Committee to Defend Johnny Imani Harris Collection

Background on The Committee to Defend Johnny Imani Harris

The Atmore-Holman Brothers Defense Committee was formed in 1974 following a violent rebellion in January 1974 at the Atmore-Holman Prisons in southern Alabama led by the Inmates For Action (IFA), a union created by prisoners in hopes of achieving more humane living and working conditions in the prisons.

The rebellion started with guards at the Holman prison beating IFA inmate Tommy Yukeena Dotson, after which inmates at the Atmore unit across the street took two guards hostage. In the ensuing take-back, prison guard Luell Barrow was killed. Also killed was IFA chairman George Chagina Dobbins, the chief negotiator for the inmates. Around forty inmates were later indicted for Barrow’s death and the rebellion, but no one was indicted for the death of George Dobbins. Evidence later emerged implicating the warden in the death of Dobbins. Several of the indictments were dropped, and by February 10, 1975 there were nine defendants left indicted for the death of Barrow. These men became known as the Atmore-Holman Brothers, and their cases were the sole focus of the Atmore-Holman Brothers Defense Committee.

One of the defendants, Johnny Imani Harris, was sentenced to death under an 1862 statute in which a prisoner- already serving a life sentence- convicted of first degree murder would receive the death penalty. Harris was previously sentenced to five life terms for 4 small robberies and an alleged rape in 1970. An investigation sponsored by Imani’s defense team revealed that these earlier charges stemmed from a conspiracy between the Ku Klux Klan and Birmingham police officers to remove Imani’s family from a previously all-white neighborhood. In the prison case, Imani was tried by an all-white jury and was found guilty for Barrow’s death. Following the verdict, the other eight inmates agreed that the focus of the Atmore-Holman Brothers Defense Committee should be on Harris’ case. From that point forward, the committee was renamed the Committee to Defend Johnny Imani Harris and Stop the Death Penalty. The case became an international cause célèbre.

These records were assembled by Tom Gardner, a civil rights and union organizer/journalist and reflect his dedicated work for the Committee. Gardner’s work for the Defense Committee included: fundraising and public outreach efforts, (showcased in this collection through numerous petitions, newsletters, and correspondence); attending trials; communicating with Johnny and his legal team; and other administrative tasks. Gardner grew the Committee to aid other victims of capital punishment, including John Louis Evans and other prisoners who contacted the Committee asking for help. Alongside Tom Gardner were members Steven Whitman, Teresa Perry, and members of the Birmingham-based Families for Action. Whitman was a key organizer of earlier defense efforts and the A-H Brothers Defense Committee, and invited Gardner to come to Alabama to help organize the defense effort. Susan Schneur was co-director and paralegal for much of the defense efforts in relation to the trials. Also supportive were Alabama Prison Project Director Jennifer Johnston, and later Cathy Ansheles, as well as Southern Poverty Law Center researcher Bill Stanton. Attorneys involved were Morris Dees at Imani’s original trial and later Bill Allison, Diana Hicks, and Clint Brown, among others- whose efforts are also reflected in this collection. The collection is organized into four series: Correspondence, Administrative, Legal, Outreach/Publicity/Publications. The collection also includes material on other defense efforts in the South that occurred in the same time frame and that Gardner was involved in. These include the Joann Little case, the Charlotte 3 case, the Wilmington 10 case, the Dessie Woods and Cheryl Todd case, the Dawson 5 case, and others.