Overview

The story of Clarence Henderson, a Black sharecropper convicted and sentenced to death three times for a murder he didn't commit This is the story of Clarence Henderson, a wrongfully accused Black sharecropper, who was sentenced to die three different times for a murder he didn't commit, and of the prosecution desperate to pin the crime on him despite scant evidence. His first trial lasted only a day and featured a lackluster public defense. The book also tells the story of Homer Chase, a former World War II paratrooper and New England radical who was sent to the South by the Communist Party to recruit African Americans to the cause, while offering them a chance at increased freedom. And it's the story of Thurgood Marshall's NAACP and their battle against not only entrenched racism but a Communist Party--despite facing nearly as much prejudice as those they were trying to help--intent on winning the hearts and minds of Black voters. The bitter battle between the two groups played out as the sides sparred over who would take the lead on Henderson's defense, a period in which he spent years in prison away from a daughter he had never seen. Through it all, Chris Joyner reveals a portrait of a community and a country at a crossroads, trying to choose between the path it knows is right and the path of least resistance. The case pitted powerful forces--often those steering legal and journalistic institutions--attempting to use racism and Red-Scare tactics against a populace that by and large believed the case against Henderson was suspect at best. Ultimately, it's a hopeful story about how, even when things look dark, some small measure of justice can be achieved against all the odds and that actual progress is possible. It's the rare book that is a timely read, yet still manages to shed an informative light on America's past and future as well as its present.

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9798200911660

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Reviews

A masterful tale of murder in small-town Georgia and the injustices that corrupted its halls of power...Guides readers through courtroom drama, political gamesmanship, and life-and-death decisions. -- Greg Bluestein, author of Flipped Joyner illustrates Henderson's vulnerable position as a Black defendant and shows how external factors...shaped the legal proceedings in unexpected ways. -- New Yorker Joyner provides just the right level of detail in this stranger-than-fiction narrative...[Readers] will be riveted. -- Publishers Weekly (starred review) Offers a detailed play-by-play of the three trials to argue that despite Henderson's unjust treatment by prosecutors, he fared better than most Black defendants...A compelling account of 'justice' in the Jim Crow South. -- Library Journal The true story of a Black sharecropper who was wrongly accused of murder, set against the backdrop of Thurgood Marshall's NAACP and its fight to protect Black voters from the influence of the Communist Party. -- New York Times Book Review

Author Information

Chris Joyner is an investigative reporter with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution with more than two decades of experience in journalism, ranging from community newspapers to national and international news and wire services. He reported from the scene of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010. He focuses on uncovering hidden communities and has written about street gangs and life inside a supermax prison, the world of government lobbying, and a white-collar criminal network built around a drug testing lab. He lives in Atlanta. Patrick Cullen (a.k.a. John Lescault), a native of Massachusetts, is a graduate of the Catholic University of America. He lives in Washington, DC, where he works in theater.

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