Michael Donald

The murder of Michael Donald in Mobile, Alabama in 1981 was the last recorded lynching in the United States. Several Ku Klux Klan (KKK) members beat and killed Michael Donald, a young African-American man, and hanged his body from a tree. One perpetrator, Henry Hays, was sentenced to death and executed in 1997, while another, James Knowles, was sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty and testifying against Hayes. A third man was convicted as an accomplice, and a fourth indicted but he died before his case could be completed at trial.

Hayes' execution was the first in Alabama since 1913 for a white-on-black crime. It was the only execution of a KKK member during the 20th century for the murder of an African American. Donald's mother brought a civil suit for wrongful death against the United Klans of America (UKA), to which the attackers belonged. In 1987 a jury awarded her damages of $7 million, which bankrupted the organization. This set a precedent for civil legal action for damages against other racist groups.

Michael Donald (July 24, 1961 – March 21, 1981) was born in Mobile, Alabama, the son of Beulah Mae (Greggory) Donald and David Donald, and was the youngest of six children. He grew up in a city and state influenced by the passage in the mid-1960s of federal civil rights legislation that ended legal segregation and provided for federal oversight and enforcement of voting rights. African Americans could again participate in politics in the South; their ability to register to vote also meant that they were selected for juries. Donald attended local schools while growing up. In 1981 he was studying at a technical college, while working at the local newspaper.

In 1981, Josephus Anderson, an African American charged with the murder of a white policeman in Birmingham, Alabama while committing a robbery (along with two other charges of assaulting officers), was tried in Mobile, where the case had been moved in a change of venue. There were indications that the jury was struggling to reach a verdict.

At a meeting in Mobile before Anderson's verdict was announced, members of Unit 900 of the United Klans of America complained that the jury had not convicted Anderson because it had African-American members. Bennie Jack Hays, the second-highest-ranking official in the United Klans in Alabama, reportedly said: "If a black man can get away with killing a white man, we ought to be able to get away with killing a black man." On Friday, a mistrial was declared on all four counts. The prosecutor declared his intention to retry the case. (Anderson was convicted of murder in 1985 after two more mistrials on that count; in his trial following this one in 1981, he was convicted on the assault and robbery charges).

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