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By Joseph R. Svinth

In his book Why We Can't Wait, first published in June 1964, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., wrote:

King's dramatic story is often retold today. See, for example, the transcript of The Fight, a PBS documentary about the Louis and Schmeling fights, at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/fight/filmmore/pt.html, and this essay by sportswriter Dave Zirin about changing perceptions of heavyweight champions.

So, who was the unnamed young black man, and which southern state was it? King provides enough detail that tracking this down should be fairly simple.

1. The method of execution recently changed from hanging to lethal gas.
2. The state is southern (e.g., a historical member of the Confederacy).
3. The first person executed was black.
4. The date is roughly 1935-1939.

Nevada pioneered gas chambers, and the first person to be executed by this method there was a Chinese man, Gee Jon, in 1924. Ten other states subsequently adopted gas chambers. These were Arizona, California, Colorado, Maryland, Missouri, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon and Wyoming.

Only two of those states were part of the Confederacy. The Mississippi gas chamber was built in 1954. Source: http://www.mdoc.state.ms.us/mississippi_and_the_death_penalt.htm. The first black man executed in Mississippi was Allen Donaldson in March 1955. This is 15 years too late for King's chronology.

North Carolina adopted the gas chamber in 1936. Source: http://www.doc.state.nc.us/dop/deathpenalty/DPhistory.htm. In 2005, the old North Carolina gas chamber decorated a home in Wake County, North Carolina. I kid thee not. http://www.fuquay-varinaindependent.com/news/2004102701020.html. North Carolina is definitely part of the Old South, and 1936 is in the right time frame. This quickly leads to http://www.squarebooks.com/dearreader/2001_09/02.php, which in turn leads to http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?scid=8&did=269. And there, one finds a link to the by-name list of the 14,634 legal executions that took place in the USA between 1608 and 1987.

Page 290 starts the list of North Carolina executions. However, in North Carolina, gas replaced electrocution rather than the gallows. Also, the first black to be gassed (J.T. Sanford, age 30, on February 7, 1936) was the third person executed by lethal gas in North Carolina (page 314). Finally, the New York Times article about that particular execution didn't mention anything about Joe Louis.

So, let's keep looking.

• In Arizona, gas replaced hanging, and the first black executed there was Ernest Patten in 1937. He wasn't the first person executed, though.
• California replaced hanging with gas in 1937. California's first execution by gas took place in October 1938. The first black was William Green, age 39, on Oct. 20, 1939. He wasn't the first person executed, either.
• In 1934, Colorado replaced execution by hanging with execution by gas. However, all Colorado executions were of whites, Indians, and Hispanics.
• Maryland's first execution by gas was in 1959. Here, the first execution was of a black youth, aged 17, named Leonard Shockey. However, once again, this is twenty years too late.
• Missouri changed from hanging to gas in 1938. Its first gas chamber execution was of a black man, William Wright, age 33, on April 3, 1938.
• New Mexico had one gassing in 1960. It was a white man. Before that, the method of execution was electrocution, and afterwards, it was hanging.
• Oregon executed a black man, Harvey Cunningham, in 1944. This was not Oregon's first gassing, but it was Oregon's first black.
• Wyoming's first black, Cleveland Brown Jr., was also in 1944.

Of the above, Missouri meets the most criteria, and as a border state, it could be considered almost Southern. But, if "Save me, Joe Louis" were Wright's last words, why hasn't the Missouri press picked up on this? After all, his execution is still mentioned in Missouri media. See, for instance, http://www.kccall.com/News/2003/0502/Front_Page/015.html.

To get to the bottom of this, one would need to read the newspapers for every gassing death to see if anyone's last words were "Save me, Joe Louis." If that draws a blank, then one would have to read the last words for electrocutions, too, for here I read that the execution was an electrocution rather than a gassing. Finally, one would have to look at every execution, in every state, for here I read that the electrocution took place at Sing Sing, in New York.

Meanwhile, all these specific details that don't add up makes me suspect that King's story is urban myth rather than documented fact.

Which is too bad, because if King's story isn't true, it should have been.

Update: December 2006

Regarding the conclusion of this article, reader Orson McDonald sent this correction: