Carry Me Home (book)

Carry Me Home: Birmingham, Alabama, the Climactic Battle of the Civil Rights Revolution

Company type	Book
Industry	Publishing
Founded	2001 (2001)
Founder	Diane McWhorter
Headquarters	United States
Products	Nonfiction book
Owner	Simon & Schuster

Carry Me Home: Birmingham, Alabama, the Climactic Battle of the Civil Rights Revolution, authored by Diane McWhorter and released by Simon & Schuster in 2001, is a nonfiction work blending investigative reporting with personal memoir. The book earned the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize and was awarded the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction.

Having been raised in Birmingham, Alabama, McWhorter reflects on her childhood experiences during the 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church, emphasizing the apathy displayed by her white neighbors despite the tragic deaths of four African-American girls. The narrative uncovers entrenched racial prejudice among white residents and exposes widespread affiliations between law enforcement agencies and the Ku Klux Klan, spanning from local police forces to agents within the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The author describes how segregation was maintained through the actions of city officials, media outlets, and law enforcement, highlighting Police Chief Bull Connor’s brutal responses to nonviolent demonstrations—using fire hoses and police dogs—which ultimately intensified civil rights activism throughout the Birmingham campaign. According to Wyatt Tee Walker of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Connor’s severe measures were instrumental in sustaining Birmingham’s civil rights movement.

McWhorter draws attention to a powerful photograph captured on May 3, 1963, by Associated Press photographer Bill Hudson, depicting an African-American man being assaulted by a police dog. This image, prominently featured in The New York Times and other publications, played a pivotal role in swaying global public opinion toward supporting civil rights causes.

In a The New York Times review, David K. Shipler commended McWhorter’s thorough investigative work, acknowledging some sections as densely detailed but affirming the book’s crucial contribution to understanding civil rights history.

External links

• Template:OL work
• Booknotes interview with McWhorter on Carry Me Home, May 27, 2001.