Mack Charles Parker

Mack Charles Parker (1936 – April 24, 1959) was an African-American victim of lynching in the United States. He was accused of raping a pregnant white woman in northern Pearl River County, Mississippi. Three days before he was to stand trial, Parker was kidnapped from his jail cell in the Pearl River County Courthouse by a mob, beaten and shot. His body was found in the Pearl River, 20 miles west of Poplarville, 10 days later. Following an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the men who killed him were released. Despite confessions, no one was ever indicted for the killing."FBI re-opens Mack Charles Parker lynching" May 9, 2009 The Picayune Item</ref> Historian Howard Smead called the killing the "last classic lynching in America."

Parker was arrested for the February 23, 1959 rape and kidnapping of June Walters, a pregnant white woman, in Pearl River County, Mississippi. Walters reported that the crime occurred on a dirt logging road called Black Creek Ford Road, off U. S. Route 11, approximately seven miles south of Lumberton, Mississippi, where she and her child were waiting alone in a car while her husband, Jimmy sought help for repairs. Parker vehemently denied having raped anyone, and statements from his supporters after his death suggested that the rape accusations may have been fabricated by the alleged victim as a means of concealing an ongoing consensual affair with a local white man.

According to reports published in the New Orleans Times-Picayune and the Jackson Clarion-Ledger, Parker and four friends, Norman Malachy, David Alfred, Curt Underwood and Tommy Grant were returning to Lumberton from Poplarville. The five men had been to Slim’s, an illegal bar which was operated under the protection of the Poplarville City Police. It was located in the black section of Poplarville, and was known for selling white lightning moonshine. As the five neared Lumberton, Parker and his four companions spotted a Dodge sedan broken down on the side of the road. Assuming the car was abandoned, they stopped. Parker got out and shone a flashlight into the car. Upon recognizing a white woman in the car, Parker returned to his brother's Chevy sedan and left. As they left the scene, Parker allegedly turned to his friends and said, “Why don’t we stop and get some o’ that white stuff?” Telling him he was crazy, the four men told Parker to take them home. According to local law enforcement officials, before the woman’s husband could return to the disabled car, Parker allegedly returned, kidnapped June Walters and her four-year-old daughter, Debbie, at gunpoint and took them to Black Creek Ford Road, where he raped Walters. Curt Underwood, Parker's brother-in-law, who was there that night, disputed the version of events.

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