Lynching of John Lee
John Lee, an African American man, was lynched on August 12, 1911, near Durant and Caddo in southeastern Oklahoma. He had gone to the home of Fanny Campbell, asked for food, and Campbell fed him. Accounts say he assaulted her and shot her in the hip as he ran away.
A mob of about 500 armed men, led by local deputies, hunted him down. There was a brief gunfight; Lee fired his revolver but hit no one. He was killed, and his body was heavily wounded by bullets. The mob took his body to Durant. Campbell later identified him as her attacker, but she died that night in a Sherman, Texas hospital.
Lee’s body was placed on a pile of wood near the railroad tracks and set on fire. The lynching spread fear and violence against Black residents. Many Black families left the area. Signs told Black people to leave by a certain day.
As a result, the Black community in Durant and Caddo disappeared over time. By the 1920 census, Bryan County had only about 4.5% Black residents. Durant in 1911 was part of a region called “Little Dixie,” where many people moved from the South. In 1908 Durant had advertised itself as a white city when seeking a state school location.
John Lee’s background is not clear. He was said to be staying at a railroad YMCA camp in Denison, Texas under the name Jim Jennigan and had been seen in Caddo for a few days. He was suspected in another killing of G. C. Freeman, the Denison YMCA secretary, earlier.
In the days after the lynching, rumors and fear spread. Some reports described a Black mob, while others said trains to carry one were empty. On September 2, white men on horseback with torches attacked Black homes between Durant and Caddo; two Black men were arrested but not tried. The violence left a lasting fear and helped erase the Black community in the area.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 04:09 (CET).