The Penalty for Success

Book excerpt: The Penalty For Success: My Father Was Lynched In Lowndes County Alabama tells the story of the murder of a black man in 1940s Lowndes County, Alabama. It is a story that changes the traditional definition of "lynching" in America. Until recent years, a lynching was associated with murder by hanging, usually in the presence of a mob of people. Sometimes it also included severe mutilation and burning of the body. Josephine Bolling McCall's story of her father's murder presents convincing evidence that he was lynched, although he was not hanged, mutilated, or burned before a crowd of people. Elmore Bolling was shot six times in the front of his body with a pistol and once in the back with a shotgun. The presumption is that two shooters were involved. In exploring the events in her father's life, Jo McCall demonstrates that, not only was he lynched, but he was murdered simply because he was too prosperous to be a black man in rural Lowndes County, Alabama.In recounting her father's story, Mrs. McCall explores her ancestral roots, dating back to the pre-civil war era, and the evolution of her family to a status of entrepreneurs during the 1940s in the heart of the Alabama Black Belt. She places her narrative in the historical context of the Lowndes County she knew as a child and had to, in her words, "escape from" with her mother and siblings in order to save their lives. Through years of research, including interviews with relatives and elderly Lowndes County residents, Mrs. Bolling sought and found answers to many troubling questions that she had about her family, especially about events in her father's life. Her journey of discovery presents a revealing narrative of a time, a place, and a people that challenges us to rethink the reality of life for both blacks and whites in a rural, southern community.