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When the topic is lynching, people want to hear
The question was a familiar one, but my answer was new, an admission that I had never made before. Yesterday, at a presentation before the members of Mary Washington ElderStudy, an audience member asked, “Why did you pursue this project?” He and others before him seemed puzzled that I would devote time and energy to
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One set of facts but two different stories
Tom Davenport and I have worked together on this project for many months. We’ve shared files and photographs and joined forces for more than a dozen interviews. But I’ve always known that the film he’s making will be different than the book I wrote, The Last Lynching in Northern Virginia. Tom has a more complicated story
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I write in praise of Rankin’s True Value
You would think I had won the lottery the way I was hootin’ and hollerin’ around here this morning. The reason was my conversation with Ken Rankin of Warrenton. Ken is a member of the family that founded and operates Rankin’s True Value Hardware. I learned about his store yesterday when talking to Adam Kidd,
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On the flight, death and skull. New details emerge
I knew from my years as a reporter that it was not unusual to hear from key sources after publication. That is what happened with The Last Lynching in Northern Virginia. New sources came forward with new details. In September, two weeks after the book came out, a member of the Shedrick Thompson family wrote
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The mystery of Martinsburg is solved
Of the many puzzling aspects of the Shedrick Thompson story, one of the most curious is Thompson’s connection to Martinsburg, West Virginia. Why were authorities in Fauquier County so focused on that small West Virginia city? Now, thanks to Julia Mopkins, we know. Within hours of Thompson’s attack on Henry and Mamie Baxley in July
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‘That’s W.W. Pearson.’
I realized later that I forgot to ask the lady her name. Perhaps I was distracted by the photos she pulled from her notebook during a recent book signing at the Culpeper County Library. She had two black-and-white pictures, one of a man in an overcoat and hat, and the other of the same man,
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Banned in Warrenton? I hope not
I expected this book to be judged on whether it is informative, entertaining and accurate. I did not expect it to be judged on whether it was “sensitive.” Sensitive? A history book? I bring this up because of an email I received last week from a publicist at History Press, the publisher. She wrote that
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The book has been written, yet the story still unfolds
First, I got a picture of Shedrick Thompson’s father, and then pictures of his siblings. And yesterday, I saw for the first time a picture of his mother. Maybe, if my luck holds, I will someday see a picture of Thompson himself. Thompson is a key figure in The Last Lynching in Northern Virginia. He
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Mining a family photo for tantalizing clues
Of all that’s come to light after publication of The Last Lynching in Northern Virginia, the photo of Sarah Rector McGee may be the most interesting. McGee was the aunt of Shedrick Thompson, the man lynched on Rattlesnake Mountain in Fauquier County. Thompson’s mother was her sister. In the picture, she is surrounded by Ola,
Author & Lecturer
Jim Hall 