O. T. Meadows
O. T. Meadows was one of 21 Black boys who died on March 5, 1959, when a fire swept through a dormitory at the Arkansas Negro Boys Industrial School in Wrightsville, Pulaski County, where he was held. According to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas, the doors were reportedly locked from the outside, and the boys were locked in their dormitory when the blaze started. He was one of seven victims identified and buried separately. The Arkansas Department of Correction dedicated a memorial with each of the boys' names in 2019.
Cause of death, as reported: Died from neglect by staff. Officials attributed the death to a dormitory fire, and accounts say staff reportedly locked the dormitory doors from the outside, trapping the boys inside.
Reported by: Arkansas Department of Correction (the agency that held him); press accounts of the 1959 fire (reporters).