Cold cases
Below are capsule summaries of cases that have been authorized for release by the Civil Rights Cold Case Records Review Board. Clicking on a case will bring you to a more extensive synopsis of that incident, as well as to a link that will take you to the National Archives’ Civil Rights Cold Case Records Portal, where the case file may be viewed.
The Board takes into account many factors in determining which cases it wants to examine for potential release. Given its statutory time constraints, the Board is focused on prioritizing cases that are representative of the diverse nature of civil rights cold cases. Currently, the Board is required to terminate its work no later than January, 2027.
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Eleanor Montgomery Rush was a 17-year-old domestic worker and cleaner from Albemarle, North Carolina.
An individual contacted the FBI in 1954 with information about a man named Willie Gunn. No other biographical data for Gunn was found.
Willie Ruth Mosley (born Willie Ruth Williams) was 17 and had two children, William “Ukelay” Mosley Jr. and Laura Jean Mosley, with her husband, William “Bill” Mosley.
Marion King was a native of Valdosta, Georgia and mother of three at the time of the incident. A Spelman College graduate, she was married to Slater King, a founder of the Albany Movement. They lived in Albany, Georgia.
Russell Charley, a father of seven, was married to Carrie Addielee and lived in Vredenburgh, Alabama. He was 46 and worked at the Vredenburgh Lumber Company, a sawmill.
Isaac J. Mayo was a 25-year-old North Carolina native who worked as a laborer for the Hancock and Gained Lumber Company. A World War II veteran, Mayo received a Good Conduct medal and a Victory Medal.