Death of Columbus reverend beaten in jail is focus of NPR station podcast
An Atlanta NPR station has chosen a Columbus homicide of a Black reverend in the 1950s as the topic for the newest season of one of its award-winning podcasts.
The “Buried Truths“ podcast from WABE, hosted by Pulitzer Prize winner Hank Klibanoff, returned Aug. 26, focusing on the 1957 death of the Rev. Clarence Pickett in Columbus.
The season focuses on Pickett’s jailhouse beating, followed by medical neglect, according to an email from the station.
Georgia Civil Rights Cold Cases Projects
Klibanoff told the Ledger-Enquirer he had been teaching a course called the Georgia Civil Rights Cold Cases Project at Emory University. He said it was part of his application that he wanted to start a course examining unpunished and racially motivated killings in Georgia’s history.
Klibanoff said he already had been doing that kind of work with reporters in the South through the Center for Investigative Reporting. He said he wanted to start working on Georgia civil rights cold cases, and so he did.
He started by looking at the cold case list introduced by former FBI Director Robert Mueller and former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez.
Klibanoff saw Pickett’s name on the list and, along with Brett Gadsden, looked into Pickett’s case.
WABE approached Kilbanoff to do a documentary on the project, he said, after the head of the station heard about the project from one of his interns working at the station.
The idea of a documentary was replaced with the idea of a podcast, according to Klibanoff.
The Rev. Clarence Pickett beaten in Columbus jail
Talking about the newest season, Klibanoff said a policeman beat up Pickett in jail, then Pickett was taken to a white doctor who didn’t believe he was hurt.
“That, to me, added a whole dimension having to do with medical neglect and medical racism, “ Klibanoff said.
Klibanoff said the doctor, despite thinking Pickett was faking his injuries, gave him a pain killer.
Credit for “Buried Truths” podcast
Klibanoff gave credit to the students involved in the research for the podcast.
“The podcast is all based on the research,” he said, “and most of the research is being done by students.”
Klibanoff said the podcast has interesting findings about the lawyers involved in the trial following Pickett’s death and has questions about the judge who presided over the case.
Enquirer reporting and cold case findings
A report from the Columbus Daily Enquirer on Jan. 24, 1958, said patrolman Joseph Cameron was arrested and charged with murder in Pickett’s death.
The Enquirer reported police records showed Pickett was jailed on a drunk charge Dec. 21, 1957, released on bond the next day and died Dec. 23, 1957.
Charlie Johnson, a city jail inmate at the time, testified that Pickett cursed Cameron, according to Enquirer reporting.
The Enquirer report says Johnson said Cameron entered the cell, struck Pickett with his fist, hit him several times with a blackjack and kicked him.
The Georgia Civil Rights Cold Cases Project website says Cameron was found not guilty by an all-white jury and was reinstated to the police force two days later.