Church Program for Ben Chester White

Church Program for Ben Chester White

Mississippi legal history
Celebration of life and death
Civil Rights Era

Ben Chester White was known in his Mississippi community as a quiet, humble man: a Black Baptist deacon who could recite long passages from the Bible, according to newspaper reports. At age 67, he still worked on a white family’s plantation outside of Natchez, Mississippi.

Nancy White

Church Community Event

Nancy White

1966-2003

Nancy White

Public domain federal court opinion. Reproduced for educational and research purposes.

Murder of Ben Chester White (ND-1966-001)

PDF

English

Text

ND-1966-013

Adams County, Natchez, MS

Nancy White

Fuller and Jones had died, but Avants was indicted in 2000 under a federal statute. The Department of Justice said the three men’s motive had been to kill a Black person to lure Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to the area so that he could be assassinated. They chose White, an older man with no known involvement in the civil rights movement. The conspiracy failed, as King did not visit Natchez.

Paper