The MacArthur grant-winning environmental justice activist's riveting memoir of a life fighting for a cleaner future for America's most vulnerable A Smithsonian Magazine Top Ten Best Science Book of 2020 Catherine Coleman Flowers, a 2020 MacArthur "genius," grew up in Lowndes County, Alabama, a place that's been called "Bloody Lowndes" because of its violent, racist history. Once the epicenter of the voting rights struggle, today it's Ground Zero for a new movement that is also Flowers's life's work-a fight to ensure human dignity through a right most Americans take for granted: basic sanitation. Too many people, especially the rural poor, lack an affordable means of disposing cleanly of the waste from their toilets and, as a consequence, live amid filth. Flowers calls this America's dirty secret. In this "powerful and moving book" (Booklist), she tells the story of systemic class, racial, and geographic prejudice that foster Third World conditions not just in Alabama, but across America, in Appalachia, Central California, coastal Florida, Alaska, the urban Midwest, and on Native American reservations in the West. In this inspiring story of the evolution of an activist, from country girl to student civil rights organizer to environmental justice champion at Bryan Stevenson's Equal Justice Initiative, Flowers shows how sanitation is becoming too big a problem to ignore as climate change brings sewage to more backyards-not only those of poor minorities.

A legendary lawyer and a legal scholar reveal the structural failures that undermine justice in our criminal courts “An urgently needed analysis of our collective failure to confront and overcome racial bias and bigotry, the abuse of power, and the multiple ways in which the death penalty’s profound unfairness requires its abolition. You will discover Steve Bright’s passion, brilliance, dedication, and tenacity when you read these pages.� —from the foreword by Bryan Stevenson Glenn Ford, a Black man, spent thirty years on Louisiana’s death row for a crime he did not commit. He was released in 2014—and given twenty dollars—when prosecutors admitted they did not have a case against him. Ford’s trial was a travesty. One of his court-appointed lawyers specialized in oil and gas law and had never tried a case. The other had been out of law school for only two years. They had no funds for investigation or experts. The prosecution struck all the Black prospective jurors to get the all-white jury that sentenced Ford to death. In The Fear of Too Much Justice, legendary death penalty lawyer Stephen B. Bright and legal scholar James Kwak offer a heart-wrenching overview of how the criminal legal system fails to live up to the values of equality and justice. The book ranges from poor people squeezed for cash by private probation companies because of trivial violations to people executed in violation of the Constitution despite overwhelming evidence of intellectual disability or mental illness. They also show examples from around the country of places that are making progress toward justice. With a foreword by Bryan Stevenson, who worked for Bright at the Southern Center for Human Rights and credits him for “[breaking] down the issues with the death penalty simply but persuasively,� The Fear of Too Much Justice offers a timely, trenchant, firsthand critique of our criminal courts and points the way toward a more just future.

The MacArthur grant-winning environmental justice activist's riveting memoir of a life fighting for a cleaner future for America's most vulnerable A Smithsonian Magazine Top Ten Best Science Book of 2020 Catherine Coleman Flowers, a 2020 MacArthur "genius," grew up in Lowndes County, Alabama, a place that's been called "Bloody Lowndes" because of its violent, racist history. Once the epicenter of the voting rights struggle, today it's Ground Zero for a new movement that is also Flowers's life's work-a fight to ensure human dignity through a right most Americans take for granted: basic sanitation. Too many people, especially the rural poor, lack an affordable means of disposing cleanly of the waste from their toilets and, as a consequence, live amid filth. Flowers calls this America's dirty secret. In this "powerful and moving book" (Booklist), she tells the story of systemic class, racial, and geographic prejudice that foster Third World conditions not just in Alabama, but across America, in Appalachia, Central California, coastal Florida, Alaska, the urban Midwest, and on Native American reservations in the West. In this inspiring story of the evolution of an activist, from country girl to student civil rights organizer to environmental justice champion at Bryan Stevenson's Equal Justice Initiative, Flowers shows how sanitation is becoming too big a problem to ignore as climate change brings sewage to more backyards-not only those of poor minorities.

A powerful true story about the potential for mercy to redeem us, and a clarion call to fix our broken system of justice--from one of the most brilliant and influential lawyers of our time
Bryan Stevenson was a young lawyer when he founded the Equal Justice Initiative, a legal practice dedicated to defending those most desperate and in need: the poor, the wrongly condemned, and women and children trapped in the farthest reaches of our criminal justice system. One of his first cases was that of Walter McMillian, a young man who was sentenced to die for a notorious murder he insisted he didn't commit. The case drew Bryan into a tangle of conspiracy, political machination, and legal brinksmanship--and transformed his understanding of mercy and justice forever.
"Just Mercy "is at once an unforgettable account of an idealistic, gifted young lawyer's coming of age, a moving window into the lives of those he has defended, and an inspiring argument for compassion in the pursuit of justice.
Praise for "Just Mercy"
"Words such as "important" and "compelling" may have lost their force through overuse, but to read this book is to feel that they have been restored, along with one's hopes for humanity."--Tracy Kidder
"Bryan Stevenson is America's young Nelson Mandela--a brilliant lawyer fighting with courage and conviction to guarantee justice for all."--Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate

America's problem with race has deep roots, with the country's foundation tied to the near extermination of one race of people and the enslavement of another. Racism is truly our nation's original sin. "It's time we right this unacceptable wrong," says bestselling author and leading Christian activist Jim Wallis. Fifty years ago, Wallis was driven away from his faith by a white church that considered dealing with racism to be taboo. His participation in the civil rights movement brought him back when he discovered a faith that commands racial justice. Yet as recent tragedies confirm, we continue to suffer from the legacy of racism. The old patterns of white privilege are colliding with the changing demographics of a diverse nation. The church has been slow to respond, and Sunday morning is still the most segregated hour of the week. In America's Original Sin, Wallis offers a prophetic and deeply personal call to action in overcoming the racism so ingrained in American society. He speaks candidly to Christians--particularly white Christians--urging them to cross a new bridge toward racial justice and healing. Whenever divided cultures and gridlocked power structures fail to end systemic sin, faith communities can help lead the way to grassroots change. Probing yet positive, biblically rooted yet highly practical, this book shows people of faith how they can work together to overcome the embedded racism in America, galvanizing a movement to cross the bridge to a multiracial church and a new America.

Double Exposure is a major new series based on the remarkable photography collection held by the Earl W. and Amanda Stafford Center for African American Media Arts at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC). The powerful images depicted in this volume include many of the photographs that helped to galvanize support from around the world for the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. Among them are photographs from Leonard Freed's series, "Black in White America," Ernest C. Withers' signature photograph of the Sanitation Workers' Solidarity March in Memphis, Tennessee, and Charles Moore's documentation of police brutality during the 1963 Children's Crusade in Birmingham, Alabama. Also featured are Spider Martin's shots of the Selma to Montgomery March in 1965, including the iconic Two Minute Warning, James H. Wallace's visual record of a Ku Klux Klan rally in 1964, and Burk Uzzle's images following Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination. In addition to over 60 photographs, this volume features a foreword by Founding Director Lonnie G. Bunch III, along with essays by civil rights leader and United States Representative the late John Lewis, and activist Bryan Stevenson.;lt;/DIV>

The young adult adaptation of the acclaimed, #1 New York Times bestseller Just Mercy--soon to be both a major motion picture starring Michael B. Jordan, Jaime Foxx, and Brie Larson and the subject of an upcoming HBO documentary feature.

In this very personal work--adapted from the original #1 bestseller, which the New York Times calls "as compelling as To Kill a Mockingbird, and in some ways more so"--acclaimed lawyer and social justice advocate Bryan Stevenson offers a glimpse into the lives of the wrongfully imprisoned and his efforts to fight for their freedom.

Stevenson's story is one of working to protect basic human rights for the most vulnerable people in American society--the poor, the wrongly convicted, and those whose lives have been marked by discrimination and marginalization. Through this adaptation, young people of today will find themselves called to action and compassion in the pursuit of justice.

Proceeds of this book will go to charity to help in Stevenson's important work to benefit the voiceless and the vulnerable as they attempt to navigate the broken U.S. justice system.

NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE, STARRING MICHAEL B. JORDAN, JAMIE FOXX, AND BRIE LARSON.

A NEW YORK TIMES, WASHINGTON POST, BOSTON GLOBE, ESQUIRE, AND TIME BOOK OF THE YEAR.

A #1 New York Times bestseller, this is a powerful, true story about the potential for mercy to redeem us, and a clarion call to fix America’s broken justice system, as seen in the HBO documentary True Justice.

The US has the highest rate of incarceration in the world. One in every 15 people born there today is expected to go to prison. For black men this figure rises to one in 3. And Death Row is disproportionately black, too.

Bryan Stevenson grew up poor in the racially segregated South. His innate sense of justice made him a brilliant young lawyer, and one of his first defendants was Walter McMillian, a black man sentenced to die for the murder of a white woman ― a crime he insisted he didn’t commit. The case drew Bryan into a tangle of conspiracy, political machination, startling racial inequality, and legal brinkmanship ― and transformed his understanding of mercy and justice forever.

At once an unforgettable account of an idealistic lawyer’s coming of age and a moving portrait of the lives of those he has defended, Just Mercy is an inspiring argument for compassion in the pursuit of justice.

In this book I have taken true life events that have actually occurred in my lifetime. My inspiration was about a real life game of Russian roulette. The last soul survivor of five young teenage boys was the one who told me his story. They did not all die from the actual playing of the game, but it did cause the boys a deep depression that took their lives, one by one. However, they did not all die the way my book describes. In fact, one of the boys death's was context I used from a real incident that took place when I was growing up. He was my friend. This boy was being bullied by six other teenage boys. After beating him up and ramming his head through a plate glass window of the local paramount theater, he decided to end it all and jump in front of a train. Bullying is a serious matter that can effect young minds in ways that are so horrible, you might not fi nd out what is really going on with them, until it is too late. May Tommy rest in peace. But I could not end this book here. I believe that when something bad happens, there are always good things to fall in its place. So I threw a few twists into my writings. There is a forest on the outskirts of my home town that was declared the historical cottonwoods, in which I use as the setting for this book. Wandering through the forest one day, I discovered a rather large naturally hollowed out cottonwood tree. This is where one lucky boys adventures begin. The boys built a real working elevator inside the tree that would lead to the bottom of a two story tree house they also constructed. But it does not end there. A magical book of secrets reveals itself. In this book it tells the story about an underground city as it really happens. Inside the hollow of the tree and approximately ten feet below the surface, an underground elevator is activated, once the owner of the book comes forward. This will lead to a hallway full of doors, each leading to mystical places beyond your wildest dreams. At the end of the first hallway is a rather large room where all hallways begin. A hidden ceiling door slides open with a thunderous ear deafening screech. It is the glass bottom of the Fraser river, in which you are able to view underwater creatures in their natural habitat. Down one of the hallways there is a door to an ancient library that tells the history of the underground. It is referred to as the spell room. There is also another door that leads to the four seasons. A big wooden door separates the hallways full of doors from an underground city called the Packs. Inside this city is a rather unique arena where there is a hockey game like you have never seen before.

In this book I have taken true life events that have actually occurred in my lifetime. My inspiration was about a real life game of Russian roulette. The last soul survivor of five young teenage boys was the one who told me his story. They did not all die from the actual playing of the game, but it did cause the boys a deep depression that took their lives, one by one. However, they did not all die the way my book describes. In fact, one of the boys death's was context I used from a real incident that took place when I was growing up. He was my friend. This boy was being bullied by six other teenage boys. After beating him up and ramming his head through a plate glass window of the local paramount theater, he decided to end it all and jump in front of a train. Bullying is a serious matter that can effect young minds in ways that are so horrible, you might not fi nd out what is really going on with them, until it is too late. May Tommy rest in peace. But I could not end this book here. I believe that when something bad happens, there are always good things to fall in its place. So I threw a few twists into my writings. There is a forest on the outskirts of my home town that was declared the historical cottonwoods, in which I use as the setting for this book. Wandering through the forest one day, I discovered a rather large naturally hollowed out cottonwood tree. This is where one lucky boys adventures begin. The boys built a real working elevator inside the tree that would lead to the bottom of a two story tree house they also constructed. But it does not end there. A magical book of secrets reveals itself. In this book it tells the story about an underground city as it really happens. Inside the hollow of the tree and approximately ten feet below the surface, an underground elevator is activated, once the owner of the book comes forward. This will lead to a hallway full of doors, each leading to mystical places beyond your wildest dreams. At the end of the first hallway is a rather large room where all hallways begin. A hidden ceiling door slides open with a thunderous ear deafening screech. It is the glass bottom of the Fraser river, in which you are able to view underwater creatures in their natural habitat. Down one of the hallways there is a door to an ancient library that tells the history of the underground. It is referred to as the spell room. There is also another door that leads to the four seasons. A big wooden door separates the hallways full of doors from an underground city called the Packs. Inside this city is a rather unique arena where there is a hockey game like you have never seen before.

A frank and enlightening discussion on race and the law in America today, from some of our leading legal minds-including the bestselling author of Just Mercy This blisteringly candid discussion of the American racial dilemma in the age of Black Lives Matter brings together the head of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the former attorney general of the United States, a bestselling author and death penalty lawyer, and a star professor for an honest conversation the country desperately needs to hear. Drawing on their collective decades of work on civil rights issues as well as personal histories of rising from poverty and oppression, these titans of the legal profession discuss the importance of working for justice in an unjust time. Covering topics as varied as "the commonality of pain," "when 'public' became a dirty word," and the concept of an "equality dividend" that is due to people of color for helping America brand itself internationally as a country of diversity and acceptance, Sherrilyn Ifill, Loretta Lynch, Bryan Stevenson, and Anthony C. Thompson engage in a deeply thought-provoking discussion on the law's role in both creating and solving our most pressing racial quandaries. A Perilous Path will speak loudly and clearly to everyone concerned about America's perpetual fault line.