Blood Justice: The Lynching of Mack Charles Parker

ISBN-13: 9780195054293 / Angielski / Miękka / 1988 / 248 str.

Howard Smead

Opis

Based on previously unreleased FBI and Justice Department documents, extensive interviews with many of the surviving principals involved in the case, and a variety of newspaper accounts, Smead meticulously reconstructs the full story of one of the last lynchings in America, detailing a grim, dramatic, but nearly forgotten episode from the Civil Rights era.
In 1959, a white mob in Poplarville, Mississippi abducted a young black man named Mack Charles Parker--recently charged with the rape of a white woman--from his jail cell, beat him, carried him across state lines, finally shot him, and left his body in the Pearl River. A massive FBI investigation ensued, and two grand juries met to investigate the lynching, yet no arrests were ever made. Smead presents a vivid picture of a small Southern town gripped by racism and distrust of federal authority, and describes the travesty of justice that followed in the wake of the lynching. Ultimately revealing more than an account of a single lynching, he offers what he calls "a glimpse at the tidal forces at work in the South on the eve of the civil rights revolution."

Recenzje

'This meticulous account of an almost forgotton event fills a significant gap in the history of the Civil Rights era.' Washington Post Book World 'Mr Smead's account is not openly didactic or moralistic. Instead, he relies on a fine sense of organization and tight journalistic prose to propel the story. "Blood Justice" is a grim reminder of what Southern race relations once were' Baltimore Sun 'A powerful and thought-provoking documentary.' Booklist 'Smead used an impressive array of primary sources, particularly Justice Department and FBI documents only recently available, plus interviews with participants and newspaper accounts. The resulting history of this forgotton episode simply must be included in any public or academic collection' Choice