'THE LYNCHING OF CLEO WRIGHT'

This article comes from our electronic archive and has not been reviewed. It may contain glitches.
Monday, October 5, 1998

In January 1942, just a month after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, a 25-year-old black man named Cleo Wright broke into a white woman's house in Sikeston at 1:30 a.m., ostensibly to commit rape. After coming through the window, he was surprised to find that his intended victim, Laverne Sturgeon, was not alone. The first person he encountered was her sister-in-law, Grace Sturgeon, who fought with Wright and was stabbed before he fled.

To continue reading
For more than 115 years, the Southeast Missourian has written the first draft of local history. We have aspired to enrich, entertain, educate and inform. Our core values have remained firm: truth, service, quality, integrity and community. Support our mission.