Wharlest Jackson Sr. was a father of five, husband to wife Exerlena, a Korean War veteran, the treasurer of the local NAACP branch where he lived in Natchez, Mississippi, and the first Black man to take a skilled position at the Armstrong Tire and Rubber Company.
For these crimes, someone placed a bomb on the driver’s side of his pickup, which exploded at approximately 8 p.m. on Feb. 27, 1967, killing Jackson.
His son was one of the first person at the scene that day 55 years ago. No charges have ever been brought.
Jackson’s story is one of many Civil Rights Era cold cases in Paula Johnson’s care at Syracuse University.
JULES STRUCK 