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Title details for A Second Reckoning by Scott D. Seligman - Available

A Second Reckoning

Race, Injustice, and the Last Hanging in Annapolis

by Scott D. Seligman
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2022 IPPY Silver Medal
2021 Foreword Indies Gold Winner for History
2021-22 Reader Views Literary Awards Silver Medal Winner
2021 Best Book Awards Finalist in US History sponsored by American Book Fest
A Second Reckoning tells the story of John Snowden, a Black man accused of the murder of a pregnant white woman in Annapolis, Maryland, in 1917. He refused to confess despite undergoing torture, was tried—through legal shenanigans—by an all-white jury, and was found guilty on circumstantial evidence and sentenced to death. Despite hair-raising, last-minute appeals to spare his life, Snowden was hanged for the crime. But decades after his death, thanks to tireless efforts by interested citizens and family members who believed him a victim of a "legal lynching," Snowden was pardoned posthumously by the governor of Maryland in 2001.
A Second Reckoning uses Snowden's case to bring posthumous pardons into the national conversation about amends for past racial injustices. Scott D. Seligman argues that the repeal of racist laws and policies must be augmented by reckoning with America's judicial past, especially in cases in which prejudice may have tainted procedures or perverted verdicts, evidence of bias survives, and a constituency exists for a second look. Seligman illustrates the profound effects such acts of clemency have on the living and ends with a siren call for a reexamination of such cases on the national level by the Department of Justice, which officially refuses to consider them.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    October 1, 2021

  • Formats

    • Kindle Book

    • OverDrive Read

      • ISBN: 9781640124868

    • EPUB ebook

      • ISBN: 9781640124868
      • File size: 6059 KB

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Library Journal

      July 30, 2021

      In this page-turner, historian Seligman (The Great Kosher Meat War of 1902) doggedly digs up seemingly every detail on the arrest, trial, conviction, and post-trial experiences of John Snowden, a Black man convicted of murdering a pregnant white woman in Annapolis, MD, in 1917. The murder and trial gained national attention due to sensationalistic reports from the press; fevered worries about racial unrest amid early mobilization for World War I; and the persistent efforts by Snowden's defense lawyers, Black journalists, clergymen, and civil rights activists, and various white supporters, to overturn the conviction and save Snowden from execution. Snowden's defenders argued that racism had corrupted his trial and the appeal process. Seligman introduces and gives rich detail on an interesting cast of detectives, lawyers, judges, government officials, clergy, and civil rights activists who became involved in the story. Seligman's principal purpose in relating this history is to make a case for posthumous pardons for Black Americans and others who, like Snowden, were unjustly convicted of crimes. He closes his book with an ardent plea to vigorously investigate and interrogate past judicial actions to right past wrongs and set a standard for justice today. VERDICT Calling for ongoing systemic change, this short book packs a big punch and will resonate with many in the 21st century.--Randall M. Miller, St. Joseph's Univ., Philadelphia

      Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • Kindle Book
  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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