2007 Senate Resolution 20
ENGROSSED RESOLUTION
Relating to: the life and activism of James Cameron.
Whereas, James Cameron was born on February 23, 1914, in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, and died on June 11, 2006; and
Whereas, James Cameron was happily married to Virginia for 50 years and their union was blessed with five children, eight grandchildren, and four great grandchildren; and
Whereas, at the age of 16, James Cameron was wrongfully charged with murder and sentenced to death, along with two of his friends who were lynched by a mob, but Mr. Cameron's life was miraculously spared and he was recognized in 2005 by the U.S. Senate as the only known survivor of a lynching; and
Whereas, Mr. Cameron actively promoted social justice and civil liberties following his four years in prison and his parole in 1935 after which he was exonerated for the harassment and murder charges that he was accused of; and
Whereas, he served as the Indiana State Director of Civil Liberties from 1942-1950 and started the Madison, Muncie, and South Bend, Indiana chapters of the NAACP; and
Whereas, Mr. Cameron worked to put an end to segregated housing in Milwaukee upon his return to Wisconsin in 1950, took part in the civil rights marches on Washington, and wrote extensively, publishing hundreds of articles and booklets to educate individuals about civil rights issues; and
Whereas, James Cameron made several personal sacrifices for the furtherance of knowledge relating to racial injustices, including taking a second mortgage on his home in order to publish his memoir, A Time of Terror; and
Whereas, in 1979 Mr. Cameron visited the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Israel which inspired him to mirror the struggles of African-Americans and the racial injustices that took place in Wisconsin not so long ago, by founding America's Black Holocaust Museum in Milwaukee in 1988, in order to preserve the history of African-American's subjected to violence through lynching; and
Whereas, James Cameron, at the age of 80, continued his activism, and led a protest against a Ku Klux Klan rally; and
Whereas, James Cameron received a formal apology from the U.S. Senate for our failure to outlaw lynching; and
Whereas, the adoption of this senate resolution is supported not only by the senate, but also by members of the assembly, including specifically Representatives Sheridan, Schneider, Young, Grigsby, Sinicki, Mason, Fields, Benedict, Turner, and Hintz; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the senate, That the members of the Wisconsin senate commend the devoted activism and service that James Cameron contributed to his state and his community, in an effort to continue his vision of an America, free of the evils of racism.
