Riveting in its moment-by-moment detail, Blood Justice meticulously reconstructs the story of one of the last lynchings in America--a grim, dramatic, but nearly forgotten episode from the Civil Rights era. The year was 1959; the place, Poplarville, Mississippi. Charged with the rape of a white woman, a young black man named Mack Charles Parker was abducted from his jail cell by a white mob, beaten, carried across state lines, and ultimately shot, with his abductors leaving his body in the Pearl River. A massive FBI investigation followed and two grand juries met to investigate the case; yet no arrests or indictments were ever made. Working from 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, Howard Smead tells the full story of the Parker lynching for the first time. He presents a vivid picture of a small Southern town gripped by racism and distrust of federal authority and of the travesty of justice that followed in the wake of murder. As Smead points out, the case is particularly fascinating in its awful ironies: Parker was very likely guilty of the crime of which he was accused; he had in fact been turned over to the authorities by other blacks; and yet the state of Mississippi could not try him successfully because of entrenched white racism. More than a chronicle of a single lynching, Blood Justice is also an indelible portrait of a time in turmoil.

Blood Justice: The Lynching of Mack Charles Parker

History

Smead, Howard

Africa

Oxford University Press

Based on previously unreleased F.B.I. 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 F.B.I. 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."

Here's a popular history of the Baby Boom Generation told through the vignettes, quotes, quips, sayings and slogans that characterized and shaped an era.A fascinating roller-coaster ride through the first four decades of the Baby Boom, Don't Trust Anyone OverThirty paints an indelible portrait of those days. Historian Howard Smead brilliantly chronicles America's stormygeneration and its stormy times with a refreshing approach that uses the expressions Boomers themselves loved and lived by. From Spock babies and the Golden 50s, through protest and change, Vietnam, Woodstock and the disco 70s, to the rise of the conservative right and the arrival of the Reagan Era, the glory days are all here. For Boomers and others interested in this effusive and influential generation, this signature work is a must.

Don't Trust Anyone Over Thirty

Americas

iUniverse

The Afro-Americans (Peoples of North America)

Discusses the history, culture, and religion of the Afro-Americans, their arrival in North America, and their acceptance as an ethnic group

Children's Books

Chelsea House Pub

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."

Blood justice: The lynching of Mack Charles Parker

Beacon Press

Teen & Young Adult

The Redneck Waltz

Literature & Fiction

United States

White Mane Pub

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Books by Smead, Howard