What do you think?
Rate this book
Race Against Time: A Reporter Reopens the Unsolved Murder Cases of the Civil Rights Era
“For almost two decades, investigative journalist Jerry Mitchell doggedly pursued the Klansmen responsible for some of the most notorious murders of the civil rights movement. This book is his amazing story. Thanks to him, and to courageous prosecutors, witnesses, and FBI agents, justice finally prevailed.” —John Grisham, author of The Guardians
On June 21, 1964, more than twenty Klansmen murdered three civil rights workers. The killings, in what would become known as the “Mississippi Burning” case, were among the most brazen acts of violence during the civil rights movement. And even though the killers’ identities, including the sheriff’s deputy, were an open secret, no one was charged with murder in the months and years that followed.
It took forty-one years before the mastermind was brought to trial and finally convicted for the three innocent lives he took. If there is one man who helped pave the way for justice, it is investigative reporter Jerry Mitchell.
In Race Against Time , Mitchell takes readers on the twisting, pulse-racing road that led to the reopening of four of the most infamous killings from the days of the civil rights movement, decades after the fact. His work played a central role in bringing killers to justice for the assassination of Medgar Evers, the firebombing of Vernon Dahmer, the 16th Street Church bombing in Birmingham and the Mississippi Burning case. Mitchell reveals how he unearthed secret documents, found long-lost suspects and witnesses, building up evidence strong enough to take on the Klan. He takes us into every harrowing scene along the way, as when Mitchell goes into the lion’s den, meeting one-on-one with the very murderers he is seeking to catch. His efforts have put four leading Klansmen behind bars, years after they thought they had gotten away with murder.
Race Against Time is an astonishing, courageous story capturing a historic race for justice, as the past is uncovered, clue by clue, and long-ignored evils are brought into the light. This is a landmark book and essential reading for all Americans.
On June 21, 1964, more than twenty Klansmen murdered three civil rights workers. The killings, in what would become known as the “Mississippi Burning” case, were among the most brazen acts of violence during the civil rights movement. And even though the killers’ identities, including the sheriff’s deputy, were an open secret, no one was charged with murder in the months and years that followed.
It took forty-one years before the mastermind was brought to trial and finally convicted for the three innocent lives he took. If there is one man who helped pave the way for justice, it is investigative reporter Jerry Mitchell.
In Race Against Time , Mitchell takes readers on the twisting, pulse-racing road that led to the reopening of four of the most infamous killings from the days of the civil rights movement, decades after the fact. His work played a central role in bringing killers to justice for the assassination of Medgar Evers, the firebombing of Vernon Dahmer, the 16th Street Church bombing in Birmingham and the Mississippi Burning case. Mitchell reveals how he unearthed secret documents, found long-lost suspects and witnesses, building up evidence strong enough to take on the Klan. He takes us into every harrowing scene along the way, as when Mitchell goes into the lion’s den, meeting one-on-one with the very murderers he is seeking to catch. His efforts have put four leading Klansmen behind bars, years after they thought they had gotten away with murder.
Race Against Time is an astonishing, courageous story capturing a historic race for justice, as the past is uncovered, clue by clue, and long-ignored evils are brought into the light. This is a landmark book and essential reading for all Americans.
448 pages, Paperback
First published February 4, 2020
411 people are currently reading
6509 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 359 reviews
March 4, 2020
This is a remarkable book, nonfiction that reads like the very best fiction. The payoffs are real and satisfying, the stories are powerful, the lessons are important, and Jerry Mitchell is not only a hero but also one heck of a writer. This is a special book.
February 21, 2020
“What cruelty there is to murder American kids, to murder them on American soil just because they want to register people to vote. That’s about as un-American as you can get. There’s something about a nation that allows that to happen. A nation that allows that to happen is not a decent nation.”-David Halberstam
“They say that justice delayed is justice denied. I don’t believe it. Justice delayed is still justice,” -U.S.Senator and lead prosecutor for the Birmingham church bombing case, Doug Jones
There are throughout this book, several references to the postwar passion and singleminded focus a number of Jewish groups brought to finding and prosecuting former Nazis who had seemingly escaped into the mists of the four corners of the world. There was no time limit other than death, and no former Nazi no matter how inconsequential could sleep well knowing that they may be the next to be apprehended.
Sadly when it comes to extralegal terror and murders during the Civil Rights era, very few of those responsible ever stepped foot in a courtroom either then or now. Those that did often faced all white (and male) juries which swiftly exonerated them.
In 1989, Jerry Mitchell had only lived in Mississippi for three years, a struggling reporter at a struggling newspaper, when he attended a screening of the film Mississippi Burning about the slaying of three young civil rights workers in 1964. It was after the film when he began speaking to a retired FBI agent who was also attending the theater that night that some ideas began to take shape in his mind. As he recounts, it was a fateful meeting and one that would start him down the path of attempting to bring to justice the perpetrators of some of the Civil Rights era’s most notorious crimes:
-The aforementioned murders of the young civil rights workers Andrew Goodman, Mickey Schwerner, and James Chaney.
-The firebombing of voting rights activist Vernon Dahmer’s home which would take his life and leave his family with permanent injuries.
-The murder of Mississippi NCAA leader Medgar Evers in his driveway, shot in the back by a white man crouching in the bushes.
-The 1963 bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama which injured scores of people and killed 4 little girls.
While the author frequently uses terms like “unsolved” or “cold case” these are perhaps misnomers. In all of these cases Mitchell, and more importantly law enforcement know who is responsible. Most people in their communities have known for 30 or 40 years. Yet through prejudice, an unwillingness to “open old wounds”, and sympathy for the killers, nobody was brought to justice. As the years passed and key witnesses died and others memories faded, it seemed more and more likely that men like Byron De La Beckwith (Evers), Sam Bowers (Dahmer), Bobby Cherry (Birmingham church bombings), and Edgar Ray Killen (Goodman, Schwarzer, and Chaney) would get away with their crimes.
Until the improbable happened. Mitchell and law enforcement began collecting new information as well as reviewing old files. In 1994, after years of delays Beckwith was found guilty of the murder of Medgar Evers more than 30 years earlier. Nobody believed it could happen, including Beckwith himself, but it did. As momentum for justice in other cases began to snowball, suddenly old wounds were indeed opened again but this time true healing could begin.
This is truly a remarkable book in that I’m at a loss to describe how the author was able to get so many people who just wished these crimes would stay buried, to push them forward and toward Martin Luther King’s famous “arc of justice”.
While the author is in my estimation a hero for his work, he readily admits he could not have done any of it alone. The book is filled with remarkable people like then U.S. Attorney for Alabama Doug Jones (now Alabama Senator) who was relentless in his pursuit of the Birmingham bombers knowing full well it could doom him politically. I walked away from this book with so much respect for him that I only wish I was a citizen of Alabama (sort of, but not really because…Alabama) so that I could vote for this courageous man.
As with any story with heroes however there are villains. And what villains they are.
As reprehensible as these men are, Edgar Ray Killen, the main conspirator in the murder of Goodman, Schwarner, and Chaney is perhaps the worst. Brazen in his racism and anti-semitism, he practically dares anyone to make him answer for his crime. With a large (but dwindling due to age) swath of support in his community and among white nationalists around the country, he feels untouchable. So much so that while he is out on bail for the murders, he accepts an invitation to an event celebrating him at the Neshoba, Mississippi country fair. That there would be the demand to celebrate this man even in the early 2000’s seems proof enough that while times have indeed changed, they haven’t changed nearly enough. As the author wrote in a newspaper column at the time:
“Visitors to next month’s Mississippi State Fair may gawk at their reflections in the Fun House, witness the Mississippi State Championship Mule Pull or shake hands with the key suspect in the Klan’s 1964 killings of three civil rights workers.”
The word ‘surreal’ hardly does evil of this sort justice.
As much as scenes like this make your blood boil however, there is justice for the families of the slain. That it comes thirty or forty years after the fact is frustrating and yet somehow satisfying in that it reminds us that justice is not as always swift as we’d hope, but it more often than not finds a way.
Perhaps this sentiment is best summed up by the inscription on the grave of the slain civil rights worker James Chaney who died on a back road in Mississippi in 1963 with his friends beside him.
“There are those who are alive, yet will never live. There are those who are dead, yet will live forever. Great deeds inspire and encourage the living"
“They say that justice delayed is justice denied. I don’t believe it. Justice delayed is still justice,” -U.S.Senator and lead prosecutor for the Birmingham church bombing case, Doug Jones
There are throughout this book, several references to the postwar passion and singleminded focus a number of Jewish groups brought to finding and prosecuting former Nazis who had seemingly escaped into the mists of the four corners of the world. There was no time limit other than death, and no former Nazi no matter how inconsequential could sleep well knowing that they may be the next to be apprehended.
Sadly when it comes to extralegal terror and murders during the Civil Rights era, very few of those responsible ever stepped foot in a courtroom either then or now. Those that did often faced all white (and male) juries which swiftly exonerated them.
In 1989, Jerry Mitchell had only lived in Mississippi for three years, a struggling reporter at a struggling newspaper, when he attended a screening of the film Mississippi Burning about the slaying of three young civil rights workers in 1964. It was after the film when he began speaking to a retired FBI agent who was also attending the theater that night that some ideas began to take shape in his mind. As he recounts, it was a fateful meeting and one that would start him down the path of attempting to bring to justice the perpetrators of some of the Civil Rights era’s most notorious crimes:
-The aforementioned murders of the young civil rights workers Andrew Goodman, Mickey Schwerner, and James Chaney.
-The firebombing of voting rights activist Vernon Dahmer’s home which would take his life and leave his family with permanent injuries.
-The murder of Mississippi NCAA leader Medgar Evers in his driveway, shot in the back by a white man crouching in the bushes.
-The 1963 bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama which injured scores of people and killed 4 little girls.
While the author frequently uses terms like “unsolved” or “cold case” these are perhaps misnomers. In all of these cases Mitchell, and more importantly law enforcement know who is responsible. Most people in their communities have known for 30 or 40 years. Yet through prejudice, an unwillingness to “open old wounds”, and sympathy for the killers, nobody was brought to justice. As the years passed and key witnesses died and others memories faded, it seemed more and more likely that men like Byron De La Beckwith (Evers), Sam Bowers (Dahmer), Bobby Cherry (Birmingham church bombings), and Edgar Ray Killen (Goodman, Schwarzer, and Chaney) would get away with their crimes.
Until the improbable happened. Mitchell and law enforcement began collecting new information as well as reviewing old files. In 1994, after years of delays Beckwith was found guilty of the murder of Medgar Evers more than 30 years earlier. Nobody believed it could happen, including Beckwith himself, but it did. As momentum for justice in other cases began to snowball, suddenly old wounds were indeed opened again but this time true healing could begin.
This is truly a remarkable book in that I’m at a loss to describe how the author was able to get so many people who just wished these crimes would stay buried, to push them forward and toward Martin Luther King’s famous “arc of justice”.
While the author is in my estimation a hero for his work, he readily admits he could not have done any of it alone. The book is filled with remarkable people like then U.S. Attorney for Alabama Doug Jones (now Alabama Senator) who was relentless in his pursuit of the Birmingham bombers knowing full well it could doom him politically. I walked away from this book with so much respect for him that I only wish I was a citizen of Alabama (sort of, but not really because…Alabama) so that I could vote for this courageous man.
As with any story with heroes however there are villains. And what villains they are.
As reprehensible as these men are, Edgar Ray Killen, the main conspirator in the murder of Goodman, Schwarner, and Chaney is perhaps the worst. Brazen in his racism and anti-semitism, he practically dares anyone to make him answer for his crime. With a large (but dwindling due to age) swath of support in his community and among white nationalists around the country, he feels untouchable. So much so that while he is out on bail for the murders, he accepts an invitation to an event celebrating him at the Neshoba, Mississippi country fair. That there would be the demand to celebrate this man even in the early 2000’s seems proof enough that while times have indeed changed, they haven’t changed nearly enough. As the author wrote in a newspaper column at the time:
“Visitors to next month’s Mississippi State Fair may gawk at their reflections in the Fun House, witness the Mississippi State Championship Mule Pull or shake hands with the key suspect in the Klan’s 1964 killings of three civil rights workers.”
The word ‘surreal’ hardly does evil of this sort justice.
As much as scenes like this make your blood boil however, there is justice for the families of the slain. That it comes thirty or forty years after the fact is frustrating and yet somehow satisfying in that it reminds us that justice is not as always swift as we’d hope, but it more often than not finds a way.
Perhaps this sentiment is best summed up by the inscription on the grave of the slain civil rights worker James Chaney who died on a back road in Mississippi in 1963 with his friends beside him.
“There are those who are alive, yet will never live. There are those who are dead, yet will live forever. Great deeds inspire and encourage the living"
May 18, 2020
between 4.5 and 5, rounded up
full post here:
http://www.nonfictionrealstuff.com/20... up
It's January, 1989 in Jackson Mississippi, and reporter Jerry Mitchell was on assignment for his newspaper The Clarion-Ledger to cover the state premier of the film Mississippi Burning. He normally had the "court beat," so this was something different for him. Mitchell found himself seated next to someone who seemed to know a lot about what was and wasn't true about the film, based on the 1964 murders of three civil rights workers, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner. As it happened, that man turned out to be retired special agent Roy K. Moore, who had been in charge of the FBI in Mississippi at the time. Later, when the rest of the press had gone, Mitchell stayed behind to listen to Moore talk to two other men, another FBI agent and a journalist who had covered the events at the time. During that conversation he learned that nobody had ever been prosecuted for the murders of the three men, even though "more than twenty Klansmen" were responsible. Mitchell wondered how it was possible that twenty people, their identities known by locals who'd never turned them in, could get away with murder. Why hadn't the state of Mississippi done anything about it? From further conversations with Moore, Mitchell learned that although one killer eventually talked and had given the FBI what it needed for prosecution, the governor of the state "couldn't" do so, "essentially refusing to uphold its own murder laws."
As Mitchell began to research this case he came to learn about the connections between the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission, which "worked with and even helped fund the white Citizens' Councils" to help fight desegregation in the state, and the murders of the three activists. He'd hoped that by bringing certain facts to light the info might "spark" the Attorney General to "pursue new charges in the case," but it was not to be and the case remained cold. Feeling like he'd failed, his colleagues reminded him that they had been able to help
"ferret out unreported details about a twenty-five-year-old murder case that many powerful figures had wanted to keep sealed."
That was at least "something." He continued to read about other civil-rights "cold cases," and eventually his research would lead him to into the murder of Medgar Evers, the firebombing of the home and store of Vernon Dahmer Sr. which led to his death, and the September 1963 bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham which killed four little girls -- Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and Carol Denise McNair. The main issue facing Mitchell was that the witnesses and suspects in these decades-old cases were "dying off"; in a "race against time," Mitchell was determined to bring the details of these crimes into the light through his investigations, hoping that his work might be a driving force into not only getting these old cases reopened, but also hoping that people like Byron de la Beckwith, Sam Bowers, and Bobby Cherry (the KKK members responsible) would finally be brought to justice for their crimes. Yet, what continued to "gnaw" at him after these successes was the "Mississippi Burning" murders that by 1998, still had not been "reckoned with." Undaunted, and even as the "pool of witnesses and evidence" decreased, Mitchell continued his efforts for justice in this particular case, determined to bring Edgar Ray Killen, "the moving force" behind these murders, to trial.
With notes, bibliography, index, etc., the page count runs to just over four hundred pages, but I was so completely engrossed in what I was reading here that the hours just flew by. I do think it would have helped to have included photos along with text, but I sat with tablet in hand when I wanted to match names with faces, or to reacquaint myself with the four cases discussed here. And although this rarely happens, I happen to agree with the dustjacket blurber who says that Race Against Time is a "landmark book" and "essential reading for all Americans," adding only that it should be read especially by anyone with even a passing interest in civil rights both past and present. It's one I'll never, ever forget.
full post here:
http://www.nonfictionrealstuff.com/20... up
It's January, 1989 in Jackson Mississippi, and reporter Jerry Mitchell was on assignment for his newspaper The Clarion-Ledger to cover the state premier of the film Mississippi Burning. He normally had the "court beat," so this was something different for him. Mitchell found himself seated next to someone who seemed to know a lot about what was and wasn't true about the film, based on the 1964 murders of three civil rights workers, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner. As it happened, that man turned out to be retired special agent Roy K. Moore, who had been in charge of the FBI in Mississippi at the time. Later, when the rest of the press had gone, Mitchell stayed behind to listen to Moore talk to two other men, another FBI agent and a journalist who had covered the events at the time. During that conversation he learned that nobody had ever been prosecuted for the murders of the three men, even though "more than twenty Klansmen" were responsible. Mitchell wondered how it was possible that twenty people, their identities known by locals who'd never turned them in, could get away with murder. Why hadn't the state of Mississippi done anything about it? From further conversations with Moore, Mitchell learned that although one killer eventually talked and had given the FBI what it needed for prosecution, the governor of the state "couldn't" do so, "essentially refusing to uphold its own murder laws."
As Mitchell began to research this case he came to learn about the connections between the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission, which "worked with and even helped fund the white Citizens' Councils" to help fight desegregation in the state, and the murders of the three activists. He'd hoped that by bringing certain facts to light the info might "spark" the Attorney General to "pursue new charges in the case," but it was not to be and the case remained cold. Feeling like he'd failed, his colleagues reminded him that they had been able to help
"ferret out unreported details about a twenty-five-year-old murder case that many powerful figures had wanted to keep sealed."
That was at least "something." He continued to read about other civil-rights "cold cases," and eventually his research would lead him to into the murder of Medgar Evers, the firebombing of the home and store of Vernon Dahmer Sr. which led to his death, and the September 1963 bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham which killed four little girls -- Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and Carol Denise McNair. The main issue facing Mitchell was that the witnesses and suspects in these decades-old cases were "dying off"; in a "race against time," Mitchell was determined to bring the details of these crimes into the light through his investigations, hoping that his work might be a driving force into not only getting these old cases reopened, but also hoping that people like Byron de la Beckwith, Sam Bowers, and Bobby Cherry (the KKK members responsible) would finally be brought to justice for their crimes. Yet, what continued to "gnaw" at him after these successes was the "Mississippi Burning" murders that by 1998, still had not been "reckoned with." Undaunted, and even as the "pool of witnesses and evidence" decreased, Mitchell continued his efforts for justice in this particular case, determined to bring Edgar Ray Killen, "the moving force" behind these murders, to trial.
With notes, bibliography, index, etc., the page count runs to just over four hundred pages, but I was so completely engrossed in what I was reading here that the hours just flew by. I do think it would have helped to have included photos along with text, but I sat with tablet in hand when I wanted to match names with faces, or to reacquaint myself with the four cases discussed here. And although this rarely happens, I happen to agree with the dustjacket blurber who says that Race Against Time is a "landmark book" and "essential reading for all Americans," adding only that it should be read especially by anyone with even a passing interest in civil rights both past and present. It's one I'll never, ever forget.
November 9, 2019
…the right of all citizens to vote, here and throughout the South, is commonplace and universally accepted, a far cry from the old days. But once upon a time, three young men died because they believed in this right for all citizens.
The Race Against Time begins with Jerry Mitchell, a court reporter for the Mississippi newspaper The Clarion Ledger, walking out of a showing of the movie Mississippi Burning with one question in his mind: why was no one prosecuted for the brutal murder 1964 killings of three civil rights workers in Neshoba County, Mississippi. This one question becomes the catalyst for a professional lifetime of work investigating and reporting on a myriad of unsolved murder cases from the civil rights era. In this book, Mitchell recounts four of the case that he helped to investigate and cover for the Clarion Ledger during his tenure, detailing the ways in which the system and society at large worked to ensure impunity for the perpetrators of horrendous crimes for decades, until finally justice was served.
The cases: The murder of Medgar Evers, the Murder of Vernon Dahmer, the Birmingham church bombing that killed four young girls- Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and Carol Denise McNair – and, finally, the Mississippi Burning case involving the killing of civil rights workers James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner.
Mitchell’s first hand accounting of how each case eventually made it to court after decades of cover-up is insightful and part of an important record of history. This record includes evidence of infiltration of the judicial system by members of the KKK, massive jury and witness tampering, and overall racism that undermined political will to bring perpetrators to justice.
The most poignant aspects of the book are contained in the court records and testimony in the cases that are eventually brought to trial. It is heartbreaking to hear the words of Myrlie Evers-William, the children of Vernon Dahmer, the parents of the young girls in Alabama, the loved ones of the young men killed in Mississippi. It is heartbreaking to hear the way they were treated in the aftermath of the murders, and the fact that justice is achieved over 30 years after the crimes is bittersweet. Equally, it is stunning to see the unabashed vitriol of the perpetrators and that prosecutors and Mitchell himself were subjected to numerous death threats in pursuing justice after all of this time.
It is difficult to not see how important this book can be in this time right now. While the book makes clear that in many corners of the society that surrounded the crimes, the tides had turned away from protection and cover-up to prosecution for murder and racial injustice, it also lays bear how much has not changed and how much damage has been created by allowing impunity for racialized crimes. Looking at ourselves today and the rise of obvious nationalism/racism and the powerful who protect those who espouse these criminal ideas, it feels as if he are caught in the endless cycle of forgetting and repeating. That is why it is essential to continue to write down the record in truth and honesty, no matter how ugly that truth may be.
This book is definitely recommended.
Thank you to netgalley, Simon & Schuster and Jerry Mitchell for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
The Race Against Time begins with Jerry Mitchell, a court reporter for the Mississippi newspaper The Clarion Ledger, walking out of a showing of the movie Mississippi Burning with one question in his mind: why was no one prosecuted for the brutal murder 1964 killings of three civil rights workers in Neshoba County, Mississippi. This one question becomes the catalyst for a professional lifetime of work investigating and reporting on a myriad of unsolved murder cases from the civil rights era. In this book, Mitchell recounts four of the case that he helped to investigate and cover for the Clarion Ledger during his tenure, detailing the ways in which the system and society at large worked to ensure impunity for the perpetrators of horrendous crimes for decades, until finally justice was served.
The cases: The murder of Medgar Evers, the Murder of Vernon Dahmer, the Birmingham church bombing that killed four young girls- Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and Carol Denise McNair – and, finally, the Mississippi Burning case involving the killing of civil rights workers James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner.
Mitchell’s first hand accounting of how each case eventually made it to court after decades of cover-up is insightful and part of an important record of history. This record includes evidence of infiltration of the judicial system by members of the KKK, massive jury and witness tampering, and overall racism that undermined political will to bring perpetrators to justice.
The most poignant aspects of the book are contained in the court records and testimony in the cases that are eventually brought to trial. It is heartbreaking to hear the words of Myrlie Evers-William, the children of Vernon Dahmer, the parents of the young girls in Alabama, the loved ones of the young men killed in Mississippi. It is heartbreaking to hear the way they were treated in the aftermath of the murders, and the fact that justice is achieved over 30 years after the crimes is bittersweet. Equally, it is stunning to see the unabashed vitriol of the perpetrators and that prosecutors and Mitchell himself were subjected to numerous death threats in pursuing justice after all of this time.
It is difficult to not see how important this book can be in this time right now. While the book makes clear that in many corners of the society that surrounded the crimes, the tides had turned away from protection and cover-up to prosecution for murder and racial injustice, it also lays bear how much has not changed and how much damage has been created by allowing impunity for racialized crimes. Looking at ourselves today and the rise of obvious nationalism/racism and the powerful who protect those who espouse these criminal ideas, it feels as if he are caught in the endless cycle of forgetting and repeating. That is why it is essential to continue to write down the record in truth and honesty, no matter how ugly that truth may be.
This book is definitely recommended.
Thank you to netgalley, Simon & Schuster and Jerry Mitchell for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
May 31, 2021
3.5 stars Thanks to NetGalley and Simon Schuster for the opportunity to read and review this book. Published Feb 2020.
Not realizing this was in my overdue list at NetGalley I picked up the audio version at the library. It is narrated by the author and his narration was very good.
This book is a nonfiction telling of four cold cases - all attached to the civil rights era. Also all attached to the Klu Klux Klan. It opens with the 1964 Mississippi Burning case of three young civil rights workers in Mississippi to give lectures who were chased down and killed in their car leaving town. No one was prosecuted for murder, in part due to an all white jury of men, a number of them being fellow Klansmen.
The book also details the murder of Medger Evers, the fire bombing and murder of Vernon Dahmers for recruiting African Americans to vote, and the death of four little black girls in the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing - all of which were instigated by members of the Klan. It explains how the author Jerry Mitchell, an investigative reporter, found reports, secret documents, interviewed witnesses and even spoke with Klan members to uncover the truth of these four separate live changing civil rights atrocities. Then the book goes on to detail the justice brought about by Mitchell in these four legendary cases. Years after getting away with murder, a number of Klansmen were finally brought to justice and incarcerated for the brutal deaths they caused.
Not realizing this was in my overdue list at NetGalley I picked up the audio version at the library. It is narrated by the author and his narration was very good.
This book is a nonfiction telling of four cold cases - all attached to the civil rights era. Also all attached to the Klu Klux Klan. It opens with the 1964 Mississippi Burning case of three young civil rights workers in Mississippi to give lectures who were chased down and killed in their car leaving town. No one was prosecuted for murder, in part due to an all white jury of men, a number of them being fellow Klansmen.
The book also details the murder of Medger Evers, the fire bombing and murder of Vernon Dahmers for recruiting African Americans to vote, and the death of four little black girls in the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing - all of which were instigated by members of the Klan. It explains how the author Jerry Mitchell, an investigative reporter, found reports, secret documents, interviewed witnesses and even spoke with Klan members to uncover the truth of these four separate live changing civil rights atrocities. Then the book goes on to detail the justice brought about by Mitchell in these four legendary cases. Years after getting away with murder, a number of Klansmen were finally brought to justice and incarcerated for the brutal deaths they caused.
May 21, 2021
I don’t have a lot of reading time, but I am reading Jerry Mitchell’s book RACE AGAINST TIME about the murder of three civil rights workers in Philadelphia, MS. I remember when this happened. I was a child, then. Now, looking back on it I am slapped upside the head with the horror of those times and how truly evil some people were. Anyway, it’s a terrific book.
November 14, 2019
This is the greatest: a vital memoir of vital investigations and prosecutions, even more relevant in our era of hate crimes. I read the Clarion-Ledger in my visits to Mississippi in Fall, 1991, and the headline stories about the murderer of Medgar Evers, Byron de la Beckwith, written by this fine journalist, Jerry Mitchell. That's only one of the four stories here, stories so important to the Civil Rights Movement.
If you read Taylor Branch, Parting the Waters: Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement 1954-63 you begin with Vernon Dahmer's life story. You may not get to his later murder: here, you get that full story of the crime and prosecution.
You may know of the Sixteenth Street Church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama, that killed Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, and Cynthia Wesley. The trial of the bomber is a big story, told here, with participants including now Senator Doug Jones.
Most of all, the book begins and ends with the murder of Freedom Summer volunteers James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner. You will read facts here that seem new, but took patient fact-checking and investigation to publish.
I can't quote from this great book because I received an Advance Review Copy, or galley, at our bookshop, and the publication date is February 4, 2020. But I can tell you I want all my friends and neighbors interested to know, they must read this, to learn.
We have a problem with evil in America, with not acknowledging the pain of our brothers and sisters. Here are stories, resolving cases that instruct.
In Georgia, former Atlanta Journal-Constitution journalist Hank Klibanoff has been teaching at Emory, and with his students and a team, produced this website listing Georgia Civil Rights Cold Cases, here: https://coldcases.emory.edu/georgia-c... More, with our NPR affiliate WABE-FM, his team has produced the podcast Buried Truths, here: https://www.wabe.org/shows/buried-tru...
To compare, you have to read this fine book.
If you read Taylor Branch, Parting the Waters: Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement 1954-63 you begin with Vernon Dahmer's life story. You may not get to his later murder: here, you get that full story of the crime and prosecution.
You may know of the Sixteenth Street Church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama, that killed Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, and Cynthia Wesley. The trial of the bomber is a big story, told here, with participants including now Senator Doug Jones.
Most of all, the book begins and ends with the murder of Freedom Summer volunteers James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner. You will read facts here that seem new, but took patient fact-checking and investigation to publish.
I can't quote from this great book because I received an Advance Review Copy, or galley, at our bookshop, and the publication date is February 4, 2020. But I can tell you I want all my friends and neighbors interested to know, they must read this, to learn.
We have a problem with evil in America, with not acknowledging the pain of our brothers and sisters. Here are stories, resolving cases that instruct.
In Georgia, former Atlanta Journal-Constitution journalist Hank Klibanoff has been teaching at Emory, and with his students and a team, produced this website listing Georgia Civil Rights Cold Cases, here: https://coldcases.emory.edu/georgia-c... More, with our NPR affiliate WABE-FM, his team has produced the podcast Buried Truths, here: https://www.wabe.org/shows/buried-tru...
To compare, you have to read this fine book.
March 12, 2020
DNF at 67 pages. I'm not convinced Mitchell's reason behind exploring these cases was the desire for justice. It seemed to me he was more concerned with discovering the truth so he could write articles about it, rather than to amend historical wrongs. He seems unconcerned about the welfare of his sources who break the law to give him information. I found myself confused at times why a certain revelation was significant. These cases are complex, with many different people referenced and interviewed. Mitchell didn't summarize his findings in a way that made this less confusing for me. At this point in my reading, I did not want to spend any more time on this book.
January 7, 2020
This is one of those painful, necessary reads. Mitchell isn't just telling an important story about murder, or about Mississippi, or about racial injustice. He's telling a story about all of those things, much of which he experienced. The research and work (and danger) that went into this is done beautiful service by the endlessly conversational and readable prose, which only makes it harder, which only makes you stop longer, when you come across the disgustingly hateful, bigoted, racist quotes from people who influenced so much in communities and politics. This is a story that everyone should know. These are names that everyone should recognize. Race Against Time, told personally and personably by Mitchell, is an excellent way to do that. But that won't make it any easier.
February 17, 2020
I was more interested in the Civil Rights era crimes he was investigating than I was in him. . . and this book is HEAVILY weighted to be about him and the stories he wrote. Meh. Just inspires me to go read more history of the time.
August 30, 2020
I am young enough not to remember the murders of Medgar Evers, Vernon Dahmer, or the Neshoba County murders of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner....however; I am old enough to remember when the men primarily responsible for their deaths were finally held accountable, due in large part to the efforts of the author of this book, Jerry Mitchell. Mississippi is full of residents who would rather not "open old wounds." My wife is a native, and it was not until she was an adult, with a decade of post-secondary education, that she first learned about the Freedom Riders or Neshoba County or many of Mississippi's (my adopted home-state) worst moments. (Her Mississippi History class in high school spent its time making sure the students could memorize the names of the 82 counties, instead.) Thankfully, Mitchell was not raised to let bygones be bygones and refused to allow the power structure in place, at the relevant time, to let the men responsible for these terrible deaths do so either. I am not convinced that all of the prosecutors in each of the different trials would have pushed as hard, had they themselves not been pushed. I'd recommend this book to any fellow Mississippian, any person at all interested in the Civil Rights era, any trial attorney (or would-be trial attorney) and especially to any journalism student. This book is a ready reminder of the ultimate power of ability of a free press to effectuate change for good. Excellent work.
January 25, 2021
This was a very good read. This book was actually a gift I received from a coworker. It's so hard for me to read books or to watch documentaries that reflect on the harsh times of Jim Crow, however, Jerry Mitchell's brilliant writing makes it intriguing. Mitchell's thoughtfulness and precision is superseded by his passion for social justice.
October 9, 2020
This is an extraordinary book.
One young reporter, Jerry Mitchell, from the Clarion Ledger in Jackson Mississippi helps bring convictions in four of the most significant Civil Rights murder cold cases left over from the 1960’s. It is doubtful that any of these cases could have been prosecuted without his dogged investigative reporting.
Medgar Evers, the 16th Street Baptist Church Bombings, the firebombing of Vernon Dahmer, and the Mississippi Burning murders and court cases are all profiled here.
5 stars. Very impressed with this book, the writing and the heart and empathy of Jerry Mitchell is on full display.
One young reporter, Jerry Mitchell, from the Clarion Ledger in Jackson Mississippi helps bring convictions in four of the most significant Civil Rights murder cold cases left over from the 1960’s. It is doubtful that any of these cases could have been prosecuted without his dogged investigative reporting.
Medgar Evers, the 16th Street Baptist Church Bombings, the firebombing of Vernon Dahmer, and the Mississippi Burning murders and court cases are all profiled here.
5 stars. Very impressed with this book, the writing and the heart and empathy of Jerry Mitchell is on full display.
February 15, 2020
I have met Jerry and correspond with him a bit. In this book he recounts his experience helping to bring Klan members to (delayed) justice. Jerry spends a little time talking about the risks he faced in tracking down and exposing the Klan but I actually wanted a bit more of that. This is certainly an important work to chronicle our history and serves as a stark reminder of where we were. But these stories are even more important now as we watch the re-emergence of overt white supremacy in our current time, fostered by the dangerous fool in the White House.
Oh yeah, this is a page turner. Could not wait to find out what happens next as the four stories he tells play their way out.
Bravo, Jerry.
Oh yeah, this is a page turner. Could not wait to find out what happens next as the four stories he tells play their way out.
Bravo, Jerry.
February 25, 2020
Hard to believe that this happened in my lifetime. Even harder to believe that much of the hate, bigotry, and corruption still exists today, just perhaps not as blatant.
This book should be on the required reading list at every high school, but that's not going to happen. Sadly, even books like Uncle Tom's Cabin have been removed from those shelves.
Bravo to the author for his commitment to revealing the truth behind these murders.
This book should be on the required reading list at every high school, but that's not going to happen. Sadly, even books like Uncle Tom's Cabin have been removed from those shelves.
Bravo to the author for his commitment to revealing the truth behind these murders.
January 6, 2020
Race Against Time is a historical novel covering 4 notorious crimes commited by Klansmen involving 4 murders. Over 40 years later the killers were brought to justice mostly in part to Jerry Mitchell's investigative reporting. This is a must read for the generations now and beyond. Very well written, extremely captivating.
June 22, 2022
INCREDIBLE. Anyone interested in civil rights history, Mississippi history, investigative journalism, cold cases, or justice in general must read this.
March 10, 2023
Mississippi Goddam - Nina Simone
I kept thinking about this song as I read this book.
And then I watched her performance just now on YouTube when I finished the book. I recommend it.
I completely missed the release of this book, but I suspect it was overshadowed by other events, both personal and global, because, you see, it was released somewhere between when I got married and when I went on my honeymoon, and just after it was released, Covid hit and so did the rest of 2020.
This book was released in February of 2020, and it is such a timely book for so many reasons. But I think it would be timely at any point in time. It is a stark reminder of the depth of racism in the United States’s history and present. It is also a tribute to how vital good journalism is to our world.
Jerry Mitchell is a great journalist. He exposes the stories that have been buried, and he risks his life in doing so. His work leads to reopening of cold cases, which leads to trials, which leads to convictions. And the Epilogue is an important read, for in it Mitchell reminds us that convictions do not mean the work is done.
This book is not only crucial history, it is really well written. Mitchell’s voice is engaging, and his pace is compelling. He makes sure to give time to the victims’s families as well as includes how dangerous the perpetrators are. The one thing I missed was with the amount of times the FBI is mentioned, never does Mitchell mention the times the agency violated the rights of certain civil rights workers. Perhaps the author thought it would distract from the flow of the main stories, but it came off as incomplete to me.
I kept thinking about this song as I read this book.
And then I watched her performance just now on YouTube when I finished the book. I recommend it.
I completely missed the release of this book, but I suspect it was overshadowed by other events, both personal and global, because, you see, it was released somewhere between when I got married and when I went on my honeymoon, and just after it was released, Covid hit and so did the rest of 2020.
This book was released in February of 2020, and it is such a timely book for so many reasons. But I think it would be timely at any point in time. It is a stark reminder of the depth of racism in the United States’s history and present. It is also a tribute to how vital good journalism is to our world.
Jerry Mitchell is a great journalist. He exposes the stories that have been buried, and he risks his life in doing so. His work leads to reopening of cold cases, which leads to trials, which leads to convictions. And the Epilogue is an important read, for in it Mitchell reminds us that convictions do not mean the work is done.
This book is not only crucial history, it is really well written. Mitchell’s voice is engaging, and his pace is compelling. He makes sure to give time to the victims’s families as well as includes how dangerous the perpetrators are. The one thing I missed was with the amount of times the FBI is mentioned, never does Mitchell mention the times the agency violated the rights of certain civil rights workers. Perhaps the author thought it would distract from the flow of the main stories, but it came off as incomplete to me.
March 23, 2020
I'm heart brokenly speechless. This journey for justice which Jerry Mitchell takes us on is just incredible. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for what you've helped to accomplish.
February 23, 2020
There is no statute of limitations when the crime is murder. This compelling fact was the impetus that fired up the investigative instincts of Jerry Mitchell, a reporter for Jackson, Mississippi’s Clarion-Ledger. In this noteworthy account, he hones in on the fine details of four horrific unsolved crimes committed in the Deep South in the nascent years of the Civil Rights era.
In 1963, NAACP leader Medgar Evers was assassinated, and the bombing of a church in Birmingham caused the deaths of four little girls attending Sunday school. In 1964, three civil rights activists --- James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner --- disappeared while working in Mississippi. And in 1966, a firebombing killed Vernon Dahmer, an NAACP member and a voting rights proponent. In each case, there had been investigations, and, in some instances, trials but no convictions. Those accused of the crimes and exonerated were men with association or membership in the Ku Klux Klan, who boasted of their hatred of blacks and their dedication to keeping them from voting, and, if necessary, eliminating them. As was said, it was commonplace to kill black people in the south, a “tradition” that allowed these men to act without the slightest trace of remorse.
With the release of Mississippi Burning in 1988, Mitchell was struck by the fact that the killings of three young men --- the film’s central focus --- were as yet unsolved, though at least 20 locals were known to be implicated. With the passage of time, most if not all of the perpetrators of these and other outrages might die, or already might have passed on, with no retribution for their heinous acts. Mitchell leads the reader through the long, circuitous paths he followed to identify these criminals and see that they were brought to justice. In so doing, he underscores the difficulties of his work: evidence suppressed or destroyed, old lies retold despite new, refuting proof, and the simple reluctance of neighbors and allies of the accused to have their culture maligned, to open the graves that kept their secrets safe.
Despite the many barriers he faced, Mitchell, who writes with the verve and immediacy befitting his newsman’s craft, was determined and remarkably patient. He toiled away over years and left no tiny clue unexamined in his zeal to accomplish his goal: the trials and convictions of four evildoers, and the relief and gratitude of families and friends who had given up hope of ever seeing these men get the punishment they deserved. He is diligent in reminding us that all of these despicable acts were motivated by the wish of a small, embattled group of white men to rid their world of people of color.
As Mitchell states in his Epilogue, “I have long thought of the work that journalists and authorities have undertaken as a pursuit of justice. But the more time I’ve spent on these cases, the more I’ve come to believe that they are just as much a pursuit of memory.”
Reviewed by Barbara Bamberger Scott
In 1963, NAACP leader Medgar Evers was assassinated, and the bombing of a church in Birmingham caused the deaths of four little girls attending Sunday school. In 1964, three civil rights activists --- James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner --- disappeared while working in Mississippi. And in 1966, a firebombing killed Vernon Dahmer, an NAACP member and a voting rights proponent. In each case, there had been investigations, and, in some instances, trials but no convictions. Those accused of the crimes and exonerated were men with association or membership in the Ku Klux Klan, who boasted of their hatred of blacks and their dedication to keeping them from voting, and, if necessary, eliminating them. As was said, it was commonplace to kill black people in the south, a “tradition” that allowed these men to act without the slightest trace of remorse.
With the release of Mississippi Burning in 1988, Mitchell was struck by the fact that the killings of three young men --- the film’s central focus --- were as yet unsolved, though at least 20 locals were known to be implicated. With the passage of time, most if not all of the perpetrators of these and other outrages might die, or already might have passed on, with no retribution for their heinous acts. Mitchell leads the reader through the long, circuitous paths he followed to identify these criminals and see that they were brought to justice. In so doing, he underscores the difficulties of his work: evidence suppressed or destroyed, old lies retold despite new, refuting proof, and the simple reluctance of neighbors and allies of the accused to have their culture maligned, to open the graves that kept their secrets safe.
Despite the many barriers he faced, Mitchell, who writes with the verve and immediacy befitting his newsman’s craft, was determined and remarkably patient. He toiled away over years and left no tiny clue unexamined in his zeal to accomplish his goal: the trials and convictions of four evildoers, and the relief and gratitude of families and friends who had given up hope of ever seeing these men get the punishment they deserved. He is diligent in reminding us that all of these despicable acts were motivated by the wish of a small, embattled group of white men to rid their world of people of color.
As Mitchell states in his Epilogue, “I have long thought of the work that journalists and authorities have undertaken as a pursuit of justice. But the more time I’ve spent on these cases, the more I’ve come to believe that they are just as much a pursuit of memory.”
Reviewed by Barbara Bamberger Scott
February 10, 2020
Race Against Time: A Reporter Reopens the Unsolved Murder Cases of the Civil Rights Era by Jerry Mitchell ended up being way better than I expected. I know that is written on real life situation but my goodness, I was on the edge of my seat, waiting to see what happens next. in the 1980s, as a reporter for the Jackson, Miss., Clarion-Ledger, Mitchell decided to reinvestigate unsolved civil-rights-era murder cases, pursuing old leads, uncovering new evidence and publishing articles.
Mitchell takes you through 4 cases: the assassination of Medgar Evers, the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala, the murder of Civil rights activists Andrew Goodman, James Chaney and Michael Schwerner and the murder of Vernon Dahmer Sr., an N.A.A.C.P. activist who fought to remove racist impediments to voting in Mississippi. All I can say is put on your seat belts because you are about to go on a ride.
If you are a fan of True Crime & thrillers, this is the book for you.
Thank you, Simon & Schuster, for gifting this ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review Overall this was a 4.5/5 star read
Mitchell takes you through 4 cases: the assassination of Medgar Evers, the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala, the murder of Civil rights activists Andrew Goodman, James Chaney and Michael Schwerner and the murder of Vernon Dahmer Sr., an N.A.A.C.P. activist who fought to remove racist impediments to voting in Mississippi. All I can say is put on your seat belts because you are about to go on a ride.
If you are a fan of True Crime & thrillers, this is the book for you.
Thank you, Simon & Schuster, for gifting this ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review Overall this was a 4.5/5 star read
Read
January 31, 2020Really powerful account of an investigative journalist in Mississippi in the 90s working to crack open cold cases against KKK members who murdered Civil Rights activists (and children!) in the 60s. Mitchell writes with visceral details about his investigations, from the conversations he had with victims' families, witnesses, and suspects, to the backlash and threats he faced for working to bring killers to justice. All this creates an immersive, engrossing reading experience. Narrative nonfiction at its finest.
October 1, 2020
Too often it seems I finish a book and say to myself, “That’s the best thing I’ve read in a long time.” But I am fairly certain it will a while before Race Against Time gets displaced on that list. It is too real, too remarkable that this was our country and our world and happening inside my life time. And to top it off Jerry Mitchell’s writing kept the pages flipping. How can such hate be so entrenched in our world?
March 1, 2020
This was a fantastic book. A must read for anyone that is interested in the early civil rights movement. Just a great but heartbreaking read.
March 1, 2020
This was a moving account of how Jerry Mitchell’s life work made a profound difference bringing justice to the civil rights criminal cases swept under the rug in Mississippi.
February 16, 2023
In an era of distrust of the press, Jerry Mitchell's book chronicling his investigative reporting efforts to bring to justice racist Ku Klux Klan suspects in the Mississippi murders of '60s-era civil-rights activists is a breath of fresh air. Mitchell, for three decades a reporter for the Jackson Clarion-Ledger, spent years poking into cold-case Klan homicides, using good-old fashioned shoe-leather journalism, indefatigable digging and a genius for cultivating sources to reopen some of the state's most notorious cold cases.
He also showed extraordinary courage, interviewing and confronting Klansmen who had managed--some for 40 years--to escape justice when Jim Crow-era juries, judges, compromised cops and prosecutors let them skate free. His reporting, in the face of frequent death threats, helped put four unreconstructed Klansmen in prison and brought some measure of closure to the families of victims whose shocking murders had heaped stain and derision on an entire state.
What the book demonstrates is that great journalism is hard to do. It has nothing to do with blogging, Tweeting or settling cultural or political scores. It requires time, money, skill and boundless fortitude, patience and perseverance. But done properly, it shows how the press can actually serve its fundamental roll as the public's watchdog when other institutions fail.
Mitchell is also a fine writer, and the pace of the book never flags as he takes you inside courthouses to sleuth through fading records, into the offices of prosecutors often agonizing over whether to even reopen such cases and into the tense drama of the re-trials as the suspects confront their accusers and victims' families. His one-on-one interviews of Klansmen will make your skin crawl when Mitchell shows that these men cling to the craven racial hatred that fomented the evil they perpetrated. Prison seems too good for them.
Mitchell's journalism is the journalism we all should hope would be emulated by a media that surveys show has lost the confidence of much of the American public because it is seen as too often partisan and puerile in its obsessions. Happily, Mitchell has moved on to a non-profit outfit called the Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting whose mission in part is to raise up the next generation of Jerry Mitchells by training students in the rigors and standards of investigative reporting.
He also showed extraordinary courage, interviewing and confronting Klansmen who had managed--some for 40 years--to escape justice when Jim Crow-era juries, judges, compromised cops and prosecutors let them skate free. His reporting, in the face of frequent death threats, helped put four unreconstructed Klansmen in prison and brought some measure of closure to the families of victims whose shocking murders had heaped stain and derision on an entire state.
What the book demonstrates is that great journalism is hard to do. It has nothing to do with blogging, Tweeting or settling cultural or political scores. It requires time, money, skill and boundless fortitude, patience and perseverance. But done properly, it shows how the press can actually serve its fundamental roll as the public's watchdog when other institutions fail.
Mitchell is also a fine writer, and the pace of the book never flags as he takes you inside courthouses to sleuth through fading records, into the offices of prosecutors often agonizing over whether to even reopen such cases and into the tense drama of the re-trials as the suspects confront their accusers and victims' families. His one-on-one interviews of Klansmen will make your skin crawl when Mitchell shows that these men cling to the craven racial hatred that fomented the evil they perpetrated. Prison seems too good for them.
Mitchell's journalism is the journalism we all should hope would be emulated by a media that surveys show has lost the confidence of much of the American public because it is seen as too often partisan and puerile in its obsessions. Happily, Mitchell has moved on to a non-profit outfit called the Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting whose mission in part is to raise up the next generation of Jerry Mitchells by training students in the rigors and standards of investigative reporting.
September 8, 2021
A Race Against Time: A Reporter Reopens the Unsolved Murder Cases of the Civil Rights Era by Jerry Mitchell (Simon & Schuster 2020) (364.1523) (3566).
This is an excellent excellent book. Though this reads like a fictional thriller and whodunit, the story is actual, factual, and historical.
The "Old South" hosted many horrific crimes in the early 1960’s by the Ku Klux Klan and its supporters in a vain attempt to suppress Black voting and full participation by Blacks in society. In Alabama and Mississippi, surprisingly few of those crimes had ever been meaningfully prosecuted. Many admitted participants in murders and lynching had gone unpunished for over thirty years and were still walking free in small towns across the South.
Reporter / author Jerry Mitchell is an amateur sleuth who wrote for a leading Mississippi newspaper. Mitchell was radicalized by the movie “Mississippi Burning” and became the driving force behind finally pursuing the criminals behind some of the worst murders, lynchings, and bombings.
Once Mississippi and Alabama finally demonstrated the will and the backbone to prosecute these criminals, Mitchell’s book describes a race to assemble evidence and witnesses before the principle players had all died of old age.
A Race Against Time: A Reporter Reopens the Unsolved Murder Cases of the Civil Rights Era recounts the prosecutions and trials of the participants in four of the most notorious civil rights cases of the 1960’s: The “Mississippi Burning” murders of three twenty-something-year-old civil rights workers in Philadelphia, Mississippi, the assassination of Medgar Evers, the murder of Vernon Dahmer, and the bombing of Birmingham’s Sixteenth Street Baptist Church where four little girls died one Sunday morning just before Sunday School.
I now have a new hero: Jerry Mitchell.
My rating: 7.5/10, finished 9/7/21 (3566).
July 27, 2023
Excellent account of a reporter's efforts to bring to the public's attention cold cases in Alabama and Mississippi of murders committed by KKK members in the 1960s. Through the dogged reporting of Jerry Mitchell with the Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Mississipi, three "cold cases" were tried to juries some 30+ years after the crime, and the perpetrators, who by then were old men, were finally brought to justice.
As stated by Mitchell in his epilogue "Truth rules. This has been a guiding principle of mine throughout my career. Truth rules, while hate thrives on obfuscation, murkiness and fear."
May we never lose our desire to search for truth - especially in criminal cases. Because only when the truth is revealed is justice served.
As stated by Mitchell in his epilogue "Truth rules. This has been a guiding principle of mine throughout my career. Truth rules, while hate thrives on obfuscation, murkiness and fear."
May we never lose our desire to search for truth - especially in criminal cases. Because only when the truth is revealed is justice served.
December 2, 2024
Hands down the most powerful book I’ve read this year. Will be thinking about this (and recommending it to people) for a long time.
March 30, 2020
Jerry Mitchell is a legend and hero to many Mississippians, including me. Several villains of the civil rights movement, including the "Mississippi Burning" killers and the murderer of Medgar Evers, eventually faced justice only because of Mitchell's relentless tenacity. This book tells the story of how an investigative journalist worked with federal and state prosecutors to bring civil rights cold cases back from the dead decades after the murders were committed. He interviewed killers, uncovered evidence long buried, and located vital witnesses in an effort to achieve justice for some of our greatest civil rights heroes and martyrs. This mission was fraught with danger. He received death threats from the KKK and he risked his livelihood exposing the extent of the state's involvement in covering up civil rights crimes. This inside story is well worth the read.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 359 reviews