James Earl Motley

Age 27

A Black passenger of a car stopped for a traffic violation

Elmore County, Alabama

November 20, 1966

Early on November 20, 1966, an Elmore County sheriff’s deputy stopped a car in Montgomery County, Alabama, for a traffic violation. One of the passengers, 27-year-old James Earl Motley, reportedly questioned the deputy’s authority to make the stop because the deputy worked for a different county than the one they were in, at which point the officer, Harvey Conner, ordered Motley to exit the vehicle. The other passengers said Conner fired his weapon, possibly into the ground, according to a Department of Justice memo about the case. Conner then radioed for backup from Alabama state troopers.

Edna Mae Bowman, a 16-year-old passenger in the car with Motley, who was Black, told a reporter from The Southern Courier that two state troopers arrived and held Motley by the arms while Conner beat him over the head. “They beat him down to the ground,” Bowman told the newspaper. Conner then took Motley, bloodied, to the Elmore County jail.

Local authorities said Motley exited the patrol car on his own at the jail but then fell and hit his head on a metal post. Two incarcerated men who carried Motley to a cell said he was bleeding from wounds on his head and was unconscious. Once in his cell, Motley reportedly fell from a bunk and hit his head on the floor. Motley was pronounced dead by a doctor called to the jail.

Initial Investigation

An autopsy showed Motley had died of brain damage and hemorrhage caused by trauma to the head, according to the Department of Justice memo. He had two lacerations on his forehead, multiple skull fractures and abrasions. A coroner concluded the fatal head injury could have been caused by a beating or by two falls at the jail. His death was classified as “accidental.”

A state grand jury declined to indict Conner on a homicide charge, but the FBI investigated. One of the officials the FBI interviewed said that Conner had called him the morning of the incident and used a racial epithet while describing Motley’s death. In January 1967, the Civil Rights Division of the DOJ accused Conner of abusing his authority as a law enforcement official. He was charged with violating a section of Title 18 that makes it illegal to deprive anyone of their rights “under color of law.”

During the trial, the defense argued that Motley’s death was accidental and that the fatal injury was from when Motley allegedly fell and hit his head on the metal post outside the jail. But Isom Atkins, an incarcerated man who had been tasked with cleaning the cruiser, testified that Motley was already severely injured before he got out of the patrol car, The Southern Courier reported. “I went out there to clean up the car,” on orders from Conner, Atkins said. “There was blood up front, on the dashboard.”

On April 12, 1967, a jury consisting of 11 white men and one Black man found Conner not guilty.

Till Act Status

The FBI reviewed the case starting in 2008. The agency gathered some earlier investigative reports and other records but did not conduct any additional interviews. The primary suspect, Conner, had died. Even if he were still alive, the relevant statute of limitations had run out, according to the DOJ memo about Motley’s death. It is unclear whether the agency sought out information about the other law enforcement officers alleged to have participated in the attack. The DOJ closed the case again in 2010.

Un(re)solved

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About the Project

This multiplatform investigation draws upon more than two years of reporting, thousands of documents and dozens of first-hand interviews. FRONTLINE spoke to family and friends of the victims, and witnesses, some of whom had never been interviewed; current and former Justice Department officials and FBI agents, state and local law enforcement; lawmakers, civil-rights leaders and investigative journalists, to explore the Department of Justice’s reopening of civil rights-era cold cases under the 2008 Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act.

In addition to an examination of the federal effort, the project features the first comprehensive, interactive list of all those whose cases were reopened by the Department of Justice. Today, the list stands at 151 names. Among the victims: voting rights advocates, veterans, Louisville’s first female prosecutor, business owners, mothers, fathers, and children.

The project consists of a web-based interactive experience, serialized podcast, a touring augmented-reality exhibit, documentary and companion education curriculum for high schools and universities.

A project like Un(re)solved would not be possible without the historic and contemporary contributions of universities, civil rights groups, and the press, particularly the Black press, who have ensured the ongoing public record of racist violence in the United States. To pay homage to these groups, the web interactive begins with a quote from journalist, activist and researcher Ida B. Wells, one of the first to document with precision the horrors of racial terror in America. “The way to right wrongs,” she wrote, “is to turn the light of truth upon them.”

At the outset of the project, FRONTLINE forged a relationship with Northeastern University’s Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project (CRRJ), bringing them on as an academic partner. Launched in 2007 by Distinguished Law Professor Margaret Burnham, CRRJ is a mission-driven program of interdisciplinary teaching, research and policy analysis on race, history, and criminal justice. Their work has expanded beyond the names on the Justice Department’s list, archiving documents in over 1,000 cases of racially motivated homicides.

With support from the CRRJ, FRONTLINE reporters gathered what could be known about the individuals on the list, conducting interviews with family, friends and witnesses, delving into newspaper archives and gathering documentation including headstone applications, draft cards and archival photographs.

At the heart of the project has been a drive to center the voices of the families of those on the list. FRONTLINE partnered with StoryCorps to record nearly two dozen oral histories with victims’ next of kin, which are featured both in the web-based interactive and traveling AR exhibit. These oral histories will also be archived in the National Library of Congress.

To lead the creative vision for the web experience and installation, FRONTLINE partnered with Ado Ato Pictures, a premier mixed reality studio founded by artist, filmmaker, and technologist Tamara Shogaolu.

Shogaolu rooted the visuals in the powerful symbolism of trees. In the United States, trees evoke the ideal of liberty, but also speak to an oppressive history of racially motivated violence. In Persian myth, trees are humanity’s ancestors, while in Toraja, Indonesia, they serve as sacred burial sites.

“I was really inspired by looking at the role of the tree as a symbol in American history” Shogaolu said. “It’s been looked at as a symbol of freedom, we look at it as a connector between generations, and also there’s the association of trees with racial terror.” When designing the creative vision for Un(re)solved Shogaolu wondered whether she might be able to reclaim the symbol of the tree. “As a person of color, we’re often terrified of being in isolated places in the woods. And I thought it was kind of crazy that there are natural environments that instinctually give great fear because of this connection with racial terror and I wanted to reclaim that — to turn these into beautiful spaces.”

Un(re)solved weaves imagery of trees, which also recall family ties, into patterns and textures from the American tradition of quilting. Among enslaved African Americans forbidden to read or write, quilts provided an important space to document family stories. Today, quilting remains a creative outlet rich with story and tradition for many American communities.

We invite you to enter this forest of quilted memories — a testimony to the lives of these individuals, and the multi-generational impact of their untimely, unjust loss.

(Credits to come)