Late at night, a white mob comes to the home of a freed slave (George Dinning) accusing him of stealing and ordering him to leave his Kentucky home. After shots are fired into his home, Dinning fires back with a shotgun filled with birdshot, accidentally killing a white man. After fleeing his home, he surrenders to a nearby sheriff, and is charged with murder. His family is forced to flee their home, which is burned down. Facing mob rule and the threat of lynching, Dinning is able to find legal support from a lawyer (Bennett Young) and protection from the state governor. A landmark legal victory is obtained for wrongful conviction, and damages are awarded, primarily against the few in the mob with little or no money. A true story, based in the late 1890s, in the Jim Crow South, where justice prevails. ( )

Several years ago I went to a local church to hear a Metro Detroit fiber artist talk about her quilt. The quilt was huge, a stark black with thousands of names embroidered on it.
April Anue, the artist, told us how God hounded her to make this quilt, and what it cost her, the anguish and tears that accompanied every name she embroidered. She talked about the horror of making the nooses that ornament the quilt.

The 5,ooo names on the quilt are those of African Americans who had been lynched in America between 1865 and 1965. The title of the quilt is Strange Fruit.

Strange Fruit by April Anue

Five thousand human beings, beaten, tortured, and murdered. Anue researched every name, now memorialized for all to read.

In the Jim Crow South there were black Americans who were harassed, beaten, their homes and livelihoods taken from them, their families traumatized; they were denied protection under the law by the authorities and the courts. How many tens of thousands have been forgotten, their names lost?

Ben Montgomery has brought one man back to life. A freed slave whose white neighbors gathered on moonlit night to demand he leave his hard-earned, modest home and farm. Twenty-five men who claimed to be 'friends.' A man who disguised his voice and wore a handkerchief to hide his identity called to him to come out of his home. When this black man had the audacity not to comply, shots bombarded his home, wounding him. And to protect his home and family, this man shot out his window into the crowd, killing a white man.

His name was George Dinning. He fled into the fields to hide as the white men took their fallen comrade away. The next morning, Dinning's house and barn were burned to the ground. George turned himself into the authorities when he heard that he had killed a man.

The story of that night, Dinning's trial, and what happened afterwards is devastating and moving. And, it is perplexing, for the story of Dinning protecting the sanctity of his home brought a surge of support, including that of a prominent veteran of the Confederate Army who built memorials to Confederate heroes while supporting organizations to benefit freed slaves. He was "foremost in work of charity among our race," one black minister said.

A Shot in the Moonlight incorporates historic documents in a vivid recreation of the events of that night, the trial, and the unexpected twists of fortune afterward. Dinning stood up to power in the courtroom, asking for reparation for his loss. Everything was stacked against him, and when he was denied justice, a deluge of editorials were printed in his defense.

In his book What Unites Us, Dan Rather talks about building consensus on the shared values we all hold dear. The sanctity of home and a man's right to protect his home and family raised sympathy of for Dinning, for every American could sympathize with protecting one's home and family.

This is an amazing story of a brave man, a horrendous tale of hate and racism, and a revelation of race relations in America that brought chills and tears.

I received a free book from Little, Brown Spark. My review is fair and unbiased. ( )

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A Shot in the Moonlight: How a Freed Slave and a Confederate Soldier Fought for Justice in the Jim Crow South by Ben Montgomery tells the true story of George Dinning, a freed slave in the American South and the way he made history. Mr. Montgomery is an award winning reporter and Pulitzer Prize finalist.

This was one of these books that you find once in a while which you simply cannot put down. Mr. Montgomery knows how to tell a story, building a narrative, and tension while keeping the narrative flowing.

A Shot in the Moonlight: How a Freed Slave and a Confederate Soldier Fought for Justice in the Jim Crow South by Ben Montgomery follows a freed slave, George Dinning, an honest, hardworking family man by all accounts. Mr. Dinning lives in Kentucky, the Jim Crow South, and prospering via his work ethic, brains, and good nature. One evening a mob comes to his farm demanding he’d leave town or be lynched. Mr. Dinning was accused of stealing meat and burning a smokehouse – with absolutely no evidence and no history of doing anything even remotely close. The mob shot at the house, Mr. Dinning returned fire and killed one of them, a prosperous white man.

Mr. Dinning, not a stupid man by any means, rode miles away and handed himself into a sheriff he knew would try to protect him. This was dangerous as law men were intimidated by mobs and often gave into lynching to save their own skins. His case would have to be tried in federal court though, since he didn’t have any rights in Kentucky to sue white people. Mr. Dinning made history by being the first freed slave to successfully fight his would be white killers.

The research Mr. Montgomery has put into this book is impressive, the writing even more so. As a true reporter, the author relies on first-hand accounts, while describing the far reaching implications for Kentucky, African-Americans, and the nation as a while.

This book has many fascinating characters, George Dinning of course, but also his lawyer Bennett H. Young. Mr. Young was a man of contradictions. A Confederated soldier, who simultaneously fought for the erection of Confederate monuments, while at the same time operating charities to help the African-American community as well as working pro-bono in the courts, being viewed as a friend for the community.

A fantastic book, telling an amazing story of an important chapter in American history. An important book to read, especially at these trying times. ( )

This is my third book by Ben Montgomery, he is becoming one of my favorite writers. He profiles ordinary people, a risky gambit, but the quality of his writing and the extraordinary events makes them forever memorable. They are unsung heroes who lived through difficult circumstances and succeeded in the end. Such is the case with George Dinning, a freed slave, who in 1899 had a run in with the "white caps" (Clan). It reads as a taught true crime thriller. It is also a reminder what life was like not long ago for the thousands of blacks shot, hanged and burned in the generations after the Civil War, and many others who got away and in some cases got the better of it. The book is transportative back to a time and place, well worth the visit. ( )