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A review by mweis
Hell Put to Shame by Earl Swift
4.25
*I received an eARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*
It's 1921 and eleven Black men have been found brutally murdered in rural Georgia. This book collects information into the investigation and trial and key players of the time period. What was striking to me as I read was that while this book is relaying events from 1921, it felt like it could have been 1821 or 2021 just as easily.
Swift sets the stage by giving some background into Georgia in 1921, including an explanation of peonage and how that system was created and the 1915 lynching of Leo Frank, a Jew accused of murdering a young girl. He then goes into the first bodies being discovered and the subsequent trial. His prose is engaging and informative and while the subject matter is hard to read, it is apparent that he has done good research and is approaching the subject with all necessary care.
While this book is about the 1921 Murder Farm Massacre, Swift also tackles the larger environment and politics that allowed for this situation to arise. The peonage system, which he (rightly) refers to as America's second slavery, allowed John S. Williams, a white plantation owner to murder his Black farmhands and fully believe that he wound be found not guilty. I found the court scenes to be particularly impactful because so much of the things assumed to be true about the criminal justice system in 2024 were not in place in 1921. The simple fact that Williams could "testify" in his trial without swearing to tell the truth was mindboggling to me.
Swift also is able to explore early efforts by the NAACP, including sections that talk about James Weldon Johnson, the first Black leader of the NAACP, and Walter F. White, a "passing" Black man who frequently went undercover for the NAACP. Towards the end he talks a little about how/why these two men are less well known when later Civil Rights leaders are household names. One of the other major players that Swift explores is Hugh M. Dorsey, the Governor of Georgia who rose to fame during the aforementioned Frank trial. Swift writes about how Dorsey rose to power on white supremacist ideals yet ended his governorship by publishing a pamphlet highlighting the mistreatment of Black people in the state of Georgia and calling for Georgians to do better. Something that was striking to me was that Williams was found guilty despite most assuming he would get away with it, yet what could have been a tipping point towards equality took a hard slide back towards white supremacy something that we have seen happen historically time and time again.
Overall, I found this book to be incredibly impactful and would highly recommend, though while this book has been tagged as true crime, and does have the crime/trial elements of a traditional true crime, it is much more about the political and societal situation that allowed for such a heinous crime to occur.
It's 1921 and eleven Black men have been found brutally murdered in rural Georgia. This book collects information into the investigation and trial and key players of the time period. What was striking to me as I read was that while this book is relaying events from 1921, it felt like it could have been 1821 or 2021 just as easily.
Swift sets the stage by giving some background into Georgia in 1921, including an explanation of peonage and how that system was created and the 1915 lynching of Leo Frank, a Jew accused of murdering a young girl. He then goes into the first bodies being discovered and the subsequent trial. His prose is engaging and informative and while the subject matter is hard to read, it is apparent that he has done good research and is approaching the subject with all necessary care.
While this book is about the 1921 Murder Farm Massacre, Swift also tackles the larger environment and politics that allowed for this situation to arise. The peonage system, which he (rightly) refers to as America's second slavery, allowed John S. Williams, a white plantation owner to murder his Black farmhands and fully believe that he wound be found not guilty. I found the court scenes to be particularly impactful because so much of the things assumed to be true about the criminal justice system in 2024 were not in place in 1921. The simple fact that Williams could "testify" in his trial without swearing to tell the truth was mindboggling to me.
Swift also is able to explore early efforts by the NAACP, including sections that talk about James Weldon Johnson, the first Black leader of the NAACP, and Walter F. White, a "passing" Black man who frequently went undercover for the NAACP. Towards the end he talks a little about how/why these two men are less well known when later Civil Rights leaders are household names. One of the other major players that Swift explores is Hugh M. Dorsey, the Governor of Georgia who rose to fame during the aforementioned Frank trial. Swift writes about how Dorsey rose to power on white supremacist ideals yet ended his governorship by publishing a pamphlet highlighting the mistreatment of Black people in the state of Georgia and calling for Georgians to do better. Something that was striking to me was that Williams was found guilty despite most assuming he would get away with it, yet what could have been a tipping point towards equality took a hard slide back towards white supremacy something that we have seen happen historically time and time again.
Overall, I found this book to be incredibly impactful and would highly recommend, though while this book has been tagged as true crime, and does have the crime/trial elements of a traditional true crime, it is much more about the political and societal situation that allowed for such a heinous crime to occur.