3. “The Blood of Emmett Till” by Timothy B. Tyson The most recent book on the list and the second dealing with important race issues, Tyson does a brilliant job using this one horrific crime, its trial and aftermath to explain conditions for Black Americans not only in the Jim Crow South, but also some of what it was like in Chicago during the time.
The emphasis of the story is the August 1955 lynching of a 14-year-old Black boy from Chicago who was visiting his grandfather in Money, Mississippi. Even though he had been warned of how to behave in Mississippi, he did the unthinkable and broke the unwritten rule and either talked, winked or even possibly whistled at a white woman. That night the woman’s husband and his friends came to the home of Till’s grandfather and drug Till out of the home, never to be seen alive again. Till was severely beaten, tied to a large fan and dumped into a river. His body was found a few days later and returned to Chicago where his mother held an open casket funeral to show the world what happens to Black children who do not follow the racial rules in Mississippi.
This murder, the funeral, and the trial that followed was the spark that finally galvanized the nation to launch what we now see as the Civil Rights Movement. On Dec. 1, 1955, three months after Till’s death, Rosa Parks refused to give up her Montgomery, Alabama, municipal bus seat. Another peaceful protest occurred Feb. 1, 1960, as four Black college students staged a sit-in at a Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina.
“The Blood of Emmett Till” covers the sham trial of the two men charged with the murder. The prosecutors did their best in 1950s Mississippi trying to convict white men of killing a Black child.
But the defense attorneys had a much easier job. Their entire plan was to argue that the two men did not kill Till but if the overwhelming evidence proves they did, then they were justified because Till deserved it.
2. “Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War” by Tony Horwitz This book covers not only race, but how we remember the American Civil War.
In a time when monuments are being torn down, it is also important to consider why they were placed there and who or what the monuments are honoring.
In all fairness, it’s important to understand that if we read books like “The Blood of Emmitt Till,” we also understand the other side.
That is exactly what “Confederates in the Attic” does.
The book is made up of two parts. First Horwitz travels across the South trying to understand the region’s obsession with the war and continued devotion to the cause. The second aspect is woven throughout and deals with Horwitz befriending Civil War reenactors—one in particular— and their adventures together. It is a journey that almost seems unbelievable to most.
The book needs a new edition covering more recent events. Unfortunately, Horwitz died in 2019.
1. “The Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East” by Sandy Tolan Highly recommended, “The Lemon Tree” is the true story of two people: Dalia a Jew, and Bashir a Palestinian, who are connected by a house and the lemon tree in the yard.
Bashir’s family was driven out of their home during the 1948 Israeli War for Independence. Later, after barely escaping the Holocaust, Dalia’s family arrived in Israel and was given the home to make theirs. All that Dalia knew of the previous owners was that they had abandoned it.
Everything changed for Dalia while she was home from college and there was a knock at her door. Standing in front of her were three young Palestinians—Bashir and his two cousins who had come to see his home after 19 years.
As Dalia allowed them in, she would not only start a new friendship but a new journey of discovery that would open her eyes to the treatment and hardships of Palestinians.
Bashir’s only dream was to return to his home and his land, while Dalia’s was to have a land and security. The problem was both could not make their dream a reality at the same time. Bashir would go one way and become part of the resistance of Israel and would spend more than 17 years in and out of jail. Dalia would try to understand his struggle, but also struggle herself with his possible role in what she saw as terrorism, but Bashir saw as freedom.
The story of Dalia and Bashir brings a sense of humanity and a face to this difficulty, and helps shed a light on the struggle of those having to deal with the problem every day. When speaking with Bashir’s family, Dalia said, “It is either us or them?
Dalia thought. “Either I live in their home while they are refugees, or they live in my house while I become a fugitive? There must be another possibility. But what is it?”
Tolan does not have answers to this most difficult questions, but it will open readers’ eyes to the hardships of both sides and bring humanity to tragedies that are far removed from us here.