Book: A Time of Terror- by James Cameron

I really want to keep my blogs family friendly. I try to avoid topics that are not suitable for everyone. I would like to think a 9 year old or a 90 year old can check out this blog. I want this to be a blog that anyone interested in travel and other topics can come to and relax.

I like to include a scan of the cover of a book when I mention it, but I just couldn't do it this time.

"A Time of Terror" by civil rights activist James Cameron gives the story of a 17 year old James, as he starts to rob a couple at gun point with two of his friends in Marion Indiana. The year is 1930, and James and his two friends are black.

James changes his mind about the robbery, and runs away. His two friends, Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith, go ahead with the crime, and one of the victims ends up dead.

That evening, all participants are picked up by the local authorities.

James gives his account of being beaten by the police until he signs a confession.

Later, James watched from his cell as his two friends are beaten and killed by a mob.

The mob then takes James from jail. They also beat him. As Shipp and Smith hang from a tree, the crowd prepares to hang Cameron too.

James says that for reasons he cannot fully explain, the crowd changed its mind. He claimed to still have scars on his neck from the rope that was to be used for his hanging.

The rest of the book talks about James' trial, his time in jail, and his life after that day in 1930.

I search for a copy of this somewhat hard to find book after hearing a rebroadcast of an interview with James Cameron on NPR. James sounded humble and kind. Sadly, his passed away in 2006.

It looks like this book was last published in 1994, and it is begging for a reprint. It deserves to be in print now.

The cover of the book is a famous photo taken of Shipp and Smith hanging from a tree with mob surrounding them. It is a very graphic picture. It inspired the Billie Holiday song, "Strange Fruit."

If you can find a copy pick it up. This is an almost unbelievable 1st hand account of a lynching.