Will Parker. Tuskegee University Archives.
August 9, 1915: James Fox. Tuskegee University Archives; “Negro Lynched for Attacking Officer,” Montgomery Advertiser (August 10, 1915). Tuskegee University Archives; Tolnay, “NAACP Lynching Records.”
August 9, 1943: Willie Lee Cooper. “NAACP Describes Alabama’s Willie Lee Case as Lynching,” Journal and Guide (September 8, 1943); “NAACP Claims Man Lynched in Alabama,” Bee (September 26, 1943); “Ala. Workman ‘Lynched’ After Quitting Job,” Afro-American (September 18, 1943). Tuskegee University Archives.
May 7, 1954: Russell Charley. “Violence Flares in Dixie,” Pittsburgh Courier (June 5, 1954); “Suspect Lynching in Ala. Town,” Chicago Defender (June 12, 1954); “Hint Love Rivalry Led to Lynching,” Chicago Defender (June 19, 1954); “NAACP Probes ’Bama Lynching,” Pittsburgh Courier (June 26, 1954). Tuskegee University Archives.
CHAPTER TWO: STAND
1 Suicide, prisoner-on-prisoner violence … The Bureau of Justice Statistics reports that throughout the 1980s, several hundred incarcerated individuals died each year of suicide, homicide, and other “unknown” reasons. Christopher J. Mumola, “Suicide and Homicide in State Prisons and Local Jails,” Bureau of Justice Statistics (August 2005), available at bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=1126, accessed April 30, 2014; Lawrence A. Greenfield, “Prisons and Prisoners in the United States,” Bureau of Justice Statistics (April 1992), available at bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=1392.
2 I found Bureau of Justice statistics … In 1978, black people were eight times more likely than whites to be killed by police officers. Jodi M. Brown and Patrick A. Langan, “Policing and Homicide, 1976-1998: Justifiable Homicide by Police, Police Officers Murdered by Felons,” Bureau of Justice Statistics (March 2001), available at bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=829, accessed April 30, 2014.
3 By the end of the twentieth century … By 1998, black people were still four times more likely to be killed by the police than white people. Brown and Langan, “Policing and Homicide, 1976–1998.”
4 the problem would get worse … In states with “Stand Your Ground” laws, the rate of “justifiable” homicides of blacks more than doubled between 2005 and 2011, the period when the majority of these laws were enacted. The rate of such homicides against whites also rose, but only slightly, and the homicide rate against whites was much lower to begin with. “Shoot First: ‘Stand Your Ground’ Laws and Their Effect on Violent Crime and the Criminal Justice System,” joint press release from the National Urban League, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, and VoteVets (September 2013), available at nul.iamempowered.com/content/mayors-against-illegal-guns-national-urban-league-votevets-release-report-showing-stand-your, accessed April 30, 2014.
CHAPTER THREE: TRIALS AND TRIBULATION
1 “We’re going to keep all you niggers”… McMillian v. Johnson, Case No. 93-A-699-N, P. Exh. 12, Plaintiff’s Memorandum in Opposition to Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment (1994).
2 “At 8:40 P.M., a third charge of electricity”… Glass v. Louisiana, 471 U.S. 1080 (1985), denying cert. to 455 So.2d 659 (La. 1984) (J. Brennan, dissenting).
3 In 1987, all forty … Ruth E. Friedman, “Statistics and Death: The Conspicuous Role of Race Bias in the Administration of Death Penalty,” Berkeley Journal of African-American Law and Policy 4 (1999): 75. See also Danielle L. McGuire and John Dittmer, Freedom Rights: New Perspectives on the Civil Rights Movement (Lexington: University of Kentucky, 2011).
4 In 1945, the Supreme Court upheld a Texas statute … Akins v. Texas, 325 U.S. 398 (1945).
5 Local jury commissions used statutory requirements … David Cole, “Judgment and Discrimination,” in No Equal Justice: Race and Class in the American Criminal Justice System (New York: New Press, 1999), 101–31.
6 In the 1970s, the Supreme Court ruled … Duren v. Missouri, 439 U.S. 357 (1979); Taylor v. Louisiana, 419 U.S. 522 (1975).
7 In the mid-1960s, the Court held … Swain v. Alabama, 380 U.S. 202 (1965).
8 The practice of striking all …“Illegal Racial Discrimination in Jury Selection: A Continuing Legacy,” Equal Justice Initiative (2009), available at eji.org/files/EJI%20Race%20and%20Jury%20Report.pdf, accessed April 30, 2014.
CHAPTER FOUR: THE OLD RUGGED CROSS
1 In 91 percent of these cases …“The Death Penalty in Alabama: Judge Override,” Equal Justice Initiative (2011), 4, available at http://eji.org/eji/files/Override_Report.pdf, accessed April 30, 2014.
2 Alabama elects all of its judges … Billy Corriher, “Partisan Judicial Elections and the Distorting Influence of Campaign Cash,” Center for American Progress (October 25, 2012), available at americanprogress.org/issues/civil-liberties/report/2012/10/25/42895/partisan-judicial-elections-and-the-distorting-influence-of-campaign-cash/, accessed July 8, 2013.
3 Judge overrides are an incredibly potent … In November 2013, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote a blistering critique of Alabama’s continued use of judicial override to impose death sentences in a dissent from the Court’s decision to not review the issue. Joined by Justice Breyer, the Justices found serious constitutional defects in both the politics surrounding judge override and the way it undermines the role of the jury. Woodward v. Alabama (2013).
4 it’s not surprising that judge overrides …“The Death Penalty