On January 2, 1944, Willie James Howard was taken from his home by three White men because he dared to give a Christmas Card to a White girl he worked with.
Willie James Howard was a delivery boy at the Van Priest Dime Store in Live Oak, Florida. At Christmas 1943 he gave a card to everyone he worked with, including Cynthia Goff a White girl, inside the card he had given her Willie expressed hope for Black and White people to share the world peacefully. Willie was a friendly and polite 15-year-old and was his parent’s only child. I had a crush on 17-year-old Cynthia. Cynthia for her part was embarrassed and upset to receive the card and so Willie wrote a short letter to apologize
Willie wrote these few lines to the girl:
“Dear friend, Just a few lines to let you hear from me I am well and hope you are the same. This is what I said on that Christmas card. From W.J.H. with L. I hope you will understand what I mean. That is what I said now please don’t get angry with me because you can never tell what may get in somebody I did not put it in there myself God did I can’t help what he does can I. I know you don’t think much of our kind of people but we don’t hate you all we want to be your all friends but you want let us please don’t let anybody see this. I hope I haven’t made you mad if I did tell me about it an I will forget about it. I wish this was a northern state. I guess you call me fresh. Write an tell me what you think of me good or bad.
Sincerely yours, with L from Y.K.W.
To Cynthia Goff
I love your name.
I love your voice.
For a S.H. you are my choice.”
At some point, although it isn’t clear if she gave it to him or if he found it, Cynthia’s father read the letter and became enraged. The idea that a Black boy dared to write a White girl, the daughter of a former state representative galled him.
On the night of January 2nd Philip Goff and two other White men went to Willie’s home and demanded to see him. Willie’s mother knew because of the history of the South that if Willie went with these men she would never see him again; she begged and pleaded and apologized for Willie to Goff but he wouldn’t relent and they drug Willie from his home, they also kidnapped his father from where he worked. They bound both father and son and parked on an embankment of the Suwanee River.
There they told Willie to either jump or be shot. The frightened young man decided to risk the possible escape by jumping into the river, unfortunately, he was not able to free himself and drowned. His father tragically watched. The father was given a moment to speak to his son before the murderers committed their heinous act. Willie’s father apologized to his son; “Willie, I cannot do anything for you now. I’m glad I have belonged to the Church and prayed for you.”
Willie’s body was pulled from the river the next day by the Suwanee County Sheriff. The White men told the story that they had picked up Williw and his father and expected the father to discipline him while they watched, they tried to say they did not harm the boy and tried to save him when his father would not.
The murder was typical business in the South for White men who felt disrespected by Black men and if it hadn’t been for a local Black lawyer Elbert C. Robinson who contacted the NAACP who sent Thurgood Marshall to investigate.
The NAACP wrote to Florida Governor Spessard Holland and with that influence, he assigned a special investigator, David Lanier to quietly make a report and advise on what the state should do.
Lanier interviewed the sheriff and Mr. and Mrs. Howard regarding Willie’s death. The Howards had fled Live Oak and moved to Orlando immediately following their son’s murder.
Lanier determined the three White men had murdered Willie and the state prosecutor brought a grand jury. However, the prosecutor failed to introduce Lulu Howard’s statement and only asked James Howard if Willie had delivered his letter to Cynthia. The grand jury brought no indictment and despite the NAACP’s involvement nothing ever happened to Willie James Howard’s murderers.
Sources:
https://www.pbs.org/harrymoore/terror/lula2.html
https://dunnhistory.com/the-lynching-of-willie-james-howard-1944/
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