James Cameron stands in the Black Holocaust Museum in this file photo from Jan. 28, 2003 (AP Photo/Morry Gash,File)

Museum Founder Escaped Lynching

Dr. James Cameron founded America's Black Holocaust Museum. Cameron wrote A Time of Terror. The book is about his experiences with racism.

Cameron was 16 when he and two other black teens were accused of killing a young white man in Indiana.

The Ku Klux Klan formed a mob. They tried to lynch Cameron and the other teens. Cameron survived, but the others did not.

Became active in civil rights
Later, he dedicated his life to civil rights. He started the first chapters of the NAACP in Indiana in the 1940s. The NAACP is a leading civil rights group that supports black causes.

Cameron helped plan protests in Milwaukee in the 1960s. The protests were against poor and unfair housing conditions for blacks who lived in the city.

Cameron visited the Holocaust Memorial in Israel. He said it inspired him to found America's Black Holocaust Museum in 1988.

Dr. Cameron died in June 2006. He was 92 years old.