Blood Justice: The Lynching of Mack Charles ParkerBased 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." |
What people are saying - Write a review
Reviews aren't verified, but Google checks for and removes fake content when it's identified
Blood justice: the lynching of Mack Charles Parker
User Review - Not Available - Book VerdictIn a study similar to James R. McGovern's Anatomy of a Lynching: the killing of Claude Neal ( LJ 5/1/82), Smead has written a vivid account of one of the last lynchings of a black man to occur in the ... Read full review
Contents
No Apologies | 165 |
The Triumph of Southern Justice | 183 |
Epilogue | 200 |
Appendix A | 206 |
Notes | 213 |
Bibliography | 236 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
action added agents Alford asked Attorney began Bill body Brown called charges Charles Chicago citizens civil rights claimed close Coleman court courthouse crime Crip Dale death Defender Democrat door evidence FBI Report fear federal felt file 27a followed going governor grand jury Gulfport Daily Herald hands happened head hearing highway indictments interview Jackson Clarion-Ledger jail Jewel Jimmy judge June Justice Justice Department knew later lived looked Lumberton March meeting Mississippi Mize Moody morning NAACP never night Orleans Times-Picayune Parker Pearl River County person police Poplarville questions racial rape received refused remained residents returned Reyer Senate Sept Sheriff Smith South Southern statement talk thing tion told took town trial turned Tuskegee lynching records violated violence Walters wanted Washington Post wife witnesses York
References to this book
Bibliographic information
| Title | Blood Justice: The Lynching of Mack Charles Parker Oxford University paperbacks : History |
| Author | Howard Smead |
| Edition | illustrated, reprint |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press, 1988 |
| ISBN | 0195054296, 9780195054293 |
| Length | 248 pages |
| Subjects | › Religion / Comparative Religion |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |