CIA impunity in 1988. U.S. imperialism's baby steps in 1898. Free speech for Nazis in 1978. U.S. responsibility for Vietnam War in 1971. Smallpox-infected presents in 1763. Voting wrongs, not rights, in 2013. Haymarket prisoners pardoned in 1893.
This book offers a new history of Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), the 7-1 Supreme Court ruling that legalized racist segregation.
In left labor circles, it's been a settled question that the Haymarket martyrs, victims of ruling class justice, were framed, and May Day's radical origins are based on remembering the martyrs. The author of the books under review, using a close reading of the trial record, supports the court finding that the accused anarchists conspired to murder police during the epochal 1886 labor demonstration in Chicago. The reviewer strongly disputes the author's conclusions.
This recently unearthed text portrays the life of a 19th Century African American who spent much of his life in prison. Joy James guides us through this "startling," yet "instructive" book.
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