A young Navy veteran whose arrest became the immediate catalyst for Columbia’s 1946 uprising
James Stephenson Jr. grew up in Columbia with his mother, Gladys, and his siblings after his parents separated and his father moved to Chicago. Available family history connects his father’s family to Dick and Anna McKissack, formerly enslaved people associated with Rippavilla. As a teenager, Stephenson reportedly claimed to be older than he was so he could enlist in the U.S. Navy during World War II.
Soon after returning from military service, Stephenson accompanied his mother to the Castner Knott department store on February 25, 1946. A dispute over a radio repair became physical after he intervened on her behalf during a confrontation with white employee Billy Fleming. James and Gladys were arrested, while the white men involved were not taken into custody. As rumors spread that a mob intended to remove James from jail and lynch him, Black community leaders posted bond and helped move the Stephensons to safety. The threat against him became the immediate catalyst for the uprising and the Black community’s decision to defend East Eighth Street.
Stephenson was taken first to Nashville and then placed on a train to Chicago. The attempted-murder charges against him and his mother were eventually dismissed, but neither returned to make Columbia home again. Stephenson later settled in Detroit, where he lived for the remainder of his life.
