Bill Russell was born in West Monroe, Louisiana in 1934. He spent part of his childhood in the state, a state that was one of the most violent toward Black people. From 1882 to 1936 alone, according to the site 64parishes.org, which covers the state’s history, an estimated 4,673 people were lynched across the United States. Some 389 of them occurred in Louisiana alone, and 333 of those were committed against Blacks. Georgia, Mississippi and Texas were the only states that saw more people lynched.
