Mary Turner lived c.1899 - May 19, 1918.
Mary Turner lived c.1899 - May 19, 1918. A nineteen-year-old black woman, lynched in Lowndes County, Georgia. Eight months pregnant, Turner and her child were murdered after she publicly denounced the unlawful extrajudicial killing of her husband, Hazel Turner, by a mob. On the evening of May 16, 1918, 25-year-old white planter Hampton Smith, known to abuse and beat his workers, was shot and killed on the plantation by one of his black workers, 18-year-old Sidney Johnson. As the owner of the Old Joyce Place, Smith's notoriety as an unusually severe boss made recruiting workers difficult. Smith resolved the labor shortage through the use of convict labor; he paid Sidney Johnson's $30 fine (Johnson had been convicted of playing dice) and forced him to work on his plantation. Johnson endured several beatings at the hands of Smith. Days before Smith's killing, Johnson had been severely beaten by Smith for refusing to work while he was sick. Smith also had a history with Hayes