Anniversary of the Death of Louis Allen

ANNIVERSARY OF THE DEATH OF LOUIS ALLEN-HON. BENNIE G. THOMPSON (Extensions of Remarks - February 10, 2004)

HON. BENNIE G. THOMPSON
OF MISSISSIPPI
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Tuesday, February 10, 2004

Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize the anniversary of the death of Louis Allen. I submit the following article from Dittmer, John. "Local People." Urbana. University of Illinois Press, 1994, page 215.
"Mississippi Freedom Summer Timeline," January 31, 1964

On the evening of January 31, 1964, Louis Allen was gunned down outside his home in Amite County, Mississippi. Married and the father of four children, the 45-year-old independent logger was hit in the face with two loads of buckshot, dying almost instantly. Three years earlier, he had seen Mississippi State legislator E.H. Hurst shoot Herbert Lee, local civil rights pioneer, in cold blood. After word got around that Allen had talked with Justice Department officials about the case, his life became a nightmare. Over the next two years, Allen suffered economic harassment, was jailed on false charges and had his jaw broken by a deputy sheriff.

When, early in 1964, he learned that whites were planning to kill him, the victim made plans to join his brother in Milwaukee. Allen was to leave Mississippi on February 1, one day too late. No one was ever charged in the murder.

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