Amy Mallard and Racial Justice

In this book, Matthew Lippman
details the little-known story of Amy Mallard, a schoolteacher from rural
Georgia who, after the lynching of her husband, Robert "Duck" Mallard, in 1948,
courageously sought justice through the legal system. Lippman explores Mallard's
trajectory from a victim to a civil rights activist.

The
story begins with Amy Mallard's arrest for her husband's murder. Making
extensive use of primary and secondary sources, including historical and
current news articles, Mallard's interviews, and the NAACP Papers, Lippman
chronicles her journey from her exoneration and testimony at the trial to her
activism at the national level. A founding member of the Sojourners for Truth
and Justice, she also worked with the Civil Rights Congress, where she assisted
with three pivotal civil rights cases and helped submit the famous "We Charge
Genocide" petition to the United Nations.

An
important addition to the history of African American women, racial violence in
Georgia, and justice in the post-World War II South, Amy Mallard and Racial
Justice situates Mallard's story within social and legal history. This book
outlines how the American legal system failed in its promise of delivering
justice and accountability to Mallard and many other Black Americans like
her.

Publication of this work made
possible by a Sustaining the Humanities through the American Rescue Plan grant
from the National Endowment for the Humanities.