Rising Road: A True Tale of Love, Race, and Religion in America

by Sharon Davies

It was among the most notorious criminal cases of its day. On August 11, 1921, in Birmingham, Alabama, a Methodist minister named Edwin Stephenson shot and killed a Catholic priest, James Coyle, in broad daylight and in front of numerous witnesses. The killer's motive? The priest had married Stephenson's eighteen-year-old daughter Ruth to Pedro Gussman, a Puerto Rican migrant and practicing Catholic.

Sharon Davies's Rising Road resurrects the murder of Father Coyle and the trial of his killer. As Davies reveals with novelistic richness, Stephenson's crime laid bare the most potent bigotries of the a hatred not only of blacks, but of Catholics and "foreigners" as well. In one of the case's most unexpected turns, the minister hired future U.S. Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black to lead his defense. Though regarded later in life as a civil rights champion, in 1921 Black was just months away from donning the robes of the Ku Klux Klan, the secret order that financed Stephenson's defense. Entering a plea of temporary insanity, Black defended the minister on claims that the Catholics had robbed Ruth away from her true Protestant faith, and that her Puerto Rican husband was actually black.

Placing the story in social and historical context, Davies brings this heinous crime and its aftermath back to life, in a brilliant and engrossing examination of the wages of prejudice and a trial that shook the nation at the height of Jim Crow.

"Davies takes us deep into the dark heart of the Jim Crow South, where she uncovers a searing story of love, faith, bigotry and violence. Rising Road is a history so powerful, so compelling it stays with you long after you've finished its final page."
--Kevin Boyle, author of the National Book Award-winning Arc of Justice

"This gripping history...has all the makings of a Hollywood movie. Drama aside, Rising Road also happens to be a fine work of history."
-- History News Network

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Book Club, True Crime, Catholic, American History, Religion

352 pages, Hardcover

First published February 16, 2009

Reviews

[Peter Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have found that the best way to learn history is to read about crime.

Most history writing is interested in the big things: war, leaders, social movements, and the ideas that emerge from these events. The life of the average person - how they lived, what their concerns were, what they ate, what made them angry or afraid – is too small to be of concern to the historian who deals with the big sweep of society.

Until the average person gets involved in a crime.


On August 11, 1921, Reverend Edwin Smith went over to St. Paul’s Catholic Church with a revolver and murdered Father Coyle James Coyle. Reverend Smith was a Methodist minister. His daughter Ruth had recently converted to Catholicism against his vehement wishes, and, worse, had been married by Father Coyle several hours before to a Catholic man named Pedro Gussman.

A close-up of a grave stone

AI-generated content may be incorrect.
Not to bury the lead, Smith was arrested, indicted for second-degree murder, tried, and acquitted by a jury contaminated by anti-Catholic prejudice. The jury included several members of the Ku Klux Klan (“KKK”). . Smith’s defense was funded by the KKK. Smith’s lawyers included several members of the KKK and Hugo Lafayette Black, who would go on to join the KKK, get himself elected to the United States Senate, and then receive an appointment by Franklin Delano Roosevelt to the Supreme Court, where he would receive a reputation of being a liberal defender of the First Amendment and supporter of desegregation. [1]

History is complicated.


The past is a different country. Sharon Davies, the author of Rising Road, provides an account of how different the past was. The difference is evident in a host of points, some minor, some significant. For example, the murder occurred on August 11, 1921; the jury rendered its verdict on October 21, 1921. A two-month gap between murder and trial would be considered a “rocket docket” in the 21st century. Similarly, the requirement of giving a defendant a Miranda warning about his right to remain silent was not considered in 1921. Joe Tait, the prosecuting attorney, thought nothing about visiting Dr. Smith in his cell on the night of the murder and asking him about what had happened, which resulted in what should have been dispositive admissions.[2]





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[Georgie Alef · Rating 5 out of 5]

On August 11, 1921 in Birmingham, Alabama, a Methodist minister named Edwin Stephenson shot and killed a Catholic priest, James Coyle in broad daylight and in front of numerous witnesses. The killer’s motive? The priest had married Stephenson’s eighteen-year-old daughter to a Catholic Puerto Rican migrant. Sharon Davies’ Rising Road reveals with novelistic richness how Stephson’s crime laid bare the most potent bigotries of the age: a hatred not only of blacks but of Catholics and foreigners as well. And in a genuine irony of history, the minister hired future Supreme Court justice Hugo Black to lead his defense. Though a civil rights champion in later life, in 1921 Black was just months away from donning the robes of Ku Klux Klan the secret order that financed Stephenson’s defense. Placing the story in social and historical context, Davies brings to life this heinous crime in brilliant and engrossing examination of the wages of prejudice at the height of the Jim Crow era.
This is important reading. You really do walk in these people's shoes.

[Koren · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book deals with bigotry on two levels. The daughter weds a Catholic Puerto Rican in the 1920's. They live in Alabama and she is a Protestant so she violates two taboos. The father shoots and kills the minister who married the couple.

The author goes to great lengths to explore the mind set of the people in the time and place. That is the first half of the book. The second half is mostly the trial, which I thought was very tedious, but if you like the courtroom drama you may like it. The ending is very frustrating but I told myself that was the culture at the time.

I found this book was very slow-going but if you like the small details you may very well like this book. It is very well-researched

[Sarah Duggan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book tells a well-researched astounding true story of religion, rebellion, and legally enshrined prejudice. The incident in question would make a fascinating TV movie. Unfortunately, the author's legal background makes for uneven narration. The book can't decide if it's a gossipy drama or a tediously detailed case analysis. Questions of love and race are overshadowed by the author's snarky line-by-line commentary on courtroom arguments. Still, I'm glad she brought this story to light. It made me want to learn more about Birmingham history.

[Evelyn F · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a little dense And I did take a long time to finish it. However, this book was written so amazingly. The writing is just terrific, and genuinely enjoyable, and the timing and pacing of the book feels perfect for the story. The only thing that makes me mad about this book is the ending, But it is not so bad that it makes the book not worth reading. The events are a product of their time, and seeing what happened in the story is important for us to know, so that we never repeat them.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well written account of the murder of a Catholic priest by a Methodist minister in Birmingham, Alabama in 1921. The portrayal of racial and religious prejudice and hatred in that era is discomfiting and unfamiliar. Eye-opening, perhaps. The last half of the account reads like a courtroom thriller involving such legal notables as Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black, who defended the killer using -- if the account is accurate -- racial and religious hatred and innuendo in the service of seeking acquittal of a man he must have known committed murder.

[Betsy Lowery · Rating 5 out of 5]

Birmingham or Alabama readers might automatically gravitate toward this book as a source of regional history. Having come to live in that region as a young adult, there was a lot of new information here for me in addition to the riveting tale of the crime and of the ensuing court case. Very-well-written account. A perfect example of a nonfiction page-turner.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent study. The author has thoroughly researched this historical case of anti-Catholic bigotry in the Deep South. The analysis and recount is detailed and meticulous. Whilst I found it hard to put down for most of the work, the discussion of the trial - though thorough - was somewhat dry. However, this work is highly recommended.

[Doug Gibby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having spent a few years in Birmingham, I enjoyed this perspective.

[Matt G · Rating 4 out of 5]

Difficult to describe the format of this book, a historical narrative? A very educational look into the racism and religious bigotry of some parts of the south in the early 21st century.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ugh.

[Rhonda · Rating 3 out of 5]

A tragic story in so many ways. Heartbreaking. But a tedious read.

[K. P. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here is an excellent book by a law professor. This is about courage amidst racism and religious prejudice in Birmingham that ended in murder. Well written and not well known history of the American south and immigrant priest, Fr. Coyle

[Anthony · Rating 5 out of 5]

May 5, 2013

A Review of Sharon Davies “Rising Road”
By Anthony T. Riggio

I thought I knew and understood about prejudice and this book brought to the forefront of my thinking how small people’s thought process was and sadly still is. Rising Road is both a story and a legal dissection of an incredible case that occurred in Birmingham Alabama in the early 1920’s.

As both a lawyer and a retired FBI Agent, I had always feared being assigned to the Deep South, somehow my name just didn’t fit in and my swarthy complexion would have been misinterpreted (or at least I believed). When I first got my assignment out of the FBI Academy, the agent before me got Birmingham AL and I got Cleveland, OH. I was so relieved, even though I had a difficult time visualizing where Cleveland was located. Of course times had changed since the time of this event in the 1920’s and my fears were based on conjured and amplified thoughts. These were prompted by media exaggerations which are clearly manifest in this book.

Sharon Davies, a law professor, molded this true story into an exciting and compelling read. Basically it involves the murder of a Catholic Priest by a distraught father and a purported Methodist minister, of an eighteen year old daughter who converted to Catholicism and then was married to another Catholic person born in Puerto Rico. This was not a work of fiction and required a ton of research on the part of Sharon Davies.

Davies presented the details of the crime with sufficient background to draw the reader in and then went thoroughly through the legal process with a simple non-boring approach that the average reader could easily follow. For me it was an excellent refresher of the investigative and procedural legal process from beginning to end.

The trial brings into sharp focus the interaction of the community and the legal process and provides a great glimpse into the prejudicial thinking of some of the people during this time period. I was astounded to learn that one of the defense attorneys of the accused murderer became an associate justice of the Supreme Court Justice whose case decisions I read while I was in Law School and in future studies of American History.

During the reading of this book, I became totally involved in the trial and flipped back and forth as to the final verdict and it turned out that I was completely wrong in my conclusion.

The time of this trial, became a national and international spectacle, and was a kind of sad period in our history, that civilized people could be so narrow minded. Realizing that our attitudes and customs have changed, I can still envision that in some peoples thinking the seeds of prejudice and adherence to ignorant thinking still exists.

I highly recommend this excellent work of non-fiction and historical reading to anyone interested in how our culture and thinking was formed and evolved. Davies is an excellent portrayer of historical research and would make a great fiction writer, if she ever tried, and I would hope.

[Denise Spooner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most Americans think of Color-based racism when they think about discrimination in American history. Sharon Davis' history focuses on a form of discrimination that has been just as pervasive across the nation's history: anti-Cstholic prejudice. In many parts of the country it was far more common than color-based discrimination, particularly anti-black activities largely because there were larger populations of Catholics than African Americans or Latinos. That was the case in Iowa where I was born and raised. In some places there was a Protestant Danish town just down the road from a Catholic Danish town. Even as a kid there in the 1960s Catholics and Protestants rarely crossed religious lines to date and marry. Davis' book takes the reader back further in time to the 1920s when millions of immigrant Catholics from Italy and eastern Europe flooded the country evoking renewed fears about Catholics taking over the country, fears rooted in the nation's British past--maryland was founded as a refuge for British Catholics, and that rose to great heights with the immigration of millions of Irish fleeing the potato famine of the 1840s. Those fears nurtured the expansion of the Ku Klux Klan across America.

Davis focuses on the lives of a small group of people who became the centre of the nation's attention against that backdrop: Ruth Stephenson and her parents,the priest her father killed in retaliation for her conversion to Catholicism and marriage to a Catholic immigrant from Puerto Rico, and the lawyers who tried the case against her father. She does an excellent job making real all the main characters and painting a richly detailed portrait of the place and time the events unfolded. If you don't know much about this era and topic, this is an excellent book for learning about this chapter in American history. Davis draws you through the story with great skill.

As a professional historian, though, at the end I felt the did not answer the "so what?" question. What impact did these events have, not on the lives of the people involved, which she covers fairly thoroughly, but on the nation? (Like other people who know something about the later career of the late Justice Hugo Black, the chief defense lawyer in the case, I did want to know more about the path he traveled between the 1920s and his appointment to the Supreme Court, hitch Davis did not cover. I suppose that's another book in and of itself.). The omission of that summary was the primary shortcoming of the book and an important one--hence the three stars. Still, a good book formpeoplemwho like history.

[Gloria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Crazy to learn about the deep and terrible prejudice toward Catholics. Some very eerie similarities with rhetoric of today toward immigrants.

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a resident of Birmingham, Alabama, I was interested in reading Rising Road because I was completely unfamiliar with the events that inspired it. I knew about the anti-Catholic agenda of the second wave of the Klan, and Birmingham's racial tensions at the time, but I had never heard of about the death of Father Coyle or the trial of Rev. Stephenson.

I was remarkably impressed by how well done this book is. Copiously researched, but accessible and interesting to a broad range of readers, Davies weaves law, history, politics and sociology into a page-turning account. It would work well in a broad range of settings, from book club to classroom.

With it's drama and celebrity, as well as representation of the reality of the south at the time, the story itself is worthy of a prominent place in American history. Those familiar with the law or Alabama politics will enjoy reading about the young Hugo Black. Overall, Davies vivid retelling of the murder and trial makes it unforgettable to readers and should serve to bring this forgotten chapter of history to it's proper prominence. (4.5/5)

[Brenda Harris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would have rated this book 5 stars if the first half had been as well-written as the second half, which compelled me to read, read, read to the conclusion. I'm glad that I waded through the confusing details and back-and-forth time sequences and repetitions earlier in the book to get to the trial, which clearly showed the hatred and prejudice so prevalent in 1920s era Birmingham. As a long-time resident of the Birmingham area, I was as shocked and deeply saddened by the murder of Father James Coyle on August 11,1921-- as shocked and saddened as I would have been if it happened today on August 11, 2013. The fact that Edwin Stephenson was found not guilty of second degree murder by a jury, quite literally of his peers (12 white male Protestants), would not have surprised me even though this was disclosed earlier in the book or a description I read about the book. However, it does make me terribly sad because there is still so much hatred and distrust of the "outsider" in our entire country, not just in Birmingham, Alabama, or in the South, but, in various disguises, all over the United States of America. Will we ever learn what "liberty and justice for all" means?

[Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full disclosure: Sharon Davies is the executive director of the organization where I work. But she wasn't when I read this book, so I think that helps with my recommendation.

Davies found an amazing story while she was researching a law journal article, and she proceeded to do a good and thorough job with this nearly forgotten moment in American history.

In 1920/21, in Birmingham, Alabama, an itinerant white Methodist minister shot and killed a Catholic priest. the priest had performed the marriage ceremony of the minister's daughter, and the daughter had secretly converted to Catholicism prior to her marriage to a Catholic from Puerto Rico.

What came as a surprise to me was the violent anti-Catholicism of many Americans at that time. The parallels with today's mistrust of Islam leap out almost immediately, and fierce legal battle between prosecutor and defense attorney will also astonish.

[Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full disclosure: Sharon Davies is the executive director of the organization where I work. But she wasn't when I read this book, so I think that helps with my recommendation.

Davies found an amazing story while she was researching a law journal article, and she proceeded to do a good and thorough job with this nearly forgotten moment in American history.

In 1920/21, in Birmingham, Alabama, an itinerant white Methodist minister shot and killed a Catholic priest. the priest had performed the marriage ceremony of the minister's daughter, and the daughter had secretly converted to Catholicism prior to her marriage to a Catholic from Puerto Rico.

What came as a surprise to me was the violent anti-Catholicism of many Americans at that time. The parallels with today's mistrust of Islam leap out almost immediately, and fierce legal battle between prosecutor and defense attorney will also astonish

[Madoline · Rating 5 out of 5]

Davies' well researched narrative examines rampant anti-Catholicism in Birmingham and throughout the country in the early 1920s through the lens of a murder case that is so bizarre it reads like fiction. For every person, place or issue she introduces, Davies examines its historical context, shedding light on Hugo Black, the Klu Klux Klan, racial issues, Birmingham's history and so much more. My only critique is that a subtitle of "A True Tale of Hatred, Race, and Religion in America" would have been more accurate. I was not feeling the love, except for that of members of the Catholic church toward the near-mythic Father Coyle. If you read it, be prepared to be angered and bewildered by the prejudice of so many people at this time.

[Leslie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A true-crime portait of Birmingham, Alabama, in the 1920s. A Catholic priest, Fr. James Coyle, is gunned down in broad daylight by a Methodist minister in front of the St. Paul's rectory in downtown Birmingham. His motive? Fr. Coyle had married Rev. Stephenson's eighteen year-old daughter to a Catholic Puerto-Rican, a double insult where white, Anglo-Saxon Protestant culture dominated the Bible Belt. Author Davies shows how Ruth Stephenson's overprotective, overbearing parents drove her into the arms of Pedro Gussman, and how Birmingham's good-old-boy network manipulated the justice system.
Verdict: Recommended for libraries with strong Southern history and/or Catholicism collections.

[Mike · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wow! I gave this book two stars because it was not an entertaining read. Most of the time I was upset at how the judge, lawyers, and just about everyone was prejudiced. I suppose that was normal in Birmingham in 1921 but not today (I think). So it is difficult for most of us today to condone the actions of that time. I will admit that the author did a marvelous job in her research. She included much detail about the history and background of the times. Though I gave the book two stars, it should be a great read for students of the early years of the 19th century.

[Cody VC · Rating 2 out of 5]

i didn't actually finish this - only got about 90 pages in and ended up returning it to the slush pile - but will rate it anyway because: what kind of self-respecting historian writes a book where internal thoughts and emotions are attributed willy-nilly without any, you know, sources apparent? no diaries, newspaper quotes, interviews, etc. this is one of the worst kinds of presentism, in my book.

the writing itself is fine and readable, but so basically flawed (see above) that i could not continue.

[Tracy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned so much from this book about the early 20th century in the US South. I was very surprised to read about the level of religious intolerance. I was also stunned by the co-option of the court system by the political process. Interestingly, several themes from the book are relevant in society today. I especially appreciated the amount of detailed research the author engaged in to paint a picture of this story.

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting narrative of the murder of Father James Croyle - the highest ranking Catholic priest in north Alabama. Father Croyle was gunned down in 1921 after performing a Catholic wedding ceremony for a Puerto Rican immigrant and a newly confverted woman whose father was a perceived leader of the KKK. The book describes racial attitudes of the time as well as perceived threats Protestants had of the Catholic church.

[Hortensia]

I reviewed this online, so won't repeat myself here, but the book is pretty good. A popular read, a page-turner, and a good short exploration of white supremacy and the way religion was used to shore up white supremacist ideology. Does not probe religion very deeply, but very much a good court room drama.

[Kristy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I almost quit reading this book because the first 100 or so pages were extremely boring. If the whole book had been like the second half, I would have given it four stars. The crime and the court drama that followed were really interesting. I had no idea that the country was so anti-Catholic back in the early 1900s.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got interested in this book when I saw a review in the Columbus Dispatch. Davies is a professor at OSU in Criminal Law, and researched this book on the murder of a Catholic priest. The odd thing was that a minister shot him and never served time. How could that be? It was the 1920's.

[Tracy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book for lovers of history and true crime! Meticulously well researched portrait of the murder of a Catholic priest in Birmingham by a Protestant minister in the early 1900's. The sociological and political history fascinates as well.