Dec. 3, 1955: Clinton Melton Killed

Clinton Melton was a 33-year-old father of five who worked at a gas station in Glendora, Mississippi, a small town on the Tallahatchie River. On Dec. 3, 1955 — just four months after the brutal murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till in nearby Money, Mississippi — Melton was shot and killed while working at the gas station. Melton’s killer, Elmer Otis Kimball, was a friend and neighbor of J. W. Milam, one of two men who was acquitted (and yet later confessed) to the killing of Emmett Till. Melton left behind his wife Beulah and their children.

As Nellie Gilles and Joe Richman write for NPR’s Code Switch,

Clinton Melton. Courtesy of Deloris Melton Gresham. Source: NPR

At the station, Kimball accused Melton of pumping more gas than he’d asked for. According to witnesses, Kimball was in a rage. He threatened Melton and shouted, “Don’t be here when I get back” before driving off. The white station owner told Melton to go home, but before he could, Kimball returned with a shotgun. He shot Melton once in the hand and once in the head.

Just days before the trial of Kimball for the murder of Melton, Beulah Melton was apparently forced off the road and drowned in Black Bayou, leaving their children orphaned. Despite three witnesses who confessed to seeing Kimball shoot Melton, Kimball was acquitted by an all-white, all-male jury.

Radio Diaries writes,

Clinton Melton’s name is one of many engraved on the Monument at the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Ala., honoring victims of lynching in the United States. It’s a stark reminder that for every Emmett Till whose name is remembered in history books, there are countless others whom most Americans have never even heard of.