Slayden, Mississippi


Slayden is an unincorporated community in Marshall County, Mississippi, United States. It is located along U.S. Route 72 in northeast Marshall County.

History

In 1935 Ab Young, a negro tenant farmer, was lynched in Slayden by a group of 150 white men. Two reporters from the Memphis Press-Scimitar were in attendance, and were given names and addresses by members of the mob, so that they could receive pictures of the affair. The authorities took no action because they had "no clues whatsoever" as to the identities of the men who hanged Young. Because Young was pursued and captured in Tennessee, then transported across the state line to Mississippi, Walter White of the NAACP demanded a federal investigation.