Lynching of Willie Temple

Will or Willie Temple (also named "John"[1]) was an African American man who was lynched by a white mob on September 30, 1919, in Montgomery, Alabama.

The police officer died, and Temple, wounded, was arrested at a colleague's house.

Temple was taken to Hale Infirmary, a hospital for African American citizens of Montgomery,[3] and on the morning of September 30, just after 2AM,[2] a white mob entered and, despite the presence of two police officers, shot him to death.

[3] A jar with soil from the site where he was murdered is held at The Legacy Museum in Montgomery.

[4] The jar is marked "John Temple"; it was filled with soil by Vanzetta Penn McPherson, retired magistrate judge for the Middle District of Alabama, and activist Anthony Ray Hinton.