Bitter Harvest: Richmond Flowers and the Civil Rights Revolution

by John Hayman

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1881320464
• ISBN13: 9781881320463
• Release Date: January 1996
• Publisher: Black Belt Press
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 1.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Show Me a Hero and I Will Write You a Tragedy - F. Scott Fitzgerald

Bitter Harvest recounts the interesting story of Richmond Flowers, who served as Alabama's Attorney General during the Civil Rights movement (1963-1967). In sharp contrast to almost all of Alabama's other leaders, Flowers tried to uphold the law. Flowers attempted, without success, to prosecute white Alabamans for killing Civil Rights workers. Flowers' story is fascinating and keeps the pages turning. Flowers grew up in a wealthy Alabama family, had a very promising start to his political career, and had no plans to become a martyr for Civil Rights. For his efforts as Attorney General, Flowers received the enmity of many whites and his political prospects withered. Flowers ran for governor in 1966 and lost in a landslide. In 1969, he was convicted of corruption and he subsequently spent 18 months in federal prison. (Jimmy Carter later pardoned Flowers). (Interestingly, Flowers' son - Richmond Jr. - was a star athlete who played football for the Dallas Cowboys and the New York Giants). While Flowers' story is interesting, Bitter Harvest has some shortcomings. Author John Hayman spends too many pages recounting national events that had little to do with Flowers; at times, it seems as though Flowers has disappeared from his own biography. An unsatisfying aspect of Bitter Harvest is that no one can state with certainty whether Flowers' prison sentence was deserved or politically motivated. Flowers certainly does everything he can to blame his conviction on others; but the unanswered questions will nag Bitter Harvest's readers. In the end, Bitter Harvest is an interesting character study of one man's response to the challenges of the Civil Rights movement. It is well worth reading. (Another interesting book along these lines is The Cost of Courage about former Alabama congressman Carl Elliot).