Henry "Peg" Gilbert was a beloved deacon at Union Springs Baptist Church, a loving husband and father of four daughters, a landowner of 112 acres in Troup County, and a community advocate. At age 42, he was arrested without legal cause when police were searching for another man. On May 23, 1947, several days after his arrest, law enforcement officers beat and shot him to death in the Harris County jail. His wife, Mae Henry Davenport Gilbert, was terrorized, and the family lost their land.