Killing of Henry Marrow

Henry Dortress "Dickie" Marrow Jr. was born January 7, 1947, in Oxford, North Carolina, and raised largely by his maternal grandparents after his father died and his mother moved north for work. He attended Mary Potter High School and Kittrell College before joining the Army and being stationed at Fort Bragg. After his service, he returned to Oxford, worked at Umstead Hospital in Butner, and had two daughters with Willie Mae Sidney, who was pregnant with a third child at the time of his death.

On the evening of May 11, 1970, Marrow was playing cards with friends at the Tidewater Seafood Market in Oxford. He left to visit a nearby shop owned by Robert Teel, reportedly to buy a soft drink for a friend. An altercation began after Marrow made a remark to Teel's daughter-in-law, Judy Teel, and her husband Larry Teel objected. Robert Teel and his stepson Roger Oakley retrieved firearms from the shop. According to witness accounts, Robert Teel first tried to strike Marrow, who drew a knife and then fled; Teel and Oakley pursued him with shotguns and a rifle. Teel shot Marrow, and Oakley shot him twice more; all three defendants were later acquitted. While Marrow lay wounded on the ground, witnesses said the three men, all later acquitted, beat and kicked him as Robert Teel shouted for him to be shot. A single rifle shot was then fired into Marrow's head; accounts differ on who fired it, with Oakley testifying it discharged accidentally and another witness testifying that Larry Teel fired it. Friends took the wounded Marrow to Granville County Hospital; he died en route to Duke University Medical Center after being transferred for further treatment.

Marrow's killing occurred amid ongoing racial segregation in Oxford despite the passage of federal civil rights legislation years earlier. His death triggered marches, protests, and arson against white-owned businesses causing an estimated $1 million in damage, prompting a four-day curfew. Robert Teel, Larry Teel, and Roger Oakley were indicted on murder charges, but an all-white jury acquitted all three. Marrow's widow later filed a wrongful death civil suit against the Teels. Following the acquittal, civil rights organizer Benjamin Chavis led a protest march to the state capital and helped organize an 18-month boycott of white businesses in Oxford, which ended after the town agreed to desegregate public facilities.

The case was later chronicled in historian Timothy Tyson's 2004 book "Blood Done Sign My Name," which was adapted into a 2010 film of the same name directed by Jeb Stuart, and a 2008 stage play that premiered at Duke University.