On the evening of August 6, 1930, Thomas Shipp, Abram Smith and James Cameron were arrested for the murder of one Claude Deeter and the rape of his girlfriend, Mary Ball, in Marion, Indiana. Shipp, Smith and Cameron were all black, while Deeter and Ball were white.
Before dawn the next day, a large crowd gathered. Breaking into the cells where they were held, they dragged the three men outside, where Shipp and Smith were lynched (Cameron was able to flee after some members of the mob pronounced him innocent). A photographer named Lawrence Beitler took a photograph of the scene, including two dead men still hanging from their nooses, which sold thousands of copies and became an iconic image of racial injustice.
Ball later stated that she had not been raped by anyone; Cameron stated that Shipp and Smith were guilty of Deeter’s murder.
Strange Fruit — Billie Holiday