Joe Crittenden
Joe Crittenden was 16 years old and one of 21 Black boys who died in a dormitory fire at the Arkansas Negro Boys Industrial School in Wrightsville, Pulaski County, on March 5, 1959. Sources describe the boys as locked in their dormitory when the blaze started, and one account says the doors were locked from the outside. Officials attributed the deaths to the fire. In 2019 the Arkansas Department of Correction dedicated a memorial listing each of the boys' names, and Joe Crittenden is listed among those buried at Haven of Rest Cemetery in Little Rock.
Cause of death, as reported: Died in an accident (neglect alleged). Officials attributed the deaths to a dormitory fire, and one account says the dormitory doors were locked from the outside, which left the boys trapped.
Reported by: state officials. The only account of how this person died comes from the agency that held him.