On February 25, 1946, African Americans in Columbia, Tennessee, averted the lynching of James Stephenson, a nineteen-year-old, black Navy veteran accused of attacking a white radio repairman at a local department store. That night, after Stephenson was safely out of town, four of Columbia's police officers were shot and wounded when they tried to enter the town's black business district. The next morning, the Tennessee Highway Patrol invaded the district, wrecking establishments and beating men as they arrested them. By day's end, more than one hundred African Americans had been jailed. Two days later, highway patrolmen killed two of the arrestees while they were awaiting release from jail. Drawing on oral interviews and a rich array of written sources, Gail Williams O'Brien tells the dramatic story of the Columbia "race riot," the national attention it drew, and its surprising legal aftermath. In the process, she illuminates the effects of World War II on race relations and the criminal justice system in the United States. O'Brien argues that the Columbia events are emblematic of a nationwide shift during the 1940s from mob violence against African Americans to increased confrontations between blacks and the police and courts. As such, they reveal the history behind such contemporary conflicts as the Rodney King and O. J. Simpson cases.

Includes the decisions of the Supreme Courts of Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Texas, and Court of Appeals of Kentucky; Aug./Dec. 1886-May/Aug. 1892, Court of Appeals of Texas; Aug. 1892/Feb. 1893-Jan./Feb. 1928, Courts of Civil and Criminal Appeals of Texas; Apr./June 1896-Aug./Nov. 1907, Court of Appeals of Indian Territory; May/June 1927-Jan./Feb. 1928, Courts of Appeals of Missouri and Commission of Appeals of Texas.

Through the Eyes of the Accused takes the reader on a literary journey into the drinking establishments as we meet James, Tammy, Sally, and Dawn. James' romantic attention shifts from Denise to Dawn, and the former doesn't take this lying down. Tammy plots to have James arrested with a trumped up story of sexual assult. "Great idea," Tammy says, "lets nail that creep". Their efforts are sadly successful and he is hauled before Judge Thomas who sets bail at fifteen hundred dollars. The reader watches the legal dealings that follow and share James' frustration at the injustice - "How could someone do something so rotten to another human being?" Later in the book James finds a new romantic partner brought into his life; he begins to date Tina. The court gives him five years probation. Soon Dave, the probation officer, has him tested as being intoxicated over the legal limit - a violation of probation. "You people have been trying to put me in jail right from the beginning and now you've got you wish," James defiantly tells Dave. He finds himself sentenced to nine months in jail all stemming from a crime he didn't commit. Through The Eyes of the Accused does not shirk from taking the reader inside the jail cell for the pain suffered there. Ultimately Jim and Tina focus on a plan to get Denise to spill the beans. Tina goes undercover with several others and unbeknownst to Denise, she is tape recorded describing how she framed him. At last vindicated, he is release from jail - "It seems so good to be out of here... it's finally over."

Rethinking the Color Line is a collection of theoretically-informed and empirically-grounded readings on race and race relations that illustrate how race and ethnicity influence aspects of social life in ways that are often made invisible by culture, politics and economics.