[inaudible conversations] good afternoon. Welcome to the southern festival of books. My name is andy bennett, im your session host for today. We are here to hear from Sally Thompson and joseph beck. If you buy their books at the selling area, the festival will receive a part of the proceeds. And remember while the festival does have some sources of income, the main source of income is donations from you. And they try and make it very easy for you to donate, you can donate on the festival website or facebook page, you can use the festival app or if youre oldfashion you can do it in person as the Festival Headquarters here. Our first author who will be speaking is Joseph Madison beck. Hes an attorney in atlanta, a Harvard University grad, he focuses on intellectual property litigation, particularly copy right and consumer products. Hes also a immediator and a winner of too many awards for me to mention here. He also teaches at Emery University school of law. Mr. Beck will be speaking about my father and Atticus Finch. Thank you for coming. How many of you read or saw the movie to kill a mockingbird. Thats what i thought. A phenomenal bestseller. I will tell you why i call my book my father and Atticus Finch in a moment. My father did not sell for his worth, his sister told me that and my mother did not disagree. What does that mean, i wondered as a child, only as an adult did i trace it to a time before my birth when as a young white lawyer he represented a black man charged with raping a white woman in a small town in South Alabama. My interest intensified as time went on because this was my father, because like him i became a lawyer and because people kept saying his case could have inspired har per lees novel. Every time i talk about the case, people said that. When harper lee in a lovely letter forwarded to me by the agent acknowledged the obvious parallels adding that she could not, quote, recall my fathers case and that her work was fiction. I decided it was time to find out more for myself, my manuscript was accepted before mrs. Lees publication which brought to mind which is real Atticus Finch, the beloved lawyer to kill a mockingbird or the bigoted guy in watchman. I can tell you from growing up in montgomery that there were both kinds of atticus in alabama and many variations of them. Some said that the atticus of mockingbird was fictional and he was. It was a fictional books but no such thing of a southern white man who did that sort of thing and the racist and watchman was the real southern white man. Thats not true. My father never subscribe today racism materials, never went to a White Citizens Council or klan meeting, he hated both organizations. He never called black people by the name of n word. He took farm produce as a fee and he did, in fact, courageously defend a black man falsely charged with raping a white woman in troy, alabama when harper lee was 12. If you missed the atticus take a look at this. Im going to skip through a few pages just to give you a feel of the case. The judge called my father in enterprise, alabama, South Alabama away from troy, maybe half an hour, back then a road that took half a way. And he asked my father to take the case because the lawyers in troy who were all white men had, quote, conflicts. You can imagine and my father said, of course, he would take the case and he did, the judge said read the troy messenger, you will find out what you can know. I will read from what i got archives in montgomery. Negro rushed to kilby prison. The messenger explained why they moved him. A wandering negro fortune teller by c. W. White was removed for selfkeeping following attack on a local white girl. The case sounds like its already over according to the paper. The marriager reported the negro volunteered a confession of the attack and confession reduced to writing and signed in the presence of numerous Law Enforcement officials. A physician called to attend the girl later confirmed and im quoting from the messenger the negro had accomplished purpose. Well, he didnt do it. Im going to tell you why. I know that. My father met his client Charles White in kilby prison. Mr. White was from detroit and chicago and he was not like the time robinson, you remember from kill a mockingbird who was differential, polite. Charles from detroit in chicago had a different attitude and it showed up right away. Im reading now from the way my father told me about their first meeting. Charles, you said it didnt happen the way she says but why did you sign the confession . I dont know. They say im dying on a rope that night. If i sign they promise i can stay here in kilby until the trial and serve out my sentence. My father, who promised . Mr. White, five white men, sheriff deputy and three others. My father, maybe we can suppress the confession on the ground it was coerced but if we succeed the state my seek the death penalty. See, if you get a confession instead of life imprisonment you can ask for the death penalty, that makes sense. So he says are you all right with a life sentence and charles said, i dont wanting to jail for something i didnt do. Well, if you pleaed you at least be alive and charles said, now how i want to live. Charles, i may be able to bargain for less time and maybe eligible for parole. Im not entering a guilty plea. I want that confession suppressed. Well, i think thatll be up to the judge to suppress but do something for me, lawyer. That was the first meeting. They came to be very fond of each other but first was a little hairy. Now the trial was in troy, troy at the time was infamous for having a stack of john lewis, the man who murdered our president and the congressman, great civil rights hero john lewis in his book wrote about troy where he was born a year and a half after the trial. Congressman lewis recalled why you must be very careful not to get out of line with a white person. By the time he was ready to Elementary School he could see for himself why she warned him, because, quote, by then i had been to troy. On july 13th, about a month after the arrest they got to trial pretty fast back then, the troy messenger reported the negro as they preferred to call him was brought to court by highway patrol. The men were joined by additional officers stationed and there was no outward display of proposed violence but as a precaution Charles White was taken back to kilby by highway patrolman that night. Judge parks was prudent to insist that Charles White be escorted to and front montgomery. There was high talk in the crowd surrounding the courthouse when the word got out that two negroes had been called for possible jury service in compliance with the ruling. And for a capital case you had to have black people called, not necessarily served but called for possible service. Judge parks but there was let me just finish that sentence. The talks subsided and a chair went up that both negroes had been struck by the state of alabama. Women were not allowed in the jury in capital case. The judge ordered to keep together, avoid any outside influence in other words threats. The precaution turned out to be a wise one. That night darkness in some rough element to travel streets of troy looking for stray negroes to bully and assault. Early in the morning of july 14th, Charles White arrived back in court escorted. Im reading from the messenger. The group met outside by two patrol bringing the total of 16. These patrolmen remained surrounding surrounding the courthouse throughout the trial and i give the judge parks credit he insisted perfect ordered. He threatened to have people arrested if there was a demonstration during the trial and there were some angry reactions specially when Charles White took the stand. I dont wanting to over my time because im all right. The alleged victim was elizabeth, she was 20, almost 21. Charles white was a middleaged africanamerican man weighed about 250 pounds. He was a fortune teller and also called a healer, a person who could help people get well and he was known as a fortune teller and so elizabeth went to see him to get her fortune told. Here is what she testified. I got the transcript once i got really interested after my correspondence with harper lee and im reading from her testimony. Im not going to read all of it but despite what we heard on the election some of it is a little graphic and you can read it in the book but i wont read it on tv. After he got through telling my fortune he told me to come over to his side of the table where he was sitting, he pulled up my dress and some some kind and put it right down there indicating the transcript recorded on my private parts. The prosecutor, did he do anything else to you that tuesday . She testified, he told me to get on the bed, he was going to fix me up and he told me and i told him no, he wasnt going to fix me up there on the bed and he got on top of me. He pulled up my clothes and pulled off one part of my shorts, i cried but didnt do any good. I could feel something stinging down there, stinging and funny and burning feeling down there and i asked him to get off me but he didnt do it. The state asked the following question, did you see him undo his clothes. My father objected on the grounds that it was leading but there was no ruling which meant they could go ahead. Yes, i saw. I saw him do something about it. He got it out and stuck it in mind i couldnt tell how far because you see i was looking the other way. Now, thats if youre trying a case you dont want on crossexamination to have all of that repeated because its already inflaming perhaps the jury but on crossexamining one of the three doctors testified, the testimony that came out, i will read some of it, dr. Stewart, medical graduate. Here is what he said. I was called to her house and i went there and examined her on the bed, you see, that is an important difference in my fathers case and to kill a mockingbird. Everything else lines up the same. In the killing the doctor did investigate elizabeth with the help of her sisters we put her in tub and gave her a doush. It had not been penetrated, it had not been broken. That testimony was startling, it resulted in a conference with the judge who could see that this case was going to be a hung jury and retried. He called my father to his changers, sent the jury out for a few minutes and try today work out a plea deal. The judge was going to give him a sentence of life and promise of parole and my father tried to get him to accept it because he knew what an alabama jury was capable of doing and if you looked at the statistics, hundreds of black men were executed for rape. I do have research with law center which is a friend of mine and client in montgomery, there were 400 black men executed for rape in a very short period of time, only two white men and they were convicted of both rape and murder. Its disproportionate. That has changed. We are a better country and troy is a better place. Its a very nice town and has a Good University there. Back then it was a different place. Charles white received and ive got a lot of testimony in the book if youre interested and its im just going to read a little bit. My father told me Charles White spoken a tongue and demeanor he had not previously said because it had been state your namely warranted and he better not object to the questions absent, Charles White testimonys proceed without interruption and reproduced as full length as recorded by the court. Im not going to read all of that, i will tell you this, when he finished testifying, that is all that happened down there. I never did lock the door. I never put on the private parts, i didnt put my hands on the white lady. I didnt put her down on the bed, the lady treated me nice. She made me no advances at all. I treated her white. Among the parallels besides the obvious ones is is this, harper lee wrote, and this is quoting from her book something unspeakable occurred between tom robinson and may ella and you may recall from the book. May ella kissed robinson, kissed a black man. My father stuck with his client all the way to sadly the electric chair. If i can find it quickly, i will read to you, i should have marked this. Well, i will tell you from memory because i pretty much remember it. Charles white was executed after midnight in montgomery in june of 1939. Four of the black men executed that same day. They went to electric chair humbly begging for forgiveness. Charles white protested that the electrodes were too tight. The people who were about to kill him said, dont you realize that youre about to buy and he said, of course. Jesus will recognize an innocent this day. Those were his last words. So i hope you have questions and if so i will be glad to try to answer them. Thank you very much, mr. Beck, fascinating story. Next we are going to hear from ms. Thompson who has written a book called Delta RainbowBetty Pearson. Ms. Palmer is from memphis, not originally but at some point her family realized their mistake and moved to tennessee. Not my whole family, just my husband. Just her husband and she has lived there for quite some time. She was a dean at rose college and also been a mountain climber, tennis player and yoga practitioner, she earned a doctorate in human aging in her 60s. This is her third bow. Not a stranger to writing books and probably not a stranger to talking about them. After ms. Thompson discussing her books, we will take questions for the authors, ms. Thomas. Thank you, i just want to say what a privilege it is to be here at the southern book festival and know that it is a wonderful gathering ff a lot of talent and im pleased to be on the panel. How many have seen the movie sully . Its the movie about Us Airways Pilot who shortly after he took office his plane in new york city lost power in both engines of his aircraft and he didnt have enough altitude or time to return to the airport and in less than four minutes he guided and landed the plane on the hudson river on a fridged day in january in 2009 and saved 155 lives. Now, why on a panel about civil rights am i talking about an unbelievable feat. In a couple of weeks ago in op ed article talked about taking 11yearold son to see sully, while eating hamburgers after words his son said, you know what dad, famous people depend on what other people think of them to be who they are, sully just cared about whether he did everything right. That young dad articulated a distinct difference between fame and heroism. Sully was a superb pilot but actions showed something more. His history demonstrates strong character anchored by a sense of honor and virtues that go with it. Chelsea wasnt out for fame or impress others. He acted not on what is popular or would enhance his reputation. He acted on a deeplyheld conviction of what he knew was right. Even though he had never had an opportunity to practice or rehearse what became his incredibly courageous act, the lives of both foster beck, joeys joes father as he tells and pearson as her story is told in Delta Rainbow display courage and character in a very different kind of situation, but they both display the same basic impulse. They acted on their own personal convictions for doing what was right, what they had to do. They were not out for fame or fortune or how many tweets they might receive in a day, both betty and foster did what they believe was right in the situation where they found themselves. They displayed the kind of courage Martin Luther king, jr. Dreamed to pass some day when men and women would be not judged by the color of their skin but instead of individual deeds and actions and the content of their character. Delta rainbow is a book about a women with remarkable character, courage and conviction. It is a story of how and why Betty Pearson a seventh again ration plantationborn southerner whose roots reach deep into the soil, traditions and social bonds of the mississippi delta became one of the first and one of the most outspoken leaders of the civil right movement in a culturally and racially divided mississippi. I want to read to you a few paragraphs from the book to tell you how her convictions started. September 1955. It had been three weeks since the discovery of horrificfully mutilated body, a cotton gin tied around his neck with barb wire. When he was sent back home she insisted on open cask et and public funeral. Amy wanted the world to see what had happened to her son. The world was agasped and in the mississippi it was palpable. At age 33 mistress of Rainbow Plantation four miles south of sumner would find things strange. A curtain of silence fell. Most everyone she knew felt resentful about the incredible amount of International Attention and vindictive spotlight on her town and a greed undercurrent arroas that the whole procedure was unfair. After all the murder take place in lafloor but not tallahassee. But the river between the two counties. She got a press pass to the trial for herself and a good friend, a good colleague friend named Florence Mars. She had never attended the trial. In 1955 it was an all male domain, white women could vote but by law they were excluded from jury duty. As the two women were about to enter the black door of the courthouse, an old family friend, esm sheriff of county stopped betty. You shouldnt be going to do this. You will be hearing things that no white lady should hear. A backdrop to her life. Walking into the county courthouse on that historic day in 1955 Betty Bobo Pearson had her eyes blasted open. Betty grew up in a segregated society and understood how racist it was but her family, her friends, everyone she knew treated negroes with dye decency and true affection. Her father would never harm much less, much less kill a negro. She knew her father moral beacon in most areas. Thought skin color made a difference. Now looking at the faces to have white people in the courtroom, betty realized for the first time in her life how deep set their feelings were. She saw pure hatred. Who were these people . They were neighbors, citizens of