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Tales From the Writing Life

Death on Shades Mountain by Melanie Morrison

Are you a book lover itching to hang out with your kind of people? The Homewood Library gives you a chance to meet authors and dive into the art of storytelling.

Join us as Melanie S. Morrison, an author, speaker, and racial justice educator with 30 years of experience helping communities navigate the deep work of transformation.

In Death on Shades Mountain, she tells the story of three young white women were brutally attacked on Birmingham’s Shades Mt. in 1931.  The sole survivor, Nell Williams, said a Black man had held the women captive for four hours before shooting them and disappearing into the woods. That same night, a reign of terror was unleashed on Birmingham's Black community: Black businesses were set ablaze, posses of armed white men roamed the streets, and dozens of Black men were arrested in the largest manhunt in Jefferson County history.

This presentation will tell the story of the attack and its aftermath — events that shook Birmingham to its core. The presentation will also shed light on the individuals and organizations who sought to free Willie Peterson and struggled unceasingly for racial justice in Depression-era Birmingham.

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