There have been books and documentaries made about him surviving being lynched, but he lived 76 years after the lynching.

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee hosted a panel discussion on the impact of the late James Cameron in the Fireside lounge Thursday evening.

At the forefront of the discussion was Camerons legacy in the civil rights movement and the significance of Americas Black Holocaust Museum in Milwaukee.

In 1930, at the age of 16, Cameron was dragged and lynched in front of a courthouse along with two other young African-American men in Marion, Ind.

Cameron somehow survived the attack, becoming the only known survivor of a lynching in American history. Cameron would later dedicate his life to civil rights and in 1988 founded the holocaust museum in Milwaukee, which was inspired by a visit to an Israeli Holocaust museum in 1979.

The museums administrator, Corry Joe Bidel, said that the museums controversial lynching exhibits were a part of Camerons legacy. Though she has found that these exhibits can sometimes make it hard to secure donations for the museum, she considers them an important part of the museums dedication to history.

His passion was history, she said of Cameron. His story was the one that made the museum special.

Milwaukee photographer Anthony Tatum was also on the panel and was almost moved to tears recounting time he spent with Cameron as a younger man.

He showed me the importance of seeing our people in a positive light, said Tatum.

Also included in the panel were Volunteer Coordinator Bethany Criss, her father James, a sergeant in the Milwaukee County Sheriffs Department who works as one of the museums volunteer griot tour guides and Fran Kaplan.

Kaplan, a Milwaukee screenwriter who is in the process of trying to sell a script for Fruit of the Tree, a script based on Camerons life and work, called him one of the great unsung heroes of the Civil Rights movement.

There have been books and documentaries made about him surviving being lynched, but he lived 76 years after the lynching, she said.

Kaplan has been invited to take the script to New Yorks famed TriBeCa Film Festival, where she hopes to find investors. Kaplan also mentioned that the film would be shot in Milwaukee.

Bidel says that the legacy of Cameron and the museum itself is in telling often painful stories that she says need to be told.

If you cant tell your story, no one can empathize with you or find out where youre coming from, she said.

After two rounds of questions from moderator Donte McFadden, audience members were free to ask the panelists questions.

Americas Black Holocaust Museum is located at 2233 N. 4th St. in Milwaukee.

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