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Samuel O'Quinn
[edit]Samuel O'Quinn (1900 or 1901-1959) was killed outside his property on August 14th, 1959 by an unknown assailant. It is believed that O'Quinn killed for his association with the NAACP, though some believe it is because of O'Quinn's success in his neighborhood. O'Quinn's death became one of many cold cases associated with the Civil rights movement, and was one of the cases reopened by the FBI after the passage of the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act in 2007. The FBI closed O'Quinns case again in 2017 citing no living subjects to prosecute and the statue of limitations had expired. O'Quinn was survived by his wife, Ida, and their 11 children. No one was ever connected to the crime.
Life
[edit]Samuel O'Quinn was a prominent man in his Black community in the town of Centerville, Mississippi. Samuel O'Quinn was a certified plumber, electrician and carpenter.[1] Along with these certifications, O'Quinn was a graduate of the Tuskegee Institute and owned and operated a diner and jukeboxes. O'Quinn sold his 33 jukeboxes overtime and moved to buying and selling property to poor blacks in his area.[2] O'Quinn was a lenient landlord, never evicting someone just because they couldn't afford their rent. [3] The O'Quinn's lived in a 235-acre plantation "that, when bought, disrupted the natural order of things in the segregated South. Academics who study the unsolved murders of the time often cite O'Quinn's as a prominent example of the era's failures of justice. "Things got worse for people in the black community, things got worse before they got better," Houston said. "They silenced that voice."[3] In 1957, O'Quinn went up north to New Hampshire and was suspected to be consulting with NAACP leaders. Upon his return, O'Quinn would be watched by the towns whites. Though the claims that O'Quinn went to New Hampshire to become a member of the NAACP was first refuted by his family, a few weeks after his death a membership card would arrive at the O'Quinns home. The O'Quinn children believe their father was killed because he was to successful for a black man in Mississippi. [1]
Death
[edit]On the night of August 14th, 1959, O'Quinn left his home to pick his wife, Ida, up from a diner the two owned and operated. Accompanied by his 7-year-old son, the pair picked up Ida and drove back home. At the gate of his property, O'Quinn would be shot twice in the back with a shotgun. A couple of O'Quinn's older children, along with Ida, rushed Samuel to the hospital but he died in the car on the way.
There were no accounts of who killed O'Quinn at the time. Most assumed it was a local white man or men who shot O'Quinn in the back. Several years after the murder, a man named Willie Taplin contacted Ida on his death bed and asked for her to come see him. He admitted to Ida that he had been the one who shot and killed O'Quinn after being paid $500 and a car. Taplin was one of O'Quinn's good friends and the murder was draining on him. [1] Taplin became one of the many men to either admit or be expected of killing O'Quinn, and one of the only to be named. [4]Taplin died before Ida decided to see him. The O'Quinn case would be closed without an arrest, like many investigation during the Civil Rights Movement.
The Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Investigation
[edit]On February 4th, 2009 the FBI sent out a press release asking for any information about the O'Quinn case. [4] Hoping to find answers to Civil Rights cold cases, the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act of 2007 would allow the FBI to reopen cases that took place before December of 1969 that may have been handled poorly or swept under the rug. O'Quinn's, along with 100's of others, would have their investigations reopened and investigated to see if answers could be found. In their findings, the FBI found the names of Taplin and Frank Robinson, both of whom were dead. [4] The United States Department of Justice closed the O'Quinn case once again in 2017 after finding minimal new information or witnesses. The case had past the statue of limitations and the killers would be dead, but the O'Quinn's still want answers. There will most likely be no concrete answers of who killed O'Quinn, but his family remains hopeful.[3]
In Popular Culture
[edit]O'Quinn's murder is referenced in Anne Moody's 1968 autobiography Coming of Age in Mississippi. Category:Civil rights activists
- ^ a b c "New Article: The Legacy of a Murder". hungryblues.net. Retrieved 2020-02-17.
- ^ "New Article: The Legacy of a Murder". hungryblues.net. Retrieved 2020-02-17.
- ^ a b c Cobham, Kari (January 20th, 2009). "Dad's Civil Rights Murder Was Not in Vein, Family says". The Dayton Beach News-Journal.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help)CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ a b c "Samuel O'Quinn - Notice to Close File". www.justice.gov. 2017-04-04. Retrieved 2020-02-17.