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A Shot In The Moonlight: How a Freed Slave and Confederate Soldier Fought for Justice in the Jim Crow South

Author: Ben Montgomery.

A Shot In The Moonlight: How a Freed Slave and Confederate Soldier Fought for Justice in the Jim Crow South

Author: Ben Montgomery.

$28.00 $6.98
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Item #: D30783
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 304
Publication Date: 2021
Publisher: Little, Brown
ISBN: 9780316535540
In 1897 Kentucky, former slave George Dinning was wrongfully accused of stealing livestock from a neighboring farm; pursued by a mob, he fired back in self-defense, shooting and killing the son of a wealthy Kentucky family. So began one of the strangest legal episodes of its era—one that ended with Dinning becoming the first Black man in America to win... More
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In 1897 Kentucky, former slave George Dinning was wrongfully accused of stealing livestock from a neighboring farm; pursued by a mob, he fired back in self-defense, shooting and killing the son of a wealthy Kentucky family. So began one of the strangest legal episodes of its era—one that ended with Dinning becoming the first Black man in America to win damages after a wrongful murder conviction. Here Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist Ben Montgomery resurrects this dramatic but largely forgotten story whose characters include Bennett Young, the Confederate war hero who became Dinning's lawyer.

"A nuanced exploration of the horrors Southern racism inflicted on Black citizens…. Montgomery brings to light an important turning point in a grim chapter in American history."—Booklist


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