Review by Choice Review
Historians know that the years from 1865 to 1940 were ones in which emancipation was followed by another kind of slavery built on intimidation. Lynchings and mob rule substituted for due process; the concept of black civil rights had little or no meaning. Wright documents this pattern through a number of Kentucky newspapers, supplemented by interviews, court materials, and other primary records, including those of the NAACP and the Commission on Interracial Cooperation. Because of this work readers now have an understanding of the number and kinds of racial incidents in Kentucky. The retelling of these often gruesome incidents begs for more thorough analysis; scholars need to know whether the Kentucky pattern differed from other southern states. Was mob activity associated with seasons or with the economy? Were there differences between urban and rural violence? And why, other than through heroic efforts on the part of black Americans and a courageous stand by an occasional Kentucky governor, did the pattern change in this century? These are important questions; the answers await another book. Wright's work reinforces knowledge of the racial injustice so often present in America's past. Upper-division undergraduates and above. -T. F. Armstrong, Georgia College
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
