A shot in the moonlight : how a freed slave and a Confederate soldier fought for justice in the Jim Crow south / Ben Montgomery.
After moonrise on the cold night of January 21, 1897, a mob of twenty-five white men gathered in a patch of woods near Big Road in southwestern Simpson County, Kentucky. Half carried rifles and shotguns, and a few tucked pistols in their pants. Their target was George Dinning, a freed slave who'd farmed peacefully in the area for 14 years, and who had been wrongfully accused of stealing livestock from a neighboring farm. When the mob began firing through the doors and windows of Dinning's home, he fired back in self-defense, shooting and killing the son of a wealthy Kentucky family.So began one of the strangest legal episodes in American history - one that ended with Dinning becoming the first Black man in America to win damages after a wrongful murder conviction.Drawing on a wealth of never-before-published material, bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize finalist Ben Montgomery resurrects this dramatic but largely forgotten story, and the unusual convergence of characters - among them a Confederate war hero-turned-lawyer named Bennett H. Young, Kentucky governor William O'Connell Bradley, and George Dinning himself - that allowed this unlikely story of justice to unfold in a time and place where justice was all too rare.
Record details
- ISBN: 9780316535540
- ISBN: 0316535540
- Physical Description: xvii, 285 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm
- Publisher: New York : Little, Brown Spark, 2021.
Content descriptions
Bibliography, etc. Note: | Includes bibliographical references (pages 269-272) and index. |
Search for related items by subject
Genre: | Biographies. |
Available copies
- 14 of 15 copies available at Missouri Evergreen. (Show)
- 1 of 1 copy available at North Kansas City.
Holds
- 0 current holds with 15 total copies.
Show Only Available Copies
Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Status | Due Date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
North Kansas City Public Library | 976.904 MONTGOMERY 2021 (Text) | 0001002433629 | Nonfiction | Available | - |
Summary:
After moonrise on the cold night of January 21, 1897, a mob of twenty-five white men gathered in a patch of woods near Big Road in southwestern Simpson County, Kentucky. Half carried rifles and shotguns, and a few tucked pistols in their pants. Their target was George Dinning, a freed slave who'd farmed peacefully in the area for 14 years, and who had been wrongfully accused of stealing livestock from a neighboring farm. When the mob began firing through the doors and windows of Dinning's home, he fired back in self-defense, shooting and killing the son of a wealthy Kentucky family.So began one of the strangest legal episodes in American history - one that ended with Dinning becoming the first Black man in America to win damages after a wrongful murder conviction.Drawing on a wealth of never-before-published material, bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize finalist Ben Montgomery resurrects this dramatic but largely forgotten story, and the unusual convergence of characters - among them a Confederate war hero-turned-lawyer named Bennett H. Young, Kentucky governor William O'Connell Bradley, and George Dinning himself - that allowed this unlikely story of justice to unfold in a time and place where justice was all too rare.