He Calls Me by Lightning

In "He Calls Me by Lightning," historian S. Jonathan Bass chronicles the harrowing journey of Caliph Washington, a Black teenager from Bessemer, Alabama, who was wrongfully convicted of murdering a police officer in 1957. Facing imminent execution multiple times, Washington's Kafka-esque struggle against a flawed legal system culminated in his eventual release in 1972 after three overturned convictions. This compelling narrative vividly illustrates the devastating impact of systemic racism in the Jim Crow South and highlights Washington's remarkable resilience in the face of injustice.