title: Lay That Trumpet in Our Hands
author/editor: Richard A. Clarke
reviewed by: June
LAY THAT TRUMPET IN OUR HANDS
The above title is a novel by Susan Carol McCarthy and based on historical fact and her family's experiences. McCarthy is a native of Central Florida and well qualified to speak on the violent racism in Florida in the mid 1950's.
The events in the book occurred before McCarthy was born. She uses the literary device of creating an older sister, twelve- year- old Reesa, who is the narrator. The story opens with the brutal beating and death of a young black man, Marvin, who is her friend and an employee of her father's. Reesa's family are transplanted northerners who are shocked by the violence of the Ku Klux Klan. The courageous stand they take against the KKK puts their lives in jeopardy.
Reesa tells of meeting Thurgood Marshall who, at that time, was an attorney for the NAACP, and later U.S. Supreme Court justice. She relates the story of how her father, Warren, and Marvin's father, Luther, cooperate with the FBI to dismantle the Klan in their county. They uncover evidence that the Klan had also organized and carried out the murder of Harry Moore, president of the Florida NAACP, and his wife Harriet on Christmas night 1951.
One irony in the story that I found particularly satisfying was the organization of the maids from 'the Quarters.' They picked up much valuable information in the homes of the Klan members. They quietly passed it along to Warren and Luther through Marvin's mother, Armetta.
I recommend this book to anyone who is at all interested in Florida's history and especially in the critical years just before desegregation took place.
June P (Aug.-Sept.'05 ) says; " Being a native Floridian and an avid reader, I appreciate the rhythm and the accents that come naturally to McCarthy. This is the real thing."