In 1944, 15 year-old African American Willie James Howard was lynched in Live Oak for having "expressed his affections" to a white girl. He was subsequently murdered by a group of white men including the girl's father, former state legislator A.P. "Phil" Goff, who kidnapped Howard, bound him, and forced him to jump off a bridge. A Suwannee County grand jury failed to indict Goff or the other white men. Media attention in Live Oak in the aftermath of the death of Willie James Howard would increase awareness of lynching in the United States.