Summary
Summary
Caliph Washington's life was never supposed to matter. As a black teenager from the vice-ridden city of Bessemer, Alabama, Washington was wrongfully convicted of killing an Alabama policeman in 1957. Sentenced to death, he came within minutes of the electric chair-nearly a dozen times. A Kafka-esque legal odyssey in which Washington's original conviction was overturned three times before he was finally released in 1972, his story is the kind that pervades the history of American justice. Here, in the hands of historian S. Jonathan Bass, Washington's ordeal and life are rescued from anonymity and become a moving parable of one man's survival and perseverance in a hellish system.He Calls Me by Lightning is both a compelling legal drama and a fierce depiction of the Jim Crow South that forces us to take account of the lives cast away by systemic racism.
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
This account of 17-year-old Caliph Washington's wrongful conviction for a 1957 murder serves as a piercing primer on racism in the American justice system. On July 12, 1957, on a deserted Alabama highway, there was a deadly encounter between 17-year-old Caliph Washington, a black teenager, and James "Cowboy" Clark, a white policeman. Convicted of murder and sentenced to execution the following October, Washington was ultimately released on Mar. 17, 1971. Historian Bass (Blessed Are the Peacemakers) keeps a sharp focus on the town of Bessemer, Ala., known for a "general climate of violence" and corruption, as he proceeds through Washington's multiple trials and appeals in his lengthy trek through local, state, and federal jurisdictions. The book includes detailed accounts of legal maneuvers and decisions, complemented by biographical sketches of just about everyone involved-judges, lawyers, prosecutors, policemen, politicians, fellow prisoners, and Washington's family and friends. A casual reader may get lost in the thicket, but the details-such as the technical workings of the electric chair or a discussion of the salaries of prison guards-are eye-opening and carve out deeper complexities of the American justice system. 25 illus. (May) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* In the 1950s, the small Alabama town of Bessemer was notoriously corrupt, as local politicians, police, and ordinary citizens all wet their beaks in seeking illicit profits. Although the majority of the population was black, this was still the Jim Crow era and whites dominated all aspects of government, especially the police and court systems. On July 12, 1957, after a brief car chase, a white police officer, James Clark, died from a single bullet wound that ravaged his internal organs. The supposed murderer, a 17-year-old African American, Caliph Washington, fled the scene but was captured, quickly convicted, and sentenced to death. Thus began a decades-long struggle in the courts that played out against the context of the civil rights movement and the slow dismantling of white supremacy in this southern enclave. Bass, a professor of history at Alabama's Samford University, examines the prolonged legal and political battle to save Washington, and the broader social milieu in which the case unfolded, showing both insight and compassion. His chronicle includes a fascinating cast of characters, including police officers, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and, most vividly, the arch-segregationist governor George Wallace. This is an outstanding look at both an apparent travesty of justice and the system that produced it.--Freeman, Jay Copyright 2017 Booklist
Library Journal Review
Bass (history, Samford Univ.; Blessed Are the Peacemakers) tells the story of Caliph -Washington, a 17-year-old former solider accused of killing a white police officer in an Alabama still under the strictures of Jim Crow. The author relates Washington's powerful but unknown story as a young black man within the confines of an inequitable criminal justice system. At the same time, Bass accurately sketches the corruption, racism, and terror that led to Washington's guilty sentence by an all-white jury. The result is a masterly book that is well written and thoroughly researched. Washington's long efforts to obtain legal representation and justice are reminiscent of other works that have revealed legal injustices such as Michelle Alexander's New Jim Crow and Gilbert King's Devil in the Grove. VERDICT By illuminating Washington's story of courage in the face of an unjust legal system, Bass writes an important book for those concerned about civil rights in this new era of challenges to them.-Amy -Lewontin, -Northeastern Univ. Lib., Boston © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.