In August 1887, Captain Richard F. Woolfolk and six other members of his family were brutally murdered in rural Bibb County, near Macon, Georgia. The national media frenzy surrounding the killing of this prominent family led to the arrest of the sole survivor, son Tom Woolfolk. A single reporter and a lone attorney fought the prejudiced system in Tom's favor, but all three went to their deaths.
Rebecca and Ronald Akins and their three daughters appeared to be a typical suburban family in 1970 Macon, Georgia, but the attractive facade hid a family in crisis. The girls suffered physical and emotional abuse at the hands of their mother. Although he sometimes worked three jobs, Ronnie was never able to provide Becky the lifestyle she wanted. After their 1974 divorce, Becky took the children to South Florida where she pursued a life of gambling and partying. Fueled by popular books and films, she wanted to live in what she believed was the exciting world of organized crime and changed her name to Machetti. In only a few months, she found two men who joined her in her murderous fantasy which culminated in two deaths. The resulting legal proceedings went on for more than a decade. This is the story of Rebecca Machetti, a cold-blooded woman whose prosecutor described as pure evil and her three daughters who lived through years of abuse before finally finding peace and normal lives.
The adult accomplishments of this Founding Father, architect of the Constitution and first Secretary of the Treasury are legendary, and in this latest offering, children meet the young "Alec" growing up in the Caribbean as he dreams of visiting the land called America. Accompanied by his parrot, Hurry-Up, and his companion, Poleon, Alec's tranquil days are filled with the books he loves and visits to the waterfront to greet the large ships arriving from Europe—until his uncle insists that Alec fit riding lessons into his schedule. Children will identify with Alec's struggle to overcome his fear of horses and cheer at his courage as he narrowly escapes a violent hurricane while on horseback, all while keeping his eye on the prize—school in America. Featured sections and fun facts explain what happened next and when Alexander Hamilton lived, providing young readers with a snapshot of the leader's entire life.
On May 12, 1960, as John F. Kennedy campaigned for the presidency, Chester Burge—slumlord, liquor runner, and the black sheep of the proud (and wealthy) Dunlap family of Macon, Georgia—lay in a hospital bed, recovering from surgery. He listened to the radio as the news reported that his wife had just been murdered. Police soon ruled out robbery as a motive, and suspicion centered upon the Ku Klux Klan, which two weeks earlier had descended upon his house to protest his renting of homes in white neighborhoods to black families. Then, on June 1, Chester was charged with the murder, and when the trial finally began, the sweet Southern town of Macon witnessed a story of epic proportions—a tale of white-columned mansions, an insane asylum, real people as “Southern grotesque” as the characters of Flannery O’Connor, and a volatile mix of taboo interracial relationships and homosexuality. This was a story as fantastical as a Greek tragedy, complete with a stunning conclusion. It is told in riveting detail in Richard Jay Hutto’s A Peculiar Tribe of People. Chester Burge was a walking streak of deception and sex. After weaseling his way to be the caretaker of the last Dunlap sister and forcing his way into her will, Burge and his family inherited a fortune as well as one of the family mansions. Then came his numerous assignations with men—including his black chauffeur—and, either single-handedly or with help from a lover, the murder of his wife. The trial would spawn the first testimony in Georgia history of a black man disclosing that he had been a white man’s sexual partner. Burge would be acquitted of murder, but convicted of sodomy. And yet, this Southern grotesque tale would take even more twists and turns before coming to an explosive conclusion.
A longitudinal study of race relations in a major southern city, Macon Black and White examines the ways white and black Maconites interacted over the course of the entire twentieth century. Beginning in the 1890s, in what has been called the nadir of race relations in America, Andrew M. Manis traces the arduous journey toward racial equality in the heart of Central Georgia. The book describes how, despite incremental progress toward that goal, segregationist pressures sought to silence voices for change on both sides of the color line. Providing a snapshot of black-white relations for every decade of the twentieth century, this compellingly written story highlights the ways indigenous development in Macon combined with other statewide, regional, and national factors to shape the struggle for and against racial equality. Manis shows how both African-Americans and a cadre of white moderates, separately and at times together, gradually increased pressure for change in a conservative Georgia city. Showcasing how disfranchisement, lynching, interracial efforts toward the humanization of segregation, the world wars, and the Civil Rights Movement affected the pace of change, Manis describes the eventual rise of a black political class and the election of Macon's first African-American mayor. The book uses demographic realities as well as the perspectives of black and white Maconites to paint a portrait of contemporary black-white relations in the city. Manis concludes with suggestions on how the city might continue the struggle for racial justice and overcome the unutterable separation that still plagues Macon in the early years of a new century. Macon Black and White is a powerful storythat no one interested in racial change over time can afford to miss.
CITIZENS OF AMERICA Please consider this: as a nation, we stood by and allowed Troy Davis to be executed within the guidelines of the law; but not considering justice at all. With almost one million petitioners requesting clemency-over fifty members of congress, a former President, members of the jury that convicted and sentenced Troy, his legal team, his family, his church, and Troy-the one official board with the authority to do so ignored the cries of the people that Troy Davis had come to represent, refused to do so, and then put Troy to death. "LAW NOT JUSTICE." What's more, the final hope was not the Supreme Court; no one tried the White House! My request is that you investigate the "Pamela Smart Case" in New York. With her only wrong doing being infidelity (an extramarital affair), she has served over twenty years of her sentence (life without parole) in prison. Governor Cuomo is aware of her case, but has no power or authority to help her. She has no hope of freedom unless YOU help her. If YOU want to be a part of justice for Pamela, call your Federal Congressman (preferably your Senator) and express your opinion. Then write President Obama at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington DC. 20500, and ask for clemency for Pamela Smart, by President Obama ordering her release from prison, and by commuting her sentence to time served.
The true story of a woman’s fight for her brother’s life—and her own: “Essential for those interested in the U.S. justice system” (Library Journal). On September 21, 2011, Troy Anthony Davis was put to death by the State of Georgia. Davis’s execution was protested by hundreds of thousands of people across the globe, and Pope Benedict XVI, Pres. Jimmy Carter, and fifty-one members of Congress all appealed for clemency. Davis’s older sister, Martina, a former Army flight nurse who had served in the Gulf War, was one of Davis’s strongest advocates—despite the fact that she was battling liver and metastatic breast cancer and died just weeks after her brother’s death by lethal injection. This book, coauthored by Martina and writer Jen Marlowe, tells the intimate story of an ordinary man caught up in an inexorable tragedy. From his childhood in racially charged Savannah; to the confused events that led to the 1989 shooting of a police officer; to Davis’s sudden arrest, conviction, and two-decade fight to prove his innocence, I Am Troy Davis takes us inside a broken legal system where life and death hang in the balance. It is also an inspiring testament to the unbreakable bond of family and the resilience of love, and reminds us that even when you reach the end of justice, voices from across the world can rise together in chorus and proclaim, “I am Troy Davis.” “Martina Correia’s heroic fight to save her brother’s life while battling for her own serves as a powerful testament for activists.” —The Nation “Should be read and cherished.” —Maya Angelou, author and civil rights activist
Hanging the Macon County Witch is a true story. The hanging outlined in this book really took place in Lafayette, Tennessee in the late spring of 1845. This bizarre story follows a slave woman named Lize - who claims to be a witch by the way - from the time Wilson Meador purchased her, until the Macon County Sheriff hanged her. This story has several weird twists and turns, including Lize trading her own head to a local doctor for ginger cakes and hard cider. Truth is stranger than fiction and this true story is as strange as they come!
ATTENTION "SHADOW CHASERS" FANS: This edition includes new never-before-published-photograph of Thomas G. Woolfolk.In the early morning hours of August 6, 1887 in rural Bibb County, Georgia, Captain Richard F. Woolfolk and eight members of his family died at the hands of an axe murderer. A single member of the household survived the attack. Tom woolfolk, the Captain's eldest son escaped the slaughter and sounded the alarm, only to be arrested for the crime. On October 29, 1890, after languishing in jell, chained to the wall of his cell for three years, enduring countless trials, he calmly climbed the steps to the gallows, proclaimed his innocence one last time and forgave those who were about to kill him.After extensive research, and in vivid detail, author Carolyn DeLoach has been able to capture the emotions of the period. Shadow Chasers is a factual account of one of the most horrendous crimes in the history of the state of Georgia, as told by the actual participants, in their own words. Ms. DeLoach guides the reader through the tangled web of tragic events and subtly presents haunting evidence that a serial mass murderer was protected by the political forces of the State, and an innocent man was sacrificed. The murderers of the Woolfolk family went on to kill others; including another. Shadow Chasers changed history by revealing who actually killed the Woolfolk family.
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A modern classic of true crime, set in a most beguiling Southern city—now in a 30th anniversary edition with a new afterword by the author “Elegant and wicked . . . might be the first true-crime book that makes the reader want to book a bed and breakfast for an extended weekend at the scene of the crime.”—The New York Times Book Review Shots rang out in Savannah’s grandest mansion in the misty, early morning hours of May 2, 1981. Was it murder or self-defense? For nearly a decade, the shooting and its aftermath reverberated throughout this hauntingly beautiful city of moss-hung oaks and shaded squares. In this sharply observed, suspenseful, and witty narrative, John Berendt skillfully interweaves a hugely entertaining first-person account of life in this isolated remnant of the Old South with the unpredictable twists and turns of a landmark murder case. It is a spellbinding story peopled by a gallery of remarkable characters: the well-bred society ladies of the Married Woman’s Card Club; the turbulent young gigolo; the hapless recluse who owns a bottle of poison so powerful it could kill every man, woman, and child in Savannah; the aging and profane Southern belle who is the “soul of pampered self-absorption”; the uproariously funny drag queen; the acerbic and arrogant antiques dealer; the sweet-talking, piano-playing con artist; young people dancing the minuet at the black debutante ball; and Minerva, the voodoo priestess who works her magic in the graveyard at midnight. These and other Savannahians act as a Greek chorus, with Berendt revealing the alliances, hostilities, and intrigues that thrive in a town where everyone knows everyone else. Brilliantly conceived and masterfully written, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is a sublime and seductive reading experience.
