The Civil Rights Cold Case Records Review Board has announced the release of FBI and Department of Justice records regarding Hattie DeBardelaben, an African American woman beaten to death by law enforcement authorities in Autauga County, Alabama, in 1945. The records are available on the National Archives website. Margaret Burnham, co-chair of the review board, stated, “But as was too often the case involving the death of a Black person at the hands of white men, no one was ever indicted. Still, while the perpetrators may have escaped judgment in a court of law, the judgment of history has no expiration date.” The review board was created as part of the Civil Rights Cold Case Records Collection Act of 2018. The National Coalition for History (of which the AHA is a member) advocated for the creation of the board, adequate funding, and related efforts to support its ongoing work. Everything has a history and “the judgment of history has no expiration date” indeed.
