Henry “Dickie” Marrow, a 23-year-old U.S. Army veteran whose wife was pregnant with their third daughter, was beaten down and shot to death in the street by Robert Teel, Teel’s 18-year-old son Larry, and Roger Oakley, Teel’s 21-year-old stepson, for allegedly making a remark to Larry Teel’s wife. Despite testimony by two black eyewitnesses, the men were acquitted of the crime by an all-white jury. Roger Oakley, Teel’s stepson, actually confessed to shooting the gun but was never indicted. But it was the Teels’ acquittal for their hotheaded hate crime that launched the city of Oxford, North Carolina into a season of violent reprisals.
The performance will be accompanied by gospel vocalist Mary D. Williams.