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Hartman Turnbow (March 20, 1905 – August 15, 1988) was a Mississippi farmer, orator, and activism during the Civil Rights Movement. On April 9, 1963, Turnbow was one of the first African Americans to attempt to register to vote in Mississippi, along with a group called the "First Fourteen".
The "First Fourteen" were approached by a myriad of whites who attempted to intimidate and prevent the group from registering to vote. In a thick mob of angry whites, deputy sheriff, Andrew Smith, with his hand on his gun holster, called out, "All right now, who will be the first?" At that point, Turnbow stepped forward and told the deputy sheriff "Me, Hartman Turnbow. I came here to die to vote. I'm the first." All fourteen took the literacy test and were failed by the circuit clerk. Although none of the "first fourteen" were able to register, their pride and courage drove the Movement in Holmes County.
In May 1963, Turnbow fought off an attack on his family and himself with rifle fire. Being consistent with the foundation of the freedom movement, Turnbow explained, "I wasn't being non-nonviolent, I was just protectin' my family." In this instance, Turnbow exercised his right to private self-defense just like Fannie Lou Hamer.
SNCC's Joyce Ladner accompanied Turnbow and his wife in Atlantic City for the 1964 Democratic National Convention. She recalls, "Mrs. Turnbow always carried a little brown paper bag. She had a pistol in it... But she didn't trust those people. I mean people had tried to firebomb her home, so she might have been in the presence of a senator and a congresswoman, but she carried a gun."
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Sheriff Smith accompanied by a deputy and FBI agent arrived at the scene at 9:00 am. Bob Moses, a non-Mississippi voter registration worker, was also on the scene of investigation taking pictures of the fire. Moses was told to stop taking pictures by an investigator and was immediately arrested for interfering with the investigation after taking Sheriff Smith's picture. Turnbow and several other SNCC workers were later charged for arson and arrested by Smith. The only piece of evidence at the preliminary hearing was a testimony given by Sheriff Smith. County Attorney Pat M. Barrett said he was "not a demolition expert," but "it just couldn't have happened. There is no way on God's earth for that situation over there to have happened like he said it happened." As a result of the case, Turnbow was bound over under $500 bond by the Holmes County Grand Jury. The charges against the other SNCC workers were dismissed for lack of evidence after they spent five nights in jail.
Hartman Turnbow was attacked and framed for arson because he was one of the first African Americans that step forward to vote in Mississippi. In a reflection on his attack, Turnbow states,
Anybody had'a just told me 'fore it happened that conditions would make this much change between the white and the black in Holmes County here where I live, why I'da just said, "you're lyin'. It won't happen." I just wouldn't have believed it. I didn't dream of it. I didn't see no way. But it got to workin' just like the citizenship class teacher told us—that if we could redish' to vote and just stick with it. He says it's gon' be some difficults, gon' have troubles, folks gon' lose their lives, peoples gon' lose all their money, and just like he said, all of that happened. He didn't miss it. He hit it ka-dap on the head, and it's workin' now. It won't never go back where it was.
An example of the way Turnbow spoke can be found in this excerpt, when during Freedom Summer he tried to persuade more black Mississippians to vote:
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