The Three Death Sentences of Clarence Henderson: A Battle for Racial Justice at the Dawn of the Civil Rights Era

The Three Death Sentences of Clarence Henderson: A Battle for Racial Justice at the Dawn of the Civil Rights Era

by Chris Joyner
The Three Death Sentences of Clarence Henderson: A Battle for Racial Justice at the Dawn of the Civil Rights Era

The Three Death Sentences of Clarence Henderson: A Battle for Racial Justice at the Dawn of the Civil Rights Era

by Chris Joyner

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Overview

Investigative reporter Chris Joyner reveals the true story of Clarence Henderson, a Black sharecropper convicted and sentenced to death three times for a murder he didn’t commit.
 
Named a BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR . . . SO FAR by The New Yorker
 
The Three Death Sentences of Clarence Henderson is the true story of the wrongfully accused Black sharecropper and the Georgia 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, The Three Death Sentences of Clarence Henderson is 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. But 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 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.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781647003876
Publisher: Abrams
Publication date: 01/11/2022
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 352
File size: 2 MB

About the Author

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 of 2010. As an investigative reporter, he focuses on uncovering hidden communities and has written about street gangs and life inside a supermax prison, the hidden world of government lobbying, and a white-collar criminal network built around a drug testing lab. He lives in Atlanta.

Table of Contents

Preface ix

Chapter 1 Murder and Chaos 1

Chapter 2 Carroilton 13

Chapter 3 A Desperate Manhunt 23

Chapter 4 "A Very Dark Negro" 35

Chapter 5 The First Trial 44

Chapter 6 "Let Me Go Home" 61

Chapter 7 Subversive Elements 79

Chapter 8 The Commies Come to Town 86

Chapter 9 "His Fight Is Our Fight" 102

Chapter 10 The NAACP Takes Charge 111

Chapter 11 A New Trial Ordered 125

Chapter 12 Dan Duke 140

Chapter 13 The Second Trial 159

Chapter 14 Ballistics, Nan, and a Verdict 181

Chapter 15 New Evidence, New Trial 199

Chapter 16 The Third Trial 213

Chapter 17 Cornett v. Jones 236

Chapter 18 God and the NAACP 262

Acknowledgments 281

Notes 283

Index 323

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