The Three Death Sentences of Clarence Henderson: A Battle for Racial Justice at the Dawn of the Civil Rights Era
Chris Joyner
Abrams Books
Clarence Henderson, a wrongfully accused Black sharecropper, was sentenced to die three different times for a murder he didn’t commit by a prosecution desperate to pin the crime on him despite scant evidence. The Communist Party and the NAACP sparred over who would take the lead on Henderson’s defense, during which time he spent years in prison away from a daughter he had never seen. The case pitted powerful forces—often those steering legal and journalistic institutions—attempting to use racism and Red-Scare tactics against a populace that by and large believed the case against Henderson was suspect at best. Ultimately, it’s a hopeful story about how even when things look dark, some small measure of justice can be achieved against all the odds, and actual progress is possible. It’s the rare book that is a timely read, yet still manages to shed an informative light on America’s past and future, as well as its present.