Moreese Bickham (1917 - 2016)

Born 6 Jun 1917 in Tylertown, Walthall, Mississippi, United States

Ancestors

Died 2 Apr 2016 at age 98 in Alameda, California, United States

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Biography

Moreese Bickham is Notable.

Moreese Bickman spent 37 1/2 years in prison, including 14 years on death row, before he was freed mainly as a result of a campaign to show that the killing was most likely in self-defense.

Moreese Bickham was born in Tylertown, Mississippi in 1917 to Fred Bickham^[1] and Josie Simmons. He was counted as a twelve-year-old on the census with his mother and stepfather in 1930 in Copiah, Mississippi.^[2] By 1940 he was married with a daughter; they had moved to Washington Parish, Louisiana, and he was listed on the census as Reese, 22 years old.^[3] He was living and working in New Orleans by 1942 when he received his draft card. ^[1] He served his country in the Pacific theater of World War II in the U.S. Navy.^[4]

In 1958 Moreese was living in Mandeville, Louisiana when an 11 pm incident in a local bar resulted in two sheriff's deputies, in street clothes and believed by many in the community to have been members of the Ku Klux Klan, coming to his home at 2 am and shooting him when he came out on his porch. He returned fire with a shotgun blast, killing them both. "An all-white jury convicted Bickham of one count of first degree murder (premeditated homicide) and sentenced him to death by electrocution. For fourteen years, Bickham avoided execution, winning seven stays of execution. He lived on death row in the Angola State Penitentiary, in solitary confinement 23 hours per day."^[5]

In 1974 his death sentence was commuted to life in prison without parole, and he was allowed into the general population of the prison. Through the seventies and eighties he worked at various prison jobs and became an ordained minister. He was interviewed for a radio documentary on long-timers at Angola, entitled "Tossing Away the Keys."^[6]

The documentary attracted the attention of many people who began working to help get Moreese out of prison. New York City corporate attorney Michael Alcamo in 1994 accepted the case and worked on it pro bono for two years. His secondary argument resulted in Governor Edwin Edwards' commutation of Bickham's sentence from life without parole to 75 years, thus opening the door to the possibility of release by parole or sentence reduction through Louisiana's "good time statute," which allows a sentence to be reduced by one day for each day served on good behavior. Parole was denied in 1994,^[5] but Alcamo's arguments won over Warden Burl Cain as well as the Louisiana Department of Corrections to applying the "good time statute," and Moreese was released, free and clear, not subject to parole, on January 10, 1996.^[5] Alcamo and documentarian Isay escorted Moreese to the airport for his trip home to his family, now in California.

He was 98 when he died in 2016 in California. He is buried with his wife, Ernestine, in the Hays Chapel Cemetery, in Hackley, Washington Parish, Louisiana. ^[7][8][9]

Research Notes

Additional reading:

• A Veteran’s Journey ‘From Jim Crow, to Death Row, to the Free World’ https://sanantonioreport.org/veteran-moreese-bickham-seven-dates-with-death/

• Seven Dates With Death https://vimeo.com/345073847

• Former Death Row Prisoner Moreese Bickham Dies at 98: He Served 37 Years for Killing Klansmen Cops; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxH3J4Bz-7c

• Former Death Row Prisoner Moreese Bickham Dies at 98 ; https://www.kcet.org/shows/democracy-now/clip/former-death-row-prisoner-moreese-bickham-dies-at-98

• Enterprise-Journal; Publication Date: 10 Apr 2016; Publication Place: McComb, Mississippi, USA ^[10]
• Earnestine Buckley-Bickham (Aaron Buckley was her first husband)^[11]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} "U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947," National Archives at St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; WWII Draft Registration Cards for Louisiana, 10/16/1940 - 03/31/1947; Record Group: Records of the Selective Service System, 147 Free Ancestry Image

   Name: Morcese Bickham

   Residence: 3829 St Ferdinand St, New Orleans, LA

   Age: 23

   Birth: 6 Jun 1917

   Birth Place: Tylertown, Mississippi

   Employer: Henry Temple, 3800 St Ferdinand St, New Orleans, LA

   Father: Fred Bickham

   Residence of Fred Bickham: 932 N Prieur Street, New Orleans, LA

2. ↑ "1930 U.S. Census," Ancestry.com, Census Place: Beat 2, Copiah, Mississippi; Page: 5A; Enumeration District: 0007; FHL microfilm: 2340878; Original data: United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1930. T626, 2,667 rolls. Free Ancestry Image

   A G Price 37 Head, md1 @35, MS/MS/MS, farmer, gen farm

   Josie Price 34 Wife, md1 @32, MS/MS/MS

   Maurice Price 12 Son, school, MS/MS/MS, farm laborer, gen farm

   Lilly M Price 8 Daughter, school, MS/MS/MS, farm laborer, gen farm

   Megin Price 5 Son, school, MS/MS/MS

3. ↑ "United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VY5Y-JVP : 4 January 2021), Reese Bickham, Ward Two, Washington, Louisiana, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 59-3, sheet 3A, line 3, family 45, Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 - 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012, roll 1463.

   Reese Bickham 22 Head, LA, laborer, farm

   Ernestine Bickham 20 Wife, LA

   Vivian Bickham 2 daughter, LA

4. ↑ U.S., World War II Navy Muster Rolls, 1938-1949; National Archives at College Park; College Park, Maryland, United States; Muster Rolls of U.S. Navy Ships, Stations, and Other Naval Activities, 01/01/1939 - 01/01/1949; Record Group: 24, Records of the Bureau of Naval Personnel, 1798 - 2007; Series ARC ID: 594996; Series MLR Number: A1 135 Free Ancestry Image

   Name: Moreese Bickham

   Ship, Station or Activity: Marcus Island

   Ship Number or Designation: CVE-77

   Muster Date: 16 Mar 1944

5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1 5.2} Wikipedia contributors, "Moreese Bickham," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moreese_Bickham
6. ↑ Wikipedia, citing David Isay, "Tossing Away the Keys," Sound Portraits, Archived from the original on 2014-02-21. Retrieved 4 June 2013. See https://web.archive.org/web/20140221165906/http://soundportraits.org/on-air/tossing_away_the_keys/transcript.php/
7. ↑ Gravestone photo: Joan Cheever, "Life After Death Row: Driving Mister Bickham," See Photo Gravestone
8. ↑ Burial: Find a Grave, database and images (accessed 02 August 2021), memorial page for Moreese Bickham (6 Jun 1917–2 Apr 2016), Find A Grave: Memorial #230179521, citing Hays Chapel Cemetery, Hackley, Washington Parish, Louisiana, USA; Maintained by Terry Fillow (contributor 46487843).
9. ↑ Obituary: Enterprise-Journal; Publication Date: 3 Apr 2016; Publication Place: McComb, Mississippi, USA; Clipping

   Name: Moreese Bickham

   Gender: Male

   Death Age: 98

   Birth Date: abt 1918

   Death Date: 2 Apr 2016

   Death Place: Oakland, Calif.

   Obituary Date: 3 Apr 2016

   Obituary Place: McComb, Mississippi, USA

10. ↑ Enterprise-Journal; Publication Date: 10 Apr 2016; Publication Place: McComb, Mississippi, USA; Clipping

    Name: Moreese Bickham

    Gender: Male

    Death Age: 98

    Birth Date: 6 Jun 1917

    Residence Place: Alameda Calif.

    Death Date: 2 Apr 2016

    Death Place: Alameda

    Obituary Date: 10 Apr 2016

    Obituary Place: McComb, Mississippi, USA

    Parents: Fred Bickham; Josia Simmons Price

11. ↑ "United States, GenealogyBank Obituaries, 1980-2014," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QKGW-23K7 : accessed 2 August 2021), Earnestine Buckley-Bickham, Bogalusa, Louisiana, United States, 20 Dec 2002; from "Recent Newspaper Obituaries (1977 - Today)," database, GenealogyBank.com (http://www.genealogybank.com : 2014); citing The Daily News, born-digital text.

See also: Links above

• Wikipedia : Moreese Bickham
• Wikidata: Item Q6911240, en:Wikipedia