On this day in 1944, amid rumors that oil had been discovered in Southwest Mississippi, six white men visit the 270-acre farm of a Black minister, Rev. Isaac Simmons, and his family. With the rest of the family watching, they forcibly take the Reverend and his son, Eldridge, drive them away from the house, beat the son, and shoot and kill the father. They cut the tongue from his corpse and release the younger Simmons, threatening the family to move out within 10 days.

Law enforcement declines to investigate the murder and the Simmons family flees the county. The white men take possession of the Reverend’s land. Nobody is ever convicted of these crimes.

The ownership of the land remains private and unchallenged to this day.