Hayneville in Lowndes County, Alabama — The American South (East South Central)

Lynching in America
⎯⎯⎯
The Courthouse Lynching of Theo Calloway

Community Remembrance Project

Lynching in America Marker image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Mark Hilton, November 28, 2020

1. Lynching in America Marker

Inscription.
Lynching in America Between the end of the Civil War and the close of World War II, white mobs killed thousands of Black Americans in racial terror lynchings, and committed widespread violence that traumatized millions more. The Lowndes County Courthouse was built in 1856, when thousands of Black people remained enslaved in this community. For generations afterward, here and throughout the South, law enforcement offered Black residents little or no protection from racial violence. In addition to the 1888 lynching of Theo Calloway on these courthouse grounds, at least six more of Lowndes County's 16 documented African American lynching victims were seized from jail or police custody when killed: William Westmoreland (1896), John Jackson (1900), William Jones (1914), Samuel and William Powell (1917), and G. Smith Watkins (1935). During this era, white lynch mobs were also emboldened by legal systems that refused to arrest, prosecute, or punish mob members after lynchings took place. As late as 1948, in this courthouse, a grand jury refused to indict white men who admitted to shooting and killing Elmore

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Bolling, a prosperous Black businessman. Most documented Lowndes County lynchings never even resulted in a lyncher's arrest, and none ever led to a conviction for murder.

The Courthouse Lynching of Theo Calloway On March 29, 1888, a mob of at least 200 white men lynched Theo Calloway, a 24-year-old Black man, near this courthouse in Lowndes County, Alabama. Mr. Calloway was accused of killing a white man and insisted that he had acted in self defense, but he never had the chance to stand trial. During this era, Black people were regularly denied fair trials and due process, and seized from jails and police custody while armed officers made no effort to protect them. Aided by the local sheriff, the white mob abducted Mr. Calloway from jail just hours before he was scheduled to appear in court, hanged him from a chinaberry tree on the courthouse lawn, and riddled his body with bullets. Theo Calloway, one of at least eleven children, was from nearby Sandy Ridge. His parents, Johnson and Fanny Calloway, learned of their son's lynching when they arrived to attend his hearing and instead had to retrieve his mangled corpse.

The Courthouse Lynching of Theo Calloway Marker image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Mark Hilton, November 28, 2020

2. The Courthouse Lynching of Theo Calloway Marker

For months afterward, Lowndes County Black residents protested Mr. Calloway's lynching, but local newspaper headlines applauded the mob's act: "Taken from Jail in the Approved Style, and Judicial Expenses Saved." With support from the governor, the same local law enforcement and state officials who had failed to prevent the illegal mob murder violently confronted and arrested dozens of Black people for demanding justice for Mr. Calloway. No one was ever punished for his lynching.

Erected 2020 by Equal Justice Initiative, Lowndes Community Remembrance Coalition.

Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: African Americans • Civil Rights. In addition, it is included in the Lynching in America series list. A significant historical date for this entry is March 29, 1888.

Location. 32° 11.012′ N, 86° 34.785′ W. Marker is in Hayneville, Alabama, in Lowndes County. It is at the intersection of East Lafayette Street and South Washington Street, on the left when traveling east on East Lafayette Street. Located on south side of Courthouse. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 1 S Washington

Looking west from Courthouse towards the town square. image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Mark Hilton, November 28, 2020

3. Looking west from Courthouse towards the town square.

St, Hayneville AL 36040, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in Alabama’s Tri-Counties River Region.

It is also in the American South,

specifically in the Deep South,

and in the Black Belt.

Globally, it is in North America,

a Gulf of Mexico state,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once the territory of the Mississippian Culture,

one of the Confederate States of America,

and the Antebellum South.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 7 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies: In Memory of Jonathan Myrick Daniels (about 300 feet away, measured in a direct line); Varner's Cash Store (approx. 0.2 miles away); First Missionary Baptist Church, Hayneville (approx. half a mile away); Shiloh Primitive Baptist Church (approx. 5.2 miles away); Elmore Bolling (approx. 5.9 miles away); Lewis-Smith Cemetery (approx. 6.4 miles away); Lewis-Smith Historic Cemetery (approx. 6.4 miles away); Campsite 3 (approx. 6.4 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Hayneville.

Other

The view east towards Courthouse with marker in bottom right corner. image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Mark Hilton, November 28, 2020

4. The view east towards Courthouse with marker in bottom right corner.

markers no longer nearby. The Soldier Dead of Lowndes (was within shouting distance of this marker but has been permanently removed); Town of Hayneville (was within shouting distance of this marker but has been permanently removed); Hayneville (was within shouting distance of this marker but has been confirmed missing).

People lynched in Lowndes County with Theo Calloway's name at top. image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Mark Hilton, May 31, 2018

5. People lynched in Lowndes County with Theo Calloway's name at top.

Part of the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, in Montgomery, Alabama, the memorial is dedicated to the legacy of enslaved black people, people terrorized by lynching, African Americans humiliated by racial segregation and Jim Crow, and people of color burdened with contemporary presumptions of guilt and police violence. One of the over 800 corten steel monuments, one for each county in the United States where a racial terror lynching took place.

Credits. This page was last revised on July 14, 2025. It was originally submitted on November 25, 2020, by Mark Hilton of Montgomery, Alabama. This page has been viewed 1,133 times since then and 83 times this year. Last updated on November 9, 2023, by Gianluca De Fazio of Harrisonburg, Virginia. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. submitted on November 28, 2020, by Mark Hilton of Montgomery, Alabama. • James Hulse was the editor who published this page.

Lynching in America⎯⎯⎯The Courthouse Lynching of Theo Calloway

Community Remembrance Project

Lynching in America
⎯⎯⎯
The Courthouse Lynching of Theo Calloway