Henry Francis Hays was born on November 10, 1954, in Alabama. He was the son of Bennie Jack Hays, the second-highest-ranking official in the United Klans of America (UKA) in Alabama. Raised in a household deeply entrenched in white supremacist ideology, Henry was exposed to the Klan's beliefs from an early age. Details about his early life, education, and employment are limited, but his close association with the Klan and his father's influence played a significant role in shaping his worldview. By his mid-20s, Henry was an active member of the UKA, holding the title of Exalted Cyclops in his local chapter.

On March 20, 1981, after a mistrial was declared in the case of Josephus Anderson, a Black man accused of killing a white police officer, members of the UKA in Mobile, Alabama, expressed outrage over the jury's inability to convict, attributing it to the presence of Black jurors. That evening, Bennie Jack Hays reportedly stated, "If a Black man can get away with killing a white man, we ought to be able to get away with killing a Black man."

In the early hours of March 21, Henry Hays and fellow Klansman James "Tiger" Knowles set out to find a Black victim. They encountered 19-year-old Michael Donald walking home from a store. The two men abducted Donald, drove him to a secluded area, and brutally beat him with a tree limb. They then strangled him with a rope and slashed his throat to ensure he was dead. To send a message, they hung his body from a tree on Herndon Avenue in Mobile, near the home of Bennie Hays.

Initially, local authorities misattributed the murder to drug-related violence. However, persistent efforts by Michael's mother, Beulah Mae Donald, and civil rights activists led to a renewed investigation. In 1983, Henry Hays and James Knowles were arrested. Knowles cooperated with authorities, pleading guilty and testifying against Hays. Hays was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death.

On June 6, 1997, Henry Hays was executed in Alabama's electric chair, marking the first execution of a white man for the murder of a Black man in Alabama since 1913.