People Wasn't Made to Burn: A True Story of Housing, Race, and Murder in Chicago

By: Joe Allen

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Synopsis: This story of a grief-stricken man&’s murder of a landlord is &“nothing less than a reinvention of the true crime genre&” (The Nation). In 1947, James Hickman shot and killed the landlord he believed was responsible for a tragic fire that took the lives of four of his children on Chicago&’s West Side. But a vibrant defense campaign, exposing the working poverty and racism that led to his crime, helped win Hickman&’s freedom. With a true-crime writer&’s eye for suspense and a historian&’s depth of knowledge, Joe Allen unearths the compelling story of a campaign that stood up to Jim Crow well before the modern civil rights movement had even begun. Those who witnessed the Great Recession&’s deteriorating housing conditions and accelerating foreclosure crisis will discover a hauntingly similar set of circumstances contributing to the Hickman case—giving this little-remembered story profound relevance in today&’s political atmosphere and the tension surrounding rampant wealth and racial inequality. &“[A] remarkable book . . . a horrific portrait of the inhumane conditions in which blacks were forced to live in post-WWII Chicago.&” —Chicago Tribune

Book Quality:: Publisher Quality
Book Size:: 226 Pages
ISBN-13:: 9781608461325
Related ISBNs:: 9781642593754
Publisher:: Haymarket Books
Date of Addition:: 01/09/25
Copyrighted By:: Joe Allen
Adult content:: No
Language:: English
Has Image Descriptions:: No
Categories:: History, Nonfiction, Social Studies, Law, Legal Issues and Ethics
Submitted By:: Bookshare Staff
Usage Restrictions:: This is a copyrighted book.