| A Hanging in Nacogdoches: Murder, Race, Politics, and Polemics in Texas's Oldest Town, 1870-1916 Contributor(s): Borders, Gary B. (Author) |
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ISBN: 0292712995 ISBN-13: 9780292712997 Publisher: University of Texas Press OUR PRICE: $24.75 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: March 2006 Annotation: "The contribution of A Hanging in Nacogdoches is not limited to that city, East Texas, or even the state.... The purpose of the author's presentation is to show life-- race relations, politics, the economy-- in a typical ...Southern town at the transition from the nineteenth to the twentieth century. Borders argues, and demonstrates, that Nacogdoches was, indeed, typical for its time and place." -- Archie P. McDonald, Regent's Professor of History, Stephen F. Austin State University On October 17, 1902, in Nacogdoches, Texas, a black man named James Buchanan was tried without representation, condemned, and executed for the murder of a white family-- all in the course of three hours. Two white men played pivotal roles in these events: Bill Haltom, a leading local Democrat and the editor of the Nacogdoches Sentinel, who condemned lynching but defended lynch mobs, and A. J. Spradley, a Populist sheriff who, with the aid of hundreds of state militiamen, barely managed to keep the mob from burning Buchanan alive, only to escort him to the gallows following his abbreviated trial. Each man's story serves to illuminate a part of the path that led to the terrible parody of justice which lies at the heart of A Hanging in Nacogdoches. The turn of the twentieth century was a time of dramatic change for the people of East Texas. Frightened by the Populist Party's attempts to unite poor blacks and whites in a struggle for economic justice, white Democrats defended their power base by exploiting racial tensions in a battle that ultimately resulted in the complete disenfranchisement of the black population of East Texas. In telling the story of a single lynching, Gary Bordersdramatically illustrates the way politics and race combined to bring horrific violence to small southern towns like Nacogdoches. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - True Crime | Murder - General - History | United States - State & Local - General |
| Dewey: 364.134 |
| LCCN: 2005024084 |
| Series: Clifton and Shirley Caldwell Texas Heritage |
| Physical Information: 0.54" H x 6.12" W x 8.98" (0.71 lbs) 239 pages |
| Themes: - Cultural Region - Mid-South - Cultural Region - South - Geographic Orientation - Texas - Chronological Period - 1851-1899 - Chronological Period - 1900-1919 |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: "The contribution of A Hanging in Nacogdoches is not limited to that city, East Texas, or even the state. . . . The purpose of the author's presentation is to show life-race relations, politics, the economy-in a typical . . . Southern town at the transition from the nineteenth to the twentieth century. Borders argues, and demonstrates, that Nacogdoches was, indeed, typical for its time and place."-Archie P. McDonald, Regent's Professor of History, Stephen F. Austin State UniversityOn October 17, 1902, in Nacogdoches, Texas, a black man named James Buchanan was tried without representation, condemned, and executed for the murder of a white family-all in the course of three hours. Two white men played pivotal roles in these events: Bill Haltom, a leading local Democrat and the editor of the Nacogdoches Sentinel, who condemned lynching but defended lynch mobs, and A. J. Spradley, a Populist sheriff who, with the aid of hundreds of state militiamen, barely managed to keep the mob from burning Buchanan alive, only to escort him to the gallows following his abbreviated trial. Each man's story serves to illuminate a part of the path that led to the terrible parody of justice which lies at the heart of A Hanging in Nacogdoches. The turn of the twentieth century was a time of dramatic change for the people of East Texas. Frightened by the Populist Party's attempts to unite poor blacks and whites in a struggle for economic justice, white Democrats defended their power base by exploiting racial tensions in a battle that ultimately resulted in the complete disenfranchisement of the black population of East Texas. In telling the story of a single lynching, Gary Borders dramatically illustrates the way politics and race combined to bring horrific violence to small southern towns like Nacogdoches. |
Contributor Bio(s): Borders, Gary B.: - Gary Borders is a lifelong East Texas newspaperman who served as the publisher and editor of the Nacogdoches Daily Sentinel from 1993 to 2003. He lives in Lufkin, Texas, where he is the publisher of the Lufkin Daily News. |