Willie Brewster was described by his employer as someone who “went beyond his duties to help.” He was a family man with a wife, Lestine, two small children, Katrina and Willie, and another child on the way. He worked the night shift at Union Foundry in Anniston and stayed home with his children by day while his wife worked. On the night of July 15, 1965, Brewster was driving home to Munford along Highway 202 with two co-workers. Suddenly shots rang out, smashing the car’s rear window—one hit Brewster in his spine.

As his co-workers fought to regain control of the vehicle, a car that had been trailing them sped past. The men caught a glimpse of its white passengers. Although Brewster reassured Lestine of his recovery, he died in the hospital three days later. Lestine miscarried a month later. Outraged Annistonians — black and white — reacted with a full-page advertisement in The Anniston Star offering a reward of $20,000 for information leading to an arrest.

A tip led authorities to three local white men with ties to the KKK: Hubert Damon Strange, Johnny Ira Defries, and Lewis Blevins. The men were indicted for Brewster’s murder on August 27, 1965. After 13 hours of deliberation, an all-white jury returned a second-degree murder conviction against Strange. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison although he never served his time. Free on bond, Strange was killed in a barroom brawl. Strange’s conviction was the first time in Alabama history that an all-white jury convicted a white person of killing a black person. (7)