Devil's Sanctuary; An Eyewitness History of Mississippi Hate Crimes
Chicago: Lawrence Hill Books, 2009. First Edition [Stated], First Printing [Stated]. Hardcover. ix, [3], 369, [3] pages. DJ taped to the boards. Chronology. Notes. Select Bibliography. Index. Alexander Armstrong Alston, Jr. was a Mississippi trial attorney, State Bar President, Marine Captain and author. He received his BA in political science in 1958. He spent three years in the Marine Corp. He returned to MS and graduated from Ole Miss Law School, first in his class and was editor of the law journal. He was a member of the American College of Trial Lawyers and American Board of Trial Advocates. He was elected President of the Mississippi Bar Association in 1991 and 1992. He was the family historian with Christiana's Legacy and The Alston Saga and as Mississippi historian co-authoring Devil's Sanctuary. James L. Dickerson is a native of Mississippi. James L. Dickerson is the author of over 30 books, and over 2,000 magazine and newspaper articles; he has worked as a magazine editor and publisher, newspaper editor, reporter, columnist, book critic, and social worker. He is the publisher of Sartoris Literary Group, the fastest growing book publisher in the South. Dickerson's book, Mojo Triangle, was the winner of a 2006 IPPY award (Independent Publisher Book Awards) in the non-fiction category. Two other books, Goin' Back to Memphis and That's Alright, Elvis, were finalists for the Gleason Award. Lynchings, beatings, arson, denial of rights, false imprisonment--the civil rights era brought attention to these heinous offenses that were the status quo for African Americans in many areas of the country. And no state was more notorious as a sanctuary for the murderers and perpetrators of hate crimes than Mississippi. In 1956 state lawmakers installed the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission to preserve segregation and Mississippi Values by declaring the state outside the jurisdiction of the federal government. Under the auspices of the governor and lieutenant governor, the commission joined forces with groups such as the White Citizens' Councils, which would stop at nothing in their quest for white supremacy. In Devil's Sanctuary, Alex A. Alston Jr. and James L. Dickerson, both of whom grew up in small-town Mississippi, recount the state's shameful racist history and explore how Mississippi was able to get away with its role as a safe haven for the most virulent and violent racists, allowing them immunity from prosecution. The breakdown of institutions, with everyone from judges and elected officials to clergy and the media looking the other way, not only permitted but even encouraged acts so horrendous that many citizens cannot believe they happened--and still could happen--in the United States. Analysis of the major crimes, the institutional collusion, delayed and never-delivered justice, and the state's attempts at atonement is interspersed with the authors' accounts of what they saw, heard, and experienced as whites--thus insiders --from that troubled time to the present day. Devil's Sanctuary is part shocking history and part moving memoir, an eyewitness account of judicial, media, and economic terrorism directed against African Americans. Condition: Very good / Good.
Keywords: Racism, Hate Crimes, Ross Barnett, Bryon De La Beckwith, James Eastland, Andrew Goodman, Ku Klux Klan, Lynching, Mississippi, Michael Schwerner, James Seale, Violence
ISBN: 9781556527630
[Book #85056]
Price: $45.00