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Murder in Mississippi: United States V. Price and the Struggle for Civil Rights. by Howard Ball (Lawrence, University Press of Kansas, 2004) 192 Pp

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Murder in Mississippi: United States V. Price and the Struggle for Civil Rights. by Howard Ball (Lawrence, University Press of Kansas, 2004) 192 Pp 298 | BRIAN K. LANDSBERG Murder in Mississippi: United States v. Price and the Struggle for Civil Rights. By Howard Ball (Lawrence, University Press of Kansas, 2004) 192 pp. $29.95 cloth $12.95 paper Murder in Mississippi tells the story of the federal prosecution of persons charged with conspiracy to deprive three civil-rights workers, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Mickey Schwerner, of their civil rights. Although the case led to a Supreme Court decision interpreting Reconstruction criminal statutes, its signiªcance lies more in what it says Downloaded from http://direct.mit.edu/jinh/article-pdf/36/2/298/1707053/0022195054741569.pdf by guest on 27 September 2021 about the history of the civil-rights era, the condition of Mississippi soci- ety in the 1960s, the growing national consciousness of racial discrimina- tion, and the structure and problems of enforcing federal laws in a resis- tant and hostile environment. Ball draws on his personal knowledge of Mississippi, along with the papers of Supreme Court justices, presidents, civil-rights organizations, the Mississippi Sovereignty Commission, and numerous secondary sources to develop a compelling narrative. Ball does not purport to pres- ent a comprehensive historical, social, and legal analysis. Instead, he paints the picture in broad strokes, selecting dramatic examples to illus- trate the story, rather than providing every fact and nuance. After short chapters introducing the book and explaining Ball’s own experiences in Mississippi beginning in 1976, Ball describes the legal and social structure of racial segregation, choosing Plessy v. Ferguson as the seminal Supreme Court decision legitimating segregation. He presents Brown v. Board of Education as the decisive point of change and the begin- ning of a new era of racial conºict in the deep South, inspiring the for- mation of White Citizens Councils and the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission and the revival of the Ku Klux Klan (kkk). Predictably, Af- rican-Americans became impatient with the slow litigation strategy of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and organizations such as the Congress of Racial Equality, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and the Student Non-Violent Coor- dinating Committee emerged to organize direct action against racial dis- crimination. The white majority in Mississippi was “comfortable with the folkways of their state,” but were afraid of the kkk (33). Into this tin- derbox came kkk Imperial Wizard Sam Bowers, who preached, “If it is necessary to eliminate someone, it should be done with no malice, in complete silence, and in the manner of a Christian act” (34). When the civil-rights organizations opened an ofªce in Meridian, Mississippi, as part of their 1964 Mississippi Summer project, Bowers issued an order to kill Schwerner, the ofªce head. Ball provides descriptions of each of the protagonists and of the Klan plot to arrest, release, re-arrest, kill, and dispose of their bodies. He then discusses the national reaction and the swift and intensive fbi inves- tigation that led to the discovery of the bodies and the federal criminal prosecution of kkk members for violation of 18 U.S.C. 241 (conspiracy against rights) and 242 (deprivation of rights under color of law). He REVIEWS | 299 traces the twists of the case in a hostile district court and the direct appeal to the Supreme Court. In seventeen pages, he describes the Supreme Court arguments, deliberations, and decision upholding the indict- ments. The last two chapters are devoted to the trial, which led to con- viction of some of the defendants, and to the state of racial justice in Mississippi today. Ball’s approach is descriptive rather than analytical, though he does offer some conclusions. The book could be a valuable teaching tool in courses on criminal justice, federalism, law enforcement, social change, Downloaded from http://direct.mit.edu/jinh/article-pdf/36/2/298/1707053/0022195054741569.pdf by guest on 27 September 2021 and race relations. Occasionally additional context would be helpful. For example, Ball cites federal prosecutor John Doar’s closing argument, which quotes Gloucester begging Queen Anne in Shakespeare’s King Richard III: “Say I slew him not.” She replies, “Then say they were not slain, but they are dead.” Doar continued, “If you ªnd that these men . [are] not guilty of this conspiracy, it would be as true to say that there was no night time release from jail by Cecil Price, that there were no White Knights, there are no young men dead, there was no murder” (130). The signiªcance of the quote would be heightened by noting that Chief Prosecutor Robert Jackson used the very same rhetorical device at the end of his closing argument in the Nuremberg trials of Nazi war criminals.1 Brian K. Landsberg McGeorge School of Law University of the Paciªc Adoption Politics, Bastard Nation and Ballot Initiative 58. By E. Wayne Carp (Lawrence, University of Kansas Press, 2004) 238 pp. $25.95 Adoption Politics is the story of a successful 1998 ballot initiative that granted Oregon adult adoptees access to their original birth certiªcates. Carp tells the tale with insight and verve. His narrative of the campaign is at once an assessment of the fundamental clashes that emerge when adoptees seek information about their birth as well as an in-depth account of the politics of policy change through state initiatives. The combination makes the book an intriguing example of contemporary history. Carp’s story focuses on the individuals and organizations that fought over the initiative. He describes the range of individual motivations and tactical decisions that animated the conºict. Particularly compelling is his ability to convey the hopes and fears both of adoptees seeking birth information and of birth mothers and adoption agencies worried about the impact that the release of that same information might have on 1 Summation by chief prosecutor, the United States of America, Robert H. Jackson, July 26, 1946, reproduced at http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/nuremberg/Jacksonclose. htm, downloaded on July 15, 2004..
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