Originally published in 1994, Portrait of a Racist is an astonishing biography of Byron De La Beckwith (1920–2001), who murdered Black civil rights leader Medgar Evers in June 1963. Written by Beckwith's nephew by marriage, the book is based on dozens of exclusive personal interviews with Beckwith and people who knew him—as well as letters Beckwith wrote directly to the author. These unique sources provide as definitive a glimpse into the chilling psychological landscape of a man devoted to murderous intolerance as we will likely ever have. Although the slaying of Evers helped to galvanize the civil rights movement in the South, the killer evaded justice for three decades after the crime. Twice tried for murder in the 1960s—both times by all- male, all-White juries—Beckwith was finally convicted in a third trial in 1994.Accompanied by new illustrations that have never been printed before, this new edition includes an afterword that recounts the author's participation as a witness and his introduction of new evidence in the third trial. It also chronicles Beckwith's last years of declining health behind bars, examines the rich scholarship on Evers and civil rights that has arisen since this book's original appearance, and reflects on the catastrophic persistence of Beckwith's ideology— Christian nationalism and white supremacy—in our own times.
eBook - PDF
Portrait of a Racist
Byron De La Beckwith and the Assassination of Medgar Evers
- 440 pages
- English
- PDF
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - PDF
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Table of contents
- Contents
- Prologue: Portrait of a Racist
- 1. Tangled Branches
- 2. Return to Glen Oak Plantation
- 3. Identifying the Enemy
- 4. Misalliance
- 5. Separate and Unequal Lives
- 6. The Rising Tide of Discontent
- 7. The Lone Suspect
- 8. "Such Is the Fate of a Patriot"
- 9. "My Ass, Your Goat and the Republic"
- 10. And Ten Crosses Burned
- 11. A Period of Self-Delusion
- 12. "Jewishprudence"
- 13. The Outskirts of Heaven
- Epilogue: Out of Darkness
- Afterword to the 2024 Edition
- Acknowledgments 2024
- Appendix. Selected FBI Documents
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
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Yes, you can access Portrait of a Racist by Reed Massengill in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in History & Social Science Biographies. We have over 1.5 million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.