU Press, 2016) and “Klan of Devils: The
Murder of a black Louisiana Deputy Sheriff” (LSU, 2021). The audience
Nelson said he was happy to share his research on the White's murder and quite
pleased to have a large and diverse audience. "It was really good to see people so interested in
our history and want to know about that terrible thing that happened to Ben
Chester White," Nelson said. He noted the audience was "very
attentive" and asked "great questions." Nelson said relatives of White also attended the meeting,
as did Denise Jackson Ford, daughter of slain Natchez civil rights leader
Wharlest Jackson Sr. "It was just a really great mixture of age groups
and great turnout," Nelson said. "I was glad to see good African
American representation there Tuesday night. Hopefully they will become part of
the work being done by the Natchez Historical Society." The audience included a white couple of some years who
were farming near the area where the murder took place, according to Wolf.
He added, "They knew Chester White. To him, he was Mr. Ches. They
came and were very touched. They were shocked at the time of the murder." Wolf said the meeting amounted to a memorial service to
Chester White. The room was packed, he said, noting the meeting was a big deal
in exposing the horror of the Ben Chester White case. "There was some belated justice done for Mr. White
simply by the telling of his story," Wolf said. "Our audience doesn’t shy away from the difficult
topic of race," he continued. "To the contrary, there may be a
deep-seated desire to talk about it, and as long we have people like Stanley
Nelson, who is profound and sympathetic, without being shrill
and demagogic, we can have a good discussion." Wolf and others said the Sept. 26 meeting will be hard to
top. "We can equal this in future programs, but in terms of gravitas, we
will never exceed it," Wolf said.
