The Death of Johnny May Chappelle

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A woman named Johnny May Chappelle was shot and killed in 1964. Four young white men were driving around the area listening to race riots on the radio. It was four months before Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 Outlawing Segregation. Our producer, Lauren Spore, grew up in Jacksonville, hearing about this episode.

In March 1964, a 35-year-old African-American woman named Johnnie Mae Chappell was walking along the side of the road in Jacksonville, Florida. Four white men were driving around listening to the local race riots on the radio. They had a gun on the dashboard. As they passed Chappell, one of the men leaned out the car window and shot her to death. As the police investigated, evidence began to mysteriously disappear, making it impossible to punish the men who admitted to committing the crime.

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