April 9, 1962
Cpl. Roman Ducksworth Jr., a 27-year-old Black military police officer stationed at Fort Ritchie, Maryland, was traveling home by bus to Mississippi. His wife, Melva, was expecting their sixth child and was now in the hospital because of complications.
By the time he arrived home in Taylorsville, Mississippi, he had fallen asleep. The driver called William Kelly, a white police officer onto the bus to wake him. Kelly instead arrested the serviceman, claiming he was drunk.
Off the bus, the two struggled, and the officer shot twice, striking Ducksworth in the chest. He died without knowing his wife had just given birth to a healthy baby girl. Kelly claimed he shot Ducksworth in self-defense, and he was never prosecuted.
Later he sent a message to Ducksworth’s father: “If I’d known it was your son I wouldn’t have shot him.” The father replied, “I don’t care whose son it was, you had no business shooting him.”
More than 2,000 attended the funeral for Ducksworth, who was buried with full military honors, including a 16-gun salute by an integrated honor guard. He is among 40 martyrs listed on the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Alabama.
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