num_pages: 560
description: Winner of the Southern Book Critics Circle Award for NonfictionThis extraordinary account of lynching in America, by acclaimed civil rights historian Philip Dray, shines a clear, bright light on American history’s darkest stain—illuminating its causes, perpetrators, apologists, and victims. Philip Dray also tells the story of the men and women who led the long and difficult fight to expose and eradicate lynching, including Ida B. Wells, James Weldon Johnson, Walter White, and W.E.B. Du Bois. If lynching is emblematic of what is worst about America, their fight may stand for what is best: the commitment to justice and fairness and the conviction that one individual’s sense of right can suffice to defy the gravest of wrongs. This landmark book follows the trajectory of both forces over American history—and makes lynching’s legacy belong to us all.
language: English
title: At the Hands of Persons Unknown: The Lynching of Black America
titlecomplete: At the Hands of Persons Unknown: The Lynching of Black America
genres: Historical, True Crime, History, African American, Social Issues, American History, Social Justice, Race, Politics, Nonfiction
ratings_count: 641
awards: awardedAt: 1041408000000
name: Pulitzer Prize
category: History
publisher: Modern Library