LRB-4192/1
SRM:bjk:pg
2007 - 2008 LEGISLATURE
February 27, 2008 - Introduced by Senators Taylor and Coggs. Referred to
Committee on Senate Organization.
SR20,1,1 1Relating to: the life and activism of James Cameron.
SR20,1,32 Whereas, James Cameron was born on February 23, 1914, in LaCrosse,
3Wisconsin, and died on June 11, 2006; and
SR20,1,64 Whereas, James Cameron was happily married to Virginia for 50 years and
5their union was blessed with five children, eight grandchildren, and four great
6grandchildren; and
SR20,1,107 Whereas, at the age of 16, James Cameron was wrongfully charged with
8murder and sentenced to death, along with two of his friends who were lynched by
9a mob, but Mr. Cameron's life was miraculously spared and he was recognized in
102005 by the U.S. Senate as the only known survivor of a lynching; and
SR20,1,1311 Whereas, Mr. Cameron actively promoted social justice and civil liberties
12following his four years in prison and his parole in 1935 after which he was
13exonerated for the harassment and murder charges that he was accused of; and
SR20,2,3
1Whereas, he served as the Indiana State Director of Civil Liberties from
21942-1950 and started the Madison, Muncie, and South Bend, Indiana chapters of
3the NAACP; and
SR20,2,74 Whereas, Mr. Cameron worked to put an end to segregated housing in
5Milwaukee upon his return to Wisconsin in 1950, took part in the civil rights marches
6on Washington, and wrote extensively, publishing hundreds of articles and booklets
7to educate individuals about civil rights issues; and
SR20,2,108 Whereas, James Cameron made several personal sacrifices for the furtherance
9of knowledge relating to racial injustices, including taking a second mortgage on his
10home in order to publish his memoir, A Time of Terror; and
SR20,2,1511 Whereas, in 1979 Mr. Cameron visited the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in
12Israel which inspired him to mirror the struggles of African-Americans and the
13racial injustices that took place in Wisconsin not so long ago, by founding America's
14Black Holocaust Museum in Milwaukee in 1988, in order to preserve the history of
15African-American's subjected to violence through lynching; and
SR20,2,1716 Whereas, James Cameron, at the age of 80, continued his activism, and led a
17protest against a Ku Klux Klan rally; and
SR20,2,1918 Whereas, James Cameron received a formal apology from the U.S. Senate for
19our failure to outlaw lynching; and
SR20,2,2320 Whereas, the adoption of this senate resolution is supported not only by the
21senate, but also by members of the assembly, including specifically Representatives
22Sheridan, Schneider, Young, Grigsby, Sinicki, Mason, Fields, Benedict, Turner, and
23Hintz; now, therefore, be it
SR20,3,2 24Resolved by the senate, That the members of the Wisconsin senate commend
25the devoted activism and service that James Cameron contributed to his state and

1his community, in an effort to continue his vision of an America, free of the evils of
2racism.
SR20,3,33 (End)
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