Johnny Tillison
Johnnie Tillison was 16 years old and one of 21 Black boys who died in a dormitory fire at the Arkansas Negro Boys Industrial School near Wrightsville, Pulaski County, on March 5, 1959. Sources say the boys were locked in their dormitory and that no adult was on duty that night, with the doors reportedly locked from the outside. Official accounts list the cause as a fire, and the exact cause was never established. Tillison is among the victims buried in Haven of Rest Cemetery in Little Rock, and his name appears on a 2019 monument at the Wrightsville unit.
Cause of death, as reported: Cause not yet determined (neglect alleged). The 1959 dormitory fire killed 21 boys; the cause was never established, and one account says padlocks secured the dormitory from outside with no adult supervisor on duty.
Reported by: Arkansas Department of Correction (the agency that held him); news reports.