In the tumultuous month of May 1970, amidst the backdrop of civil unrest in Augusta, Georgia, a Black man named Mack Wilson lost his life. The city was a powder keg of racial tension, ignited by the death of a mentally disabled Black teenager, Charles Oatman, while in custody. Protests erupted on May 10th and escalated by the following day into widespread demonstrations, with some participants looting and burning businesses.
It was during this chaotic period that Mack Wilson, a U.S.
Army veteran, and a friend entered a bar that was being looted. His friend later recounted that they had gone in to have a drink 'on the house.' When police arrived on the scene, Wilson's friend departed. The next morning, Wilson's body was discovered behind the building, the victim of a single gunshot wound to his back. At the time of his death, he was a husband and the father of a three-year-old daughter.
Mack Wilson was one of six Black men who were shot and killed by police during what came to be known as the Augusta Riot. Autopsies would later reveal that all six men had been shot in the back. In the immediate aftermath, the state declined to press charges in connection with the deaths. The federal government, through the FBI and the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, initiated inquiries into the events to determine if any federal laws had been violated.
