We carry their bones : the search for justice at the Dozier School for Boys / Erin Kimmerle.
Material type:
TextPublisher: New York, NY : William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, [2022]Copyright date: ©2022Edition: First editionDescription: x, 241 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (chiefly color) ; 24 cmContent type: - text
- unmediated
- volume
- 9780063030244
- 0063030241
- Search for justice at the Dozier School for Boys
| Item type | Home library | Collection | Call number | Materials specified | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adult Book
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Main Library | NonFiction | 365.4209 K49 | Available | 33111010873202 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
"With We Carry Their Bones, Erin Kimmerle continues to unearth the true story of the Dozier School, a tale more frightening than any fiction. In a corrupt world, her unflinching revelations are as close as we'll come to justice." -Colson Whitehead, Pulitzer-Prize Winning author of The Nickel Boys and The Underground Railroad
Forensic anthropologist Erin Kimmerle investigates of the notorious Dozier Boys School--the true story behind the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Nickel Boys--and the contentious process to exhume the graves of the boys buried there in order to reunite them with their families.
The Arthur G. Dozier Boys School was a well-guarded secret in Florida for over a century, until reports of cruelty, abuse, and "mysterious" deaths shut the institution down in 2011. Established in 1900, the juvenile reform school accepted children as young as six years of age for crimes as harmless as truancy or trespassing. The boys sent there, many of whom were Black, were subject to brutal abuse, routinely hired out to local farmers by the school's management as indentured labor, and died either at the school or attempting to escape its brutal conditions.
In the wake of the school's shutdown, Erin Kimmerle, a leading forensic anthropologist, stepped in to locate the school's graveyard to determine the number of graves and who was buried there, thus beginning the process of reuniting the boys with their families through forensic and DNA testing. The school's poorly kept accounting suggested some thirty-one boys were buried in unmarked graves in a remote field on the school's property. The real number was at least twice that. Kimmerle's work did not go unnoticed; residents and local law enforcement threatened and harassed her team in their eagerness to control the truth she was uncovering--one she continues to investigate to this day.
We Carry Their Bones is a detailed account of Jim Crow America and an indictment of the reform school system as we know it. It's also a fascinating dive into the science of forensic anthropology and an important retelling of the extraordinary efforts taken to bring these lost children home to their families--an endeavor that created a political firestorm and a dramatic reckoning with racism and shame in the legacy of America.
Recounts the story of the Dozier School, a Florida reform school shut down in 2011 due to reports of cruelty, abuse, and mysterious deaths, and the efforts of the author, a leading forensic anthropologist, to locate and exhume the graves of the boys buried there in order to reunite them with their families.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 223-230) and index.
Opening the earth -- New light -- Graveyard -- The Battle of Boot Hill -- "Satan has his seat" -- A meeting with the chief -- "Hell on Earth" -- "We can't forget... what happened in Jackson County" -- "Oftentimes, history doesn't include the good parts" -- "Thank you for all your good work" -- Reconstruction -- Identification -- "It's not even past" -- "Where is he?" -- "The unimaginable happened at Dozier" -- "You have the truth on your side" -- What remains.
For over a century the Arthur G. Dozier Boys School in Florida was the scene of cruelty, abuse, and "mysterious" deaths. The boys sent there, many of whom were Black, were subject to brutal abuse, routinely hired out to local farmers by the school's management as indentured labor, and died either at the school or attempting to escape its brutal conditions. When the institution shut down in 2011 Kimmerle, a forensic anthropologist, stepped in to locate the school's graveyard to determine the number of graves and who was buried there, hoping to reunite the boys with their families through forensic and DNA testing. Records suggested thirty-one boys were buried in unmarked graves in a remote field on the school's property; the real number was at least twice that. Kimmerle provides a detailed account of Jim Crow America and an indictment of the reform school system as we know it. -- adapted from jacket