Who was Maceo Snipes?

Last week there a minor tempest over a segregated prom in Butler, Georgia. ABC's Nightline even had a program about it. Mentioned on-air in the Nightline report (but not in their website story-summary) was this:

[Footage of black and white kids playing baseball.]

"This is definitely their grandfather's Georgia. In fact, three generations ago, just after World War Two, the first black man to vote here in Taylor County was murdered. His name was Maceo Snipes. He was a combat veteran just back from Europe, and he came here to the courthouse in Butler to register [to vote]. He was murdered - well, he was murdered because he was the first black person to vote here in Taylor County."

REFERENCE: The Southern States Action Bulletin:

... Maceo Snipes, an African American WWII veteran who was lynched after courageously being the first African American to vote in Georgia in post- Reconstruction times.

posted by Quiddity at 5/11/2003 06:17:00 PM