B17 Columbia, Tennessee USA 1808

Following the acquittal of 23 of the 25 charged African Americans in the Columbia Race Riots of 1946, the leading legal defense, Thurgood Marshall, Z. Alexander Looby, and Maurice Weaver and reporter Harry Raymond, were stopped by plain-clothes police officers three times for fabricated misdemeanors. On the third stop, Marshall was arrested on a count of drunk driving and placed into an unmarked car. Looby, Weaver, and Raymond followed the car after noticing it was driving away from Columbia and towards Duck River. There a White mob was waiting and Marshall was to be lynched.     

But by the courage of Looby, Weaver, and Raymond, who confronted the men, the police returned to Columbia. There, Marshall was taken before a magistrate, where he was ordered to breathe in the judge’s face. The judge stated, “This man hasn’t had a drink in 24 hours. What the hell are you talking about?”

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