Gilbert King

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Gilbert King, 2013

Gilbert Anthony King (born February 22, 1962 in Rockville Center , New York ) is an American author and photographer. For Devil in the Grove , published in 2012, he received the Pulitzer Prize in 2013 in the “General Nonfiction” category and also in 2013 Devil in the Grove was the second-place nonfiction book at the Dayton Literary Peace Prize . His previous book, The Execution of Willie Francis , similarly dealt with racist injustice. Kings items are including in The New York Times and The Washington Post published, he also writes for the history blog Past Imperfect of the Smithsonian . His photographic work has appeared in Vogue , Harper's Bazaar , Marie Claire and Cosmopolitan , among others .

Life

Gilbert King was born in Rockville Center, New York State, in 1962 and grew up in St. James on Long Island until he was 12 and then moved with his family to Schenectadym New York. King graduated from high school there and then attended the University of South Florida , which he left without a degree to move to New York City. He received his bachelor's degree in 1985 from Excelsior College , a college also known for distance learning. He lived in New York City as a freelancer for small newspapers and magazines. In 1991 he got a permanent position at Macmillan Publishers as assistant to the publishing director. At the same time, he began successfully selling his photos to American magazines such as Glamor , Jane and Modern Bride as well as international magazines such as Vogue , Harper's Bazaar , Madame Figaro and Marie Claire . He has also received commissions from L'Oreal , Redken , Michael Kors and Thierry Mugler .

His writing career began in 2002 when he wrote the lyrics for a richly illustrated book on golf. During the next few years he worked as a ghostwriter for several well-known personalities .

Books

The Execution of Willie Francis ( The execution of Willie Francis )

The Execution of Willie Francis: Race, Murder, and the Search for Justice in the American South (translated: The Execution of Willie Francis; Racism , Murder, and the Search for Justice in the American South ) was published by Basic Civitas Books in 2008. It deals with the life story of Willie Francis , a 16-year-old African American from Louisiana who was found guilty of the murder of his employer, was to be executed with the electric chair in 1946 and survived this execution. After lengthy trials, the United States Supreme Court concluded that a second execution should be scheduled.

The non-fiction book was received positively by the critics. Counterpunch magazine called it the best book on the death penalty since Norman Mailer's The Executioner's Song . >

Devil in the Grove ( The Devil in the Orange Grove )

Gilbert King received the Pulitzer for his non-fiction book Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America , published in 2012 (translated: The Devil in the Orange Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Four and the Beginning of the New America ) -Prize in the non-fiction category. Devil in the Grove was named one of the best books of 2012 by newspapers as diverse as the Christian Science Monitor and the Boston Globe . The Pulitzer Prize Committee described the book as a detailed chronicle of racist injustice. Thomas Friedman of The New York Times called it compulsory reading that was so exciting that you could put it down. Devil in the Grove was also nominated for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize and the Chautauqua Prize , and received an Edgar Award for the best portrayal of a real-life crime. Lions Gate Entertainment also acquired the film rights to the book.

The book deals with the case of the so-called Groveland Four , four African-American men who were arbitrarily arrested in Lake County, Florida in 1949 when a 17-year-old white woman from Groveland claimed to have been raped. Ernest Thomas, one of the suspects, was shot dead during his capture. The Ku Klux Klan , a racist secret society, burned down houses that were inhabited by blacks, among other things in a campaign of revenge, and through its brutal approach ensured that hundreds of blacks sought refuge in the swamps of the district to seek retaliatory measures Escape from secret society.

Due to the relatively clear evidence that the four men had been wrongly arrested, Thurgood Marshall decided to take over their defense. New York City-based Thurgood Marshall, who in 1967 - almost 20 years after the incident described in Devil in the Grove - was appointed the first African-American judge to the United States Supreme Court, worked for the NAACP civil rights movement in 1949 . He maintained his decision to interfere in this case despite the fact that one of his colleagues at the NAACP was murdered in connection with the case and that he himself was threatened with life.

In the first trial, two of the surviving defendants were sentenced to death and the third defendant was sentenced to life imprisonment. In 1951, Thurgood Marshall succeeded in having this judgment overturned by the Supreme Court because of procedural errors. While the two condemned prisoners were being transported to another prison, one of them was shot dead by Sheriff Willis V. McCall during an alleged (and now widely doubted attempt to escape) and the second seriously injured. Thurgood Marshall could not prevent a new conviction. However, the death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment as early as 1955 and Walter Irvin, the last survivor of the Groveland Four, was pardoned in 1968.

Gilbert King used previously unpublished FBI and NAACP documents for his research. They make it clear, among other things, that the FBI knew that the defendants' confessions were obtained under torture, but that for various reasons they lacked the will to bring those responsible in Lake County to justice. It also clearly demonstrates the racist atmosphere during the trials that threatened anyone who doubted the Groveland Four's guilt.

Publications

  • Gilbert King: The Execution of Willie Francis. Race, Murder, and the Search for Justice in the American South. Basic Civitas, New York 2008, ISBN 978-0-465-00265-8 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).

Single receipts

  1. ↑ Making a Name by Uncovering a Lost Case . In: New York Times , April 24, 2013. Retrieved April 20, 2014. 
  2. ^ The 2013 Pulitzer Prize Winners General Nonfiction . www.pulitzer.org. Retrieved April 20, 2014.
  3. ↑ [1] .
  4. ↑ Making a Name by Uncovering a Lost Case . In: The New York Times . Retrieved April 20, 2014. 
  5. ↑ Louisiana ex rel. Francis v. Resweber (No. 142)
  6. ^ The execution of Willie Francis . Library Journal . February 1, 2008. Retrieved April 21, 2014. Archived at BookVerdict.com.
  7. ↑ Gilbert King . NPR Books (npr.org/books). Retrieved April 21, 2014. One entry dated April 14, 2008.
  8. ↑ Making a Name by Uncovering a Lost Case . In: New York Times , April 24, 2013. Retrieved April 21, 2014. 
  9. ^ The 2013 Pulitzer Prize Winners General Nonfiction . www.pulitzer.org. Retrieved April 21, 2014.
  10. ↑ Review in the New York Times , accessed January 8, 2014
  11. ^ Ron Charles : Timothy Egan wins Chautauqua Prize for "Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher" . In: Washington Post . May 15, 2013. Retrieved January 8, 2014.
  12. ↑ http://www.deadline.com/2013/06/lionsgate-acquires-pulitzer-prize-winner-devil-in-the-grove-seminal-civil-rights-case-for-thurgood-marshall/
  13. ^ Gilbert: The Devil in the Grove . P. 62 – p. 68 and pp. 84 – p. 99

Web links

personal data
SURNAME King, Gilbert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES King, Gilbert Anthony
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American journalist, photographer, and author
DATE OF BIRTH February 22, 1962
PLACE OF BIRTH Rockville Center , New York