{"product_id":"murder-on-the-hatchie-the-naacps-first-martyr-9798341901018","title":"Murder on the Hatchie: The Naacp's First Martyr","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe forgotten lynching that launched America's fight for Black voting rights--and the federal cover-up that followed.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eMurder on the Hatchie \u003c\/i\u003euncovers one of the earliest and most consequential crimes in America's long struggle for Black voting rights: the 1940 lynching of Elbert Williams in Brownsville, Tennessee. A founding member of the local NAACP, Williams was murdered for attempting to register Black voters, decades before the more famous murders of Emmett Till and Medgar Evers.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThrough rigorous research and gripping narrative, retired trial attorney Jim Emison reconstructs the events surrounding Williams's lynching and the federal government's failure to prosecute his killers. Drawing on FBI files, Department of Justice correspondence, and eyewitness accounts, Emison reconstructs how white officials conspired to silence a community, implicating local law enforcement, federal agents, and even national NAACP leadership.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eEmison repositions Brownsville as a pivotal site in civil rights history and exposes how voter suppression, racial terror, and government complicity shaped the American democracy we inherit today. With a foreword by Margaret A. Burnham, \u003ci\u003eMurder on the Hatchie\u003c\/i\u003e challenges liberal assumptions about justice and the embedded character of Jim Crow. For readers of \u003ci\u003eBlood Done Sign My Name\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eBy Hands Now Known\u003c\/i\u003e, this is both a gripping true-crime investigation and a vital work of historical restoration.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Broadleaf Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 10\/20\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9798341901018\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 275\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e 08\/01\/2026 pg. 90\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Jim Emison","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53024727204021,"sku":"9798341901018","price":24.64,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/files\/9798341901018.jpg?v=1787667923","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/murder-on-the-hatchie-the-naacps-first-martyr-9798341901018","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}