Awaits Verdict: Byron De La Beckwith, Jr. of Greenwood, Mississippi, smiles as he awaits the verdict in his trial in New Orleans on a federal firearms violation. Police said they found a ticking timebomb in Beckwith's car while arresting him in September as he entered New Orleans. Police said Beckwith was headed for the home of a leader in the New Orleans Jewish community when they arrested him. Beckwith was tried twice in 1964, but not convicted, for the 1963 murder of black Civil Rights leader Medgar Evers.

Byron De La Beckwith, Jr. (1920-2001) was a white supremacist and Klansman from Greenwood, Mississippi. He assassinated Civil Rights leader Medgar Evers on June 12, 1963. Two murder trials in 1964 resulted in hung juries. In 1994, he was tried by the state in a new trial based on new evidence; Beckwith was convicted of the murder and sentenced to life in prison. De La Beckwith died in prison in 2001 at age 80.

On recto: typewritten title and date.
On verso: manuscript title and date, library stamp and newspaper captions with date stamps affixed.

Wire photographs were originally transmitted over phonelines, then later, by satellite. They were first used in the early 1920s. Associated Press became a leader with this. After pigment touch-ups, etc., the print is put into a drum (like a drum scanner). The image gets converted into audio tones that are transmitted. The tones are received and beamed onto photo-sensitive paper. Wire photographs are copies without originals---they are hybrid, transmitted objects. (Britt Salvesen, Curator and Department Head, Photography Department, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, March 30-31, 2022)

This object has the following keywords:

• Assassinations
• Byron de la Beckwith
• Civil Rights Movements
• Decisions
• Hate crimes
• Injustice
• Jackson
• Medgar Evers
• New Orleans
• Racial Discrimination
• Trials

• Image Dimensions: 9 1/8 x 6 13/16 in. (23.18 x 17.3 cm) Measured by Martin, Jack
• Sheet Dimensions: 9 15/16 x 8 1/16 in. (25.24 x 20.48 cm) Measured by Martin, Jack