Thomas Edwards Brooks
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Thomas Edwards Brooks was a young African-American man who was shot and killed while running away from police after an incident on a racially segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama in 1950.
Brooks boarded the bus from the front, paid the driver and was told to get off the bus and board from the rear. He refused. An argument ensued and a police officer struck him on the head with a club. He pushed the driver and police officer out of the way and ran. The police officer shouted “stop” and then shot and killed him. Civil rights activist E.D. Nixon filed a complaint, but the police officer was never indicted. Brooks was a twenty-one year old Private First Class when he died.
