to call the incident a traffic accident and close the case. He said the buckshot pellets were dental fillings torn loose by the impact of the crash. Howard, Evers and others demanded a thorough investigation. The sheriff and governor spurned them, but U.S. Attorney General Herbert Brownell Jr. ordered the Justice Department to look into the matter. Lee's funeral in Belzoni attracted reporters from major black newspapers. His widow Rosebud decided to have an open casket, to reveal how her husband had suffered. Emmett Till's mother would do the same a few months later after her teenage son was lynched. Readers of the Chicago Defender shared Rosebud Lee's outrage by viewing a photo of her husband's body. The NAACP-organized memorial service in Belzoni drew more than 1,000 attendees. Tensions were high in this small rural Delta town, as whites had long expected deference from the black majority. Howard and Roy Wilkins, the national president of the NAACP, shared the speakers' platform at Lee's funeral. Howard said that some blacks "would sell their grandmas for half a dollar, but Reverend Lee was not one of them." Civil rights activists searched the Delta looking for evidence to find the killers. Medgar Evers reputedly "cut his teeth" on the Lee case, continually feeding information to the press. Despite the efforts of activists, interest began to wane, and the FBI investigation was eventually closed. Agents had identified credible white suspects, but said that potential witnesses appeared afraid to talk. No charges were ever brought against any suspect for Lee's murder. Legacy Lee's death captured national attention, highlighting the oppressive nature of Mississippi Jim Crow and the violence black residents had to face to exercise ordinary rights. In the state, Lee's death served as a catalyst for some activists to step up their efforts. Lee exemplified a generation of activists who used business success to build a platform to work as mature men on civil rights. He paved the way for other leaders to come up from the African-American community, and emphasized the power of the vote. See also Lamar Smith (activist) List of unsolved murders References Further reading Jack Mendelsohn, The Martyrs: Sixteen Who Gave Their Lives for Racial Justice (New York: Harper and Row, 1966). 1903 births 1955 deaths 1955 murders in the United States African-American activists Activists for African-American civil rights African-American history of Mississippi Assassinated American civil rights activists Deaths by