Willie Joe Sanford

Age 24

A young Black sawmill worker and brother

Hawkinsville, Georgia

March 1, 1957

Willie Joe Sanford was a 24-year-old Black sawmill worker who went missing on February 2, 1957. Nearly one month later, on March 1, his naked body was discovered in Limestone Creek, near Hawkinsville, Georgia.

Someone had tied Sanford’s hands over his head and wired his body to the undergrowth in the creek. The young man’s skull had been fractured, and he had also been stabbed numerous times, according to a Department of Justice memo about the case. An autopsy determined Sanford’s body likely had been in the creek for about 30 days. His death certificate said he died of “strain and hemorrhage from multiple stab type wounds to abdomen, chest and head.”

Initial Investigation

Sanford’s sister identified the body by his shoes, as well as by a surgical scar from where Sanford had been shot by a white man the previous year, one newspaper reported. The shooter had been released after a single night in jail. The DOJ memo on the case does not state who the shooter was or whether he was considered a suspect in the later investigations of Sanford’s murder.

The Oconee County circuit solicitor led a local investigation, which involved the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office, four Georgia Bureau of Investigation agents and two doctors. For a while, one of Sanford’s close friends, Arthur King, was treated as a “material suspect” and jailed for his own safety. A Pulaski County grand jury was presented with about 15 witnesses but failed to indict anyone, after which King was released.

A local circuit judge who oversaw the grand jury inquiry implied the murder was likely racially motivated: “Certainly it did not take a brave man or men to accomplish this execution,” he said, according to a pamphlet by the National Memorial for Peace and Justice. “Only a frenzied mob could have accomplished it.”

The Oconee solicitor initially characterized Sanford’s murder as a lynching, according to the DOJ memo. He later retracted the statement in the press, although he admitted the investigation had concluded that two white men murdered Sanford. The perpetrators were never identified, the memo stated.

Till Act Status

The FBI began a review of Sanford’s case in 2008. An agent interviewed Sanford’s sister, who confirmed that King, the material suspect, was a family friend. She said King had helped search when her brother went missing. King died in 1973, the FBI confirmed. Likewise, the FBI learned that the solicitor who led the local investigation had died. Sanford’s sister passed away in 2011, before the FBI completed their review of the case.

FBI agents were unable to find the names of the 15 witnesses who reportedly had testified before the Pulaski County grand jury, nor could they locate local police records about Sanford’s death.

The DOJ closed the case in 2012, citing federal and local officials’ belief that the perpetrators, who were never identified, likely were dead. By that time, the relevant statute of limitations for federal criminal civil rights crimes had run out.

Un(re)solved

Begin the full experience

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)