Black Holocaust Museum founder Cameron dies

James Cameron, who founded America's Black Holocaust Museum in Milwaukee, died today at the age of 92. He had been suffering from lymphoma over the past five years.

Cameron is the only known survivor of a lynching. He was 16 at the time, and was dragged along with his two friends to be hanged for the murder of a white man. After Cameron's two friends were killed, Cameron was spared at the last minute when someone in the crowd proclaimed that he was innocent.

In addition to his duties at the museum, Cameron spent time lecturing, and teaching Aat grade schools, high schools, and prisons. At my commencement from UWM in 1999, Cameron was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humanities degree by the university:

"When I heard that, it was like an electric shock passed through me," he explains. "I couldn't hold back my tears, and I didn't even want to try."