Case summary
The federal records for this case, viewable on the Civil Rights Cold Cases Records portal, are limited. The following summary was compiled primarily from other sources, including those listed at the bottom.
Incident
On June 14, 1945, an anonymous informant who identified himself only as “a responsible white man in the community” wrote a letter to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and to the headquarters of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in New York City. The unknown writer sent the letter from Glover, Alabama, a small, unincorporated town near Bashi Creek in Clarke County. The man wrote, “A matter of grave importance should be called to your attention, which happened to the community some days ago.” According to the letter writer, a group of white men killed an older Black woman in the community “known by the name of Pinkie.”
The anonymous letter writer stated that “a white man by the name of Hubert Brozer” learned that Pinkie had recently received money. Brozer, along with “some other white men,” robbed and killed Pinkie before wrapping her body in a tarp and disposing of it in a well, according to the letter. A Black man named Tommie “Bud” Jackson allegedly assisted by picking up Pinkie in his truck and bringing her to the white men who killed her. “This is a well know[sic] fact in the community,” the writer stated, but “nothing will ever be done by the local officials.”
Aftermath
Genealogical and newspaper research did not generate any results for a white man named Hubert Brozer who lived in or near Glover, but 1940 federal census records indicate that there was a Black man named Tommie Jackson who lived in Clarke County. In 1940, Jackson was 28 years old, working as a laborer for a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project and living with his parents near Bashi Creek. Jackson’s 1941 WWII Draft Registration Card lists his address as “Glover, Clarke, AL,” indicating that Jackson and the letter writer may have lived in the same community.
In November 1941, a Clarke County Democrat article named a Tommie Jackson as one of six Black men charged in a state and federal raid on illegally manufactured alcohol. Jackson and the other men were arraigned on federal charges, but the article stated that it was likely the case would be transferred to the state for prosecution.
Federal census records indicate that there were at least three Black women named Pinkie who lived in Clarke County in the 1930s and 1940s. Two of these women have matching U.S. Death and Burials Index information that does not correspond with the information offered by the letter writer. One woman, a widow named Pinkie Smith who lived in Jackson, Clarke County in 1930, would have been about 63 in 1945. Given the lack of extant information about Smith and her life or death, as well as the possibility that the woman referenced in the 1945 letter may not have used “Pinkie” as her legal name, it is unknown if Smith had any relation to the “Pinkie” referenced.
Toward the end of the 1945 letter, the author included details of another case for investigation. In the community of Ebenezer, also in Clarke County, the letter read, “A.W. Hill, a white man murdered a Negro woman because he moved from his farm.” The letter included no information about the alleged victim or when the crime may have occurred.
Media Gallery
Case summaries are compiled from information contained in different sources, including, but not limited to, investigative records, arrest reports, court filings, census records, birth and death certificates, transcripts, and press releases. In many cases, the records contain contradictory assertions.
In addition to the incident files associated with this case, this summary relied on the following:
Sources
U.S. Census, 1920, 1930, 1940
World War II Draft Card Registration, 1941
U.S. Deaths and Burials Index for Alabama
Global Find a Grave Index
Alabama Convict Records, 1886-1952
“Revenue Men Capture Stills and Equipment,” The Clarke County Democrat (Grove Hill, AL), November 6, 1941