Portrait of a Racist

Originally published in 1994, Portrait of a Racist is an astonishing biography of Byron De La Beckwith (19202001), who murdered Black civil rights leader Medgar Evers in June 1963. Written by Beckwiths nephew by marriage, the book is based on dozens of exclusive personal interviews with Beckwith and people who knew himas well as letters Beckwith wrote directly to the author. These unique sources provide as definitive a glimpse into the chilling psychological landscape of a man devoted to murderous intolerance as we will likely ever have. Although the slaying of Evers helped to galvanize the civil rights movement in the South, the killer evaded justice for three decades after the crime. Twice tried for murder in the 1960sboth times by all- male, all-White juriesBeckwith was finally convicted in a third trial in 1994. Accompanied by new illustrations that have never been printed before, this new edition includes an afterword that recounts the authors participation as a witness and his introduction of new evidence in the third trial. It also chronicles Beckwiths last years of declining health behind bars, examines the rich scholarship on Evers and civil rights that has arisen since this books original appearance, and reflects on the catastrophic persistence of Beckwiths ideology Christian nationalism and white supremacyin our own times.