Charles White
Charles White was 15 years old and one of 21 Black boys who died when a fire broke out in a dormitory at the Arkansas Negro Boys Industrial School in Wrightsville, Pulaski County, on March 5, 1959. Sources say the boys were locked in the dormitory when the blaze started, and an official account says the doors were reportedly locked from the outside. He is listed among those buried in Haven of Rest Cemetery in Little Rock. In 2019 the Arkansas Department of Correction dedicated a memorial that carries the names of all the boys who died.
Cause of death, as reported: Died in an accident (neglect alleged). Officials attributed the deaths to a dormitory fire, and reports say staff locked the dormitory doors from the outside.
Reported by: state officials; news reporting on the fire.