Person    | Male  Born 13/10/1941  Died 4/10/2013

Herman Wallace

Categories: Law, Race Issues, Tragedy

Countries: USA

In 1972 a prison guard was murdered in Angola Prison, Louisiana, USA, where Herman Wallace, Robert King, and Albert Woodfox were prisoners.  Wallace and Woodfox were convicted of the murder; King was said to be connected to the murder but was not charged.  King was convicted of a separate prison murder in 1973. All three were placed in solitary confinement and were forgotten until 1997 when a law student began investigating their case.  King was released after 29 years in solitary confinement.  Apart from a brief spell in 2008 in a maximum security dormitory, Wallace and Woodfox have been in solitary confinement since 1972.  The story is more complicated than this brief summary and it continues. The three men are known as "The Angola 3” and "Who is Herman Wallace" is/was the publicity campaign.

Herman Wallace was born in New Orleans but has spent most of his life in (a very small bit of) Angola Prison.

King was released in 2001.

Update 2013: Wallace had been diagnosed with cancer and was in a prison hospital.  On 1 October 2013 his conviction was overturned and he was released.  He died 3 days later.

Update 2016: A federal court ordered the immediate release of Woodfox but the legal wranglings continued until he was finally released in 2016.

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Herman Wallace

Commemorated ati

Herman Wallace

This tile is about 4" square. It has been guerrilla-stuck to the wall just a...

Read More

Mosaic House, back - Angola Three

Angola Three: Herman Wallace, Albert Woodfox, King Wilkerson

Read More

Mosaic House, front - Herman Wallace

Herman Wallace, 1941 - 2013

Read More

Other Subjects

Peter Patrick James Kavanagh

Peter Patrick James Kavanagh

Lawyer. Killed in the Southall rail crash, aged 29. Peter Patrick James Kavanagh was born on 6 December 1967, the only child of Peter T. Kavanagh and Maureen Kavanagh née Jordan. According to Anne...

Person, Law, Tragedy

1 memorial
Corporal Harold John Strangward

Corporal Harold John Strangward

Harold John Strangward was born on 30 January 1884 in Marylebone, London, the youngest of the six children of Robert Strangward (1840-1919) and Emily Strangward née Hawkins (1845-1905). His birth w...

Person, Armed Forces, Law, Transport, France, Wales

War dead, WW1
1 memorial
Kenny ‘Zulu’ Whitmore

Kenny ‘Zulu’ Whitmore

From a 2008 interview with Carrie Reichardt: "Black Panther Kenny ‘Zulu’ Whitmore has been locked up since 1975 in Angola, one of the most brutal prisons in the USA, also known as ‘the last slave p...

Person, Law, Race Issues, Tragedy, USA

2 memorials
Staple Inn

Staple Inn

The last surviving Inn of Chancery. Attached to Gray's Inn. Things changed over time but, basically, Inns of Court were places where barristers lodged and worked, while Inns of Chancery were plac...

Building, Community / Clubs, Law

1 memorial
Sir Horace Perkins Hamilton, GCB

Sir Horace Perkins Hamilton, GCB

Horace Perkins Hamilton was born on 20 November 1880 at 34 Hardinge Road, Ashford, Kent, the only child of Horace Hamilton (1845-1917) and Elizabeth Hamilton née Kitching (1847-1911). His birth was...

Person, Law, Politics & Administration

1 memorial

Previously viewed

Johann Strauss, senior

Johann Strauss, senior

Founder of the Strauss dynasty of Viennese light music composers. He composed 'Radetzky March', amongst others.

Person, Music / songs, Austria

1 memorial
World War 1

World War 1

We'd always assumed that this war was known as the Great War until WW2 came along at which point it was renamed as World War One or the First World War. But the term was first used in print in 1920...

Event, Armed Forces, Tragedy

402 memorials
William Etty

William Etty

Painter - pneumatic female nudes a speciality.

Person, Art

1 memorial
Great Storm of 1987

Great Storm of 1987

In the early hours of Friday 16 October 1987 a great storm struck South East England. In four violent hours London lost 250,000 trees. Its skyline changed for ever.  22 people were killed in Englan...

Event, Tragedy

11 memorials
Sir Stephen Spender

Sir Stephen Spender

Poet.  Born 47 Campden House Court, Kensington.  The Evening Standard carries a very critical review of a 2012 edition of Spender's journals. Died at home at 15 Loudoun Road, St John's Wood , or i...

Person, Poetry

1 memorial