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 MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE  1997 Regular Session

To: Rules

By: Representatives Coleman (29th), Richardson, Bailey, Banks, Blackmon, Bozeman, Broomfield, Clark, Clarke, Coleman (65th), Ellis, Evans, Flaggs, Fredericks, Gibbs, Green (96th), Green (72nd), Henderson (9th), Henderson (26th), Huddleston, Middleton, Morris, Myers, Perkins, Robinson (63rd), Scott (80th), Smith (27th), Straughter, Thornton, Walker, Wallace, Watson, Young

House Concurrent Resolution 141

(As Adopted by House and Senate)

A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION COMMENDING THE LIFE AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF DR. CLEVE MCDOWELL. 

WHEREAS, Dr. Cleve McDowell was born to the late Mr. and Mrs. Fudge McDowell on August 6, 1941, in Drew, Mississippi, and departed this life on Thursday, March 13, 1997; and

WHEREAS, Dr. Cleve McDowell was an honor graduate of the Drew Public Schools, where he served as class president, editor of the school newspaper, captain of the debating team and a member of several varsity sports teams; and

WHEREAS, Dr. Cleve McDowell was also an honor graduate of Jackson State University in 1963, and while at Jackson State University he worked as a student assistant under the late Medgar Evers, and later became the first African-American student to attend a white graduate school in Mississippi by enrolling in the University of Miss. Law School with the aid of a federal court order and United States Army troops in June of 1963; and

WHEREAS, Dr. Cleve McDowell later enrolled in Texas Southern University Law School in Houston, Texas, where he became President of the Student Bar Association and received several merit awards; and

WHEREAS, Dr. Cleve McDowell later worked on the Field Staff for the  State Conference and then later the Chicago Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and served on committees of the National Youth Development of the NAACP as a program director in community relations in Houston, Texas, and as a Subscribing Life Member, McDowell also served as a three-term member of the National Youth Work Committee of the NAACP and served on the committees of the State Conference and acted as legal advisor to several branches; and

WHEREAS, Dr. Cleve McDowell was the Senior Pastor of the Greater Holly Grove Missionary Baptist Church of Drew, a member of Sunflower County General Association, the School Board of the City of Drew,  Chairman of the Sunflower County, State Democratic Party, and also served as the Public Defender for Sunflower County, Public Defender for the City of Drew, and also served as a member of the Board of Aldermen and past Vice-Mayor of the City of Drew, and

WHEREAS, Dr. Cleve McDowell was a member of the Mississippi State Bar Association, the American Bar Association and the Magnolia Bar Association, and was admitted to practice in the Northern and Southern United States District Courts, Fifth Circuit United States Court of Appeals and the Eleventh Circuit United States Court of Appeals; and

WHEREAS, in April 1969, Dr. Cleve McDowell joined the Mississippi Head Start Training Coordinating Council as its Executive Director, and in 1973, he joined the Governor's Office of Human Resources and OEO as the Head Start Coordinator for the State of Mississippi, and in May of 1974, Dr. Cleve McDowell became Associate Director of the Mississippi Bar Legal Services Program where he served until he started his private practice of Law in Drew, in 1975; and

WHEREAS, Dr. Cleve McDowell served as Managing Attorney for the North Mississippi Rural Legal Service in Clarksdale, Mississippi, from 1977 to 1979 and later served as a member of the State Penitentiary Board of Directors before he was elected to serve as Tunica County Judge in 1978; and

WHEREAS, Dr. Cleve McDowell was an active member of Epsilon Xi Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity and was Worshipful Master of Drew Lodge Number 6 of the Most Worshipful Stringer Masonic Grand Lodge (Prince Hall), and was also a member of the Knights Templars, Royal Arch, a Thirty-Second Degree and Shriner Masonic Units; and

WHEREAS, Dr. Cleve McDowell leaves to celebrate his homegoing, one goddaughter, Yolando McDowell; two godsons, Cleve Demarcus McDowell and Kwasi McDowell; five sisters, Mabel Brown of Chicago, Illinois, Juanita McDowell, Gennette (W. L., Jr.) Smith, Nellie (Lacy) Wilson of Drew, and Betty Adams of Los Angeles, California; four brothers, Willie Adams of Los Angeles, California, Douglas (Phelisia) McDowell of Memphis, Tennessee, Robert (Carrie) Wells of Chicago, Illinois, and Otis (Mary) McDowell of Fort Mitchell, Kentucky; three aunts, Cora Walker of Marks,  Bennie Franklin of Chicago, Illinois, and Angelia Route of Columbus, Ohio; two sisters-in-law, Ada and Dorothy McDowell of Chicago, Illinois; and a host of nieces, nephews, cousins and other relatives and friends and a special niece, Juanita Shanice Smith.

WHEREAS, it is the policy of this Legislature to commend excellence in leadership, especially when it is exhibited by one who has served diligently as a spiritual leader of his community:

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, THE SENATE CONCURRING THEREIN, That we do hereby commend the life and accomplishments of Dr. Cleve McDowell and express the Legislature's deepest sympathy upon his passing.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be furnished to the family of Dr. Cleve McDowell and the members of the Capitol Press Corps.

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More about Dr. McDowell can be learned in a new book scheduled for publication in  Jan. 2004

Uncivil Rites

Two Murders Where the Rebels Roost

Author  Susan Klopfer

Publication Date  April 2004

   In the hot summer before the cold winter ..

in which our nation entered the war to end all wars, two black males were born. Both were murdered in the heart of the Yazoo-Mississippi Delta; both deaths were blamed on sex crimes. The first murder, that of Emmett Till who was born in Chicago, spurred the Civil Rights Movement; Rosa Parks said she was thinking of the 14-year-old young man when she refused to move to the back of the bus.

   Cleve McDowell, born just two weeks after Emmet Till, was killed almost fifty years later and within three miles of  Till’s dying place near Drew, McDowell's home town.

   Throughout his years of achievement, Rev. McDowell became the first African-American student to attend a white graduate school in the state by enrolling in the Law School (Ole Miss) with the aid of a federal court order and United States Army troops in June of 1963; he was a protégé of James Meredith and was also a close friend of Medgar Evers who was murdered early in the Movement he helped initiate. Both attended Jackson State University and were leaders within the NAACP. McDowell was an NAACP field director and a state Head Start director.

McDowell had been a public defender in Sunflower County for three decades. He was part of a group of black leaders organizing to pressure district attorneys and revive interest in many never-prosecuted cases in which blacks were killed for doing civil rights work; he remained in frequent contact with Emmett Till's  mother, Mamie Till-Mobley. He fought for his clients and for civil justice, and probably died for both.

40th Anniversary in 2004

   These deaths became shrouded in legend and unsubstantiated rumors, partly thanks to the state's official effort to maintain segregation and bigotry with its state sponsored Sovereignty Commission (operating from 1954 until 1972) and through its private White Citizens Councils. The doors to change were slammed shut, the society tightly closed, until a few brave advocates began to force change. Now it is time to tell one man's story and celebrate the lives of those many other brave people for their sacrifices, terror, and courage as they went about the work of social change.

The Hunt for Records

In each case, selected records have been made unavailable or have simply disappeared. Official court transcripts from the trial of Till's accused murderers are not available from Tallahatchie County officials. (When asked, clerks say they don't exist.) There was never a conviction in his  murder yet the two men (both now deceased) who were tried in the courthouse in Sumner later confessed to the murder in a national magazine.

A client of McDowell's confessed to the McDowell murder and was convicted of manslaughter, after capital murder charges were dropped. Juarez Webb, now an inmate at Parchman, later testified he was beaten into making a confession. Sunflower County officials refuse to hand over the official police report. (When questioned, they say the report is not for public record.) Six months after McDowell's death, all of his personal and professional papers were burned in a fire that completely destroyed the building where his materials were stored. McDowell's  papers (an extensive collection) were among the losses, with other boxes containing years of legal research on civil rights cases waiting for prosecution, his colleagues and former employees confirm.

Uncivil Rites

chronicles the life, accomplishments and unresolved murder of Dr. McDowell, a well-loved minister and leader whose memory deserves a truthful report of his death. Newest information on both murders, including files from the Sovereignty Commission, is also woven into this account.

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