Jim Hatter was dragged out of his home at midnight on May 2, 1910 and killed by a mob of white men.

The accusation: Hatter helped another black man accused of killing a 66-year-old Confederate veteran who was also a Bessemer deputy sheriff. Despite the lack of evidence to support their claims, the mob forced Hatter out of his home in the unincorporated community of Dolomite and dragged him several hundred yards before bullets tore through his body.

Hatter is one of the four new victims of racial violence to be added to the Jefferson County Memorial Project. The new names were discovered by high school students and fellows working with the project.

The project is a grassroots coalition of more than 35 community partners and volunteers who are striving to research and educate people about the men and women who were killed in Jefferson County because of the racially motivated violence by white mobs.

The group’s mission was inspired by the Equal Justice Initiative’s creation of the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, a memorial honoring the more than 4,400 black individuals who were lynched, burned, mutilated or brutally assaulted between 1883 to 1940. Lynching is more than just hanging. According to EJI’s definition, it can also include other acts of violence and assault used by white mobs to terrorize African American communities.

JCMP began examining this history last year, starting with the 29 Jefferson County victims who were identified by EJI. That number quickly rose. Last year’s inaugural class of fellows found another uncounted victim, Jake McKinzie.

JCMP had to amend their archive after fellows learned this year that a newspaper misreported the death of Tom Collins in 1886 by assuming he was lynched. An examination of another local newspaper revealed that Collins was actually saved by a group of black activists. Information about Collins and the four new victims found in 2020 brings the number of Jefferson County victims to 33.

A big part of JCMP is to educate the public about this history while advocating for reform. This year alone, JCMP has been conducting county-wide book discussions across the county and five Birmingham City School students were awarded a total of $6,000 in scholarships during an essay contest. The group created a teacher committee of local educators who created lessons focused on lynching and racial terror. Teachers at the Altamont School, Jefferson County IB School, Ramsay High School, and Woodlawn High School will pilot the curriculum in classrooms this spring. JCMP is combing the city’s racial history with the arts for sixth graders by partnering with the Greater Birmingham Arts Education Collaborative and Bush Hills STEAM Academy.

JCMP fellows will talk about the four new victims and the legacy of racial violence that can still be seen in present day during a free, public event tonight at 6 p.m. at the Birmingham Museum of Art. Attendants are receiving a free copy of JCMP new 56-page report titled “Jefferson County’s Broken Systems.”

The report expands on the discoveries of last year’s fellows with a collection of essays explaining how institutions, such as the media, businesses, law enforcement and individuals, remained complicit during this era of racial terror and county residents. For example, Fellow Sheila Blair discovered how a police officer a year after killing Jake McKenzie murdered another black man in Jefferson County. These are the questions the public needs to ask themselves today, Project Director Abigail Schneider said.

“How does the media today write about crime? What relationship do employers have with their employees? Researching the past teaches us how to examine our present," Schneider said.

Here are the names and information of the remaining three victims:

Otis Brown (Information by Darona Dancy of Birmingham-Southern College): On April 24 1886, a mob killed Otis Brown near Five Mile Creek in Jefferson County. According to reports, two white men, Tanner and Phillips, ate dinner near Douglas Mills’ bridge in North Jefferson County on their way to Birmingham. Supposedly, two black men, Otis Brown and Austin Pettus, approached and asked for change for a $10 bill. Phillips pulled out his wallet to give the black men change, and one of the black men took his wallet. They ran off with the wallet, and Mr. Brown pulled out his gun to stop the white men in pursuit. As Tanner continued to approach the men, according to the report, Mr. Brown shot Tanner in the chest. Tanner was taken to a medical house for attention.

Residents near Five Mile Creek heard about the shooting. Twenty-five men, with their blood hounds, tried to find the two black men. They found Mr. Brown in a cave and shot him to death. It’s unclear if Mr. Pettus escaped or also became a victim of racial terror. Otis Brown is another black man killed without a trial or conviction of guilt.

Fred Spencer (Information by Brianna Jordynn Wright, a Central Park Christian Schools Advisor): Fred Spencer was an African American miner, about 24-25 years old, in Birmingham. After acquiring a hand injury, Mr. Spencer was put out of work for roughly 3-4 weeks.

On Wednesday, April 27, 1910, he reportedly got into a drunken dispute with Harriet Arrington (the cause was later perceived to be pay related) during which, Mr. Spencer shot at Arrington — hitting her once — before standing off against a mob of white and colored workers. After escaping, Mr. Spencer allegedly came across a 66-year-old Confederate veteran, Deputy Sheriff B.H. Young — fatally shooting him in the neck and nose. Young died on April 29 and was buried the next day.

A month-long manhunt ensued for the capture of Mr. Spencer. A mob searched his brother, Bob’s, house to no avail, leading many to believe he fled into the woods. After reports of Mr. Spencer sightings, another African American man, Jim Hatter, was lynched on May 2, 1910 near Dolomite, likely for suspicion of aiding Fred Spencer. After a seemingly unsuccessful manhunt and false reports of Mr. Spencer being lynched in late April, the trail seemingly went cold. However, on August 1, 1910, The Birmingham News reported the discovery of an unidentified black corpse floating on a pile of driftwood in a creek near Mulga in Jefferson County. The coroner reported that the person had been dead roughly 6-8 weeks. Based on physicality, the coroner believed it was the body of Mr. Spencer. He was likely caught by a mob and shot repeatedly before either being thrown into the river or fleeing into the river and dying from injury.

Tom Edmunds (information by Maggie Belshe, JCMP Volunteer with research help from Jalen Miller and Chris Brown, Central Park High School Students): A party of white men, which included a local judge, fatally shot Tom Edmunds on Monday, July 31, 1899, near the Blossburg tunnel. An unfinished trial for the case reveal two differentstories - one of Mr. Edmunds’ brother and African American men, the other of the accused men and white witnesses.

As described by his brother, it all began when Mr. Edmunds slipped while attempting to board a train known as The Dude. A group of African American men thought he had fallen to his death, but when they jumped off the train to aid him, they found he was unharmed. They were laughing at his fall when a party of white men came and asked what was happening. Then, the white men opened fire. The other men fled, but Mr. Edmunds was shot. He was moved to a hospital, where he died two days later.

Three days later, three men, including Justice of the Peace James Ray and Charles Clarke, were called to trial for the lynching of Mr. Edmunds. The men claimed that Mr. Edmunds was shot by one of the black men in the crowd near The Dude. Dr. J.F. Huey testified that Mr. Edmunds, who was in sound mind, told him he had been shot “by one of his own color” and “did not say anything about Justice Ray,” but the testimony was reportedly contested. He later added that when Mr. Edmunds’ brother and sister had asked who shot him, Mr. Edmunds had replied “Mr. Clarke.”

The second witness, an African American man named George Hall, recounted the story of how the three white men had shot at them. In the face of heavy cross-examination, he held that no one in his group had pistols. African American witnesses Mack Moore, Will Parker, and Wink Love recounted the same story.

After a day of witnesses from the African American community, the defendants reportedly spent the night in jail. Bail was set at $1,500 each. The next day, a new set of witnesses took the stand that were in stark contrast to the story before. Three white witnesses gave alibis for the three men. For instance, John Lamon testified to seeing the three men head home roughly thirty minutes before the shooting. Lamon and two more witnesses claimed they had heard Mr. Edmunds state one of the men in his group shot him.

With white testimony up against black testimony, the men were set to walk free. On August 7, Justice Ray made bond and was released. No articles show that the men were ever held accountable for Mr. Edmunds’ death.