Buried in the Bitter Waters: The Hidden History of Racial Cleansing in America

by Elliot Jaspin

Book Overview

"Leave now, or die " Those words-or ones just as ominous-have echoed through the past hundred years of American history, heralding a very unnatural disaster-a wave of racial cleansing that wiped out or drove away black populations from counties across the nation. While we have long known about horrific episodes of lynching in the South, this story of racial cleansing has remained almost entirely unknown. These expulsions, always swift and often...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0465036376
• ISBN13: 9780465036370
• Release Date: May 2008
• Publisher: Basic Books
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Violence, Villainy, Victimization...

... elements of a powerful film on the order of Yojimbo or The Good the Bad and the Ugly - films where a defenseless minority in a village somewhere is terrorized by the rowdiest elements of their majority neighbors, but this time no Toshiro Mifune or Clint Eastwood is on hand to set things right. By individual violence and/or mob intimidation, the minority is driven from its homes and property, often with the memory of the public slaughter of family members to carry with them into exile and to preclude their ever returning. And in every case there is indifference or collusion from the police and other authorities. The heart of Buried in the Bitter Waters is narrative -- twelve tragic stories of violence in twelve far-flung communities, decades apart in time. In each story, ordinary people united by their history and ethnicity suddenly rise against their neighbors of a different history and ethnicity, attack them physically, intimidate them psychologically and economically, and force them to leave the community, never to return under threat of death. It's always majority against minority, of course, or it couldn't be done. And in these stories it's successful; in every case, the community remains "pure" even generations later, and feels darned proud of its purity. True, the level of violence is different from narrative to narrative, but violence is always the means. In one narrative, the mob - provoked by a crime committed by one young man of the minority group - rampages through the minority community. It grabs two young men at random and literally shoots them to pieces. Then it seizes a man considered one of the elders of the minority and lynches him, leaving his body hanging as "a grizly tourist attraction" for two days. When that man's pregnant wife seeks help from the authorities, the mob seizes her also, hangs her upside-down in a tree, douses her with gasoline and sets her on fire, then disembowels her and rips out her eight-month fetus. When the infant cries feebly, one of the mob throws it on the ground and stomps it to death. This is not a scene from a Medieval pogrom, or for the Thirty Years War, or from Nazi Germany, or from sectarian strife in Iraq. The scene of the murdered mother occurred in Georgia in 1918, and all the others narrated in "Buried in Bitter Waters" took place in America - in Tennessee, Texas, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, Missouri, Arkansas. The victims in every case were African-Americans - descendants of slaves brought to the communities by the ancestors of the mob, long-time neighbors but never accepted as such - and the perpetrators of violence in every case were European-Americans, local people, not roving marauders. Ethnic Cleansing is such a horrifying concept that Americans will bristle in anger at the mere suggestion that it has occurred in their country, perhaps in their own region. But it has, and not just once, or in one big outburst. Rather it has occurred spontaneously, at random, an

Loewen's book is good-this is better

"Buried in the Bitter Waters," a look at American ethnic cleansing is inevitably comparable to James Loewen's (slightly) earlier book on the subject, "Sundown Towns." Of the two, I like this one better as Loewen's book, while excellent and informative, is a bit too heavy on the sociology and academia for my liking. This is a bit more layman-friendly. "Buried in the Bitter Waters" pretty much sticks to the stories and recollections of the events in question, although the author does get a bit rambly in th end with a story of the Atlanta newspaper's timidity in reporting racial incidents in nearby Forsyth County. Overall, it's a pretty good informal read of obscure (and uncomfortable) American history.

Leave now, or die

Elliot Jaspin does a superb job of uncovering the hidden history of about a dozen American counties where the white citizens used violence and the threat of violence to force their black neighbors to move out of the county. It's ugly history that many white people might be reluctant to hear about, which is why it's been hidden for so long. But Jaspin tells the stories with a compelling and passionate voice that makes for very accessible and important reading for anyone who cares about the American history of race. However, this book is not only about history. In his final chapter, Jaspin, who researched this history for both this book and a series of newspaper articles, recounts the struggles over the publication of the newspaper articles. This chapter shows that the impulse to keep the hidden history hidden is still strong -- for example, by resisting the term "racial cleansing" and holding to the legend (that Jaspin refutes) that the black people were generally compensated for their loss of land and property. This final chapter ends on a hopeful note with a story of truth and reconciliation that shows that the truth can lead to healing. I encourage anyone interested in the American history of race to read this important book.

Goosebumps, Passing Darkness, Wish to See Light

I wish I could say that I cried over this book, but the truth is that I am so accustomed to America's legacy of genocide, social injustice, and external fraud, regime change, and invasion that I simply sighed and thought, "wow, about time this came to light." This is a stunning book that should be read by every American of every race, creed, and class. I previously reviewed a book today that discussed how white supremacy views were one of the causes of the downfall of democracy after the Civil War. I believe this. As a Marine, I learned there are only Marines, some dark green, some light green. That lesson has NOT been learned by all Americans, and that is one reason I favor a restoration of universal national service (including two years for any immigrant granted citizenship, at any age), with the option of armed, peace, or homeland service. I am Latino by culture, white by race, intelligent by design (pun intended). I believe that America genocided the native Americans, genocided the people of color, and is now in the process of disenfranchising the Latinos while making commons cause with the Asians. None of this bodes well for a Republic that is supposed to offer Liberty & Justice for all as the foundation for collective intelligence and the sovereign We the People. The Constitution has been trashed by Dick Cheney and his neo-conservative and Christo-fascist supporters, and it is high time someone stood up and said ENOUGH--we must make common cause with the people of color, embrace their leaders, both self-selected and elected, and MOVE ON beyond the corporate socialism and the corrupt political party environments that have broken the middle class and impoverished the working ppor--which the author of the book by that title points out, should be but is not an oxymoron. This is an important book. I hope it shames some, causes dispair in others, and that overall, it rises to be a liberation manifesto, a starting point for a Truth and Reconciliation Commission within America, to reveal, curse, and forgive all that has been done to the people of color on the assumption, the grotesque assumption, of white supremacy. I share Martin Luther King's dream, and I am committed to seeing it fulfilled. Semper Fidelis, Robert Steele Bonhoeffer Improper behavior The Populist Moment: A Short History of the Agrarian Revolt in America (Galaxy Books) Al On America Vice: Dick Cheney and the Hijacking of the American Presidency American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War On America The Color of Fascism: Lawrence Dennis, Racial Passing, and the Rise of Right-Wing Extremism in the United States

DEEPLY MOVING AND FACTUAL

Regrettably, there is a great deal in our country's history of which we are now ashamed. Surely the years between 1874 and the 1920s in America saw some of the most deplorable events. During that period of time racial cleansing took place over a wide geographical area. This was cruel, senseless and more to our disgrace these actions were condoned at the time and glossed over today. Author Jaspin is twice a Pulitzer Prize winner, and is a reporter for Cox Newspapers. Years of prodigious research were poured into his book which presents clear evidence of what took place. Yet we hear of what was an apparent whitewash by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "Editors ignored clear conflicts of interest while editing the racial cleansing series. Procedures designed to protect the integrity of the reporting process were dispensed with. And finally the head of the company's newspaper division overrode the judgment of editors in Austin and Washington and ordered that a different term be substituted for 'racial cleansings.' It is a cautionary tale about the lingering shame that trumps honest discussion of the full history of America's racial cleansings." How sad that racial cleansing did occur - sadder yet that some will not acknowledge our misdeeds. The apt title for Jaspin's book comes from the pen of Zora Neale Hurston: "Ah done died in grief and been buried in de bitter waters, and Ah done rose agin from de dead lak Lazarus. " For those who heard "Leave now, or die!" their lives were overturned in mere hours as they fled carrying what possessions they could. Those were the lucky ones - countless others were killed, their homes burned as blacks were driven from entire counties. Thus, even today some of these areas are still "lily-white." According to the courts blacks were not considered citizens. Thus, it was quite literally leave or die. Jaspin bases his information on countless interviews, census records, and archives. It is a tragic story but a true one. Actor Don Leslie offers an accomplished reading of Buried in the Bitter Waters, clearly stating facts and movingly relating the words of those interviewed. Highly recommended. - Gail Cooke