MARION, Ark. — A rather direct billboard on I-55 is catching major attention in Marion, Arkansas. The billboard reads, “who lynched Isadore Banks?” We’ve discovered that there’s a deeper backstory than some drivers may pick up on.
“I noticed it earlier this week when I was driving to work,” driver Kerry Sullivan said. She says the billboard made her wonder about the man mentioned on it.
“It piqued my interest. I thought it was more of a recent occurrence. I was intending to Google it when I got to work.”
Banks was a prominent black landowner in Marion, Arkansas. He was lynched in 1954.
She thought the lynching happened 20 years ago at the oldest.
WREG called the number on the sign to figure out who wants to know more about the mystery. It turns out it’s a group of journalists hoping to shine new light on a seemingly forgotten crime.
FBI and Crittenden County claims they investigated, but justice never came for the farmer and World World I veteran. It’s rumored that he was killed for his land.
“Many of us are fascinated with unsolved mysteries from history,”
Perhaps that fascination will job someone’s memory and lead to justice finally.
