Available for the first time in English, The Color of the Third Degree uncovers the still-hidden history of police torture in the Jim Crow South. Based on a wide array of previously neglected archival sources, Silvan Niedermeier argues that as public lynching decreased, less visible practices of racial subjugation and repression became central to southern white supremacy. In an effort to deter unruly white mobs, as well as oppress black communities, white southern law officers violently extorted confessions and testimony from black suspects and defendants in jail cells and police stations to secure speedy convictions. In response, black citizens and the NAACP fought to expose these brutal practices through individual action, local organizing, and litigation. In spite of these efforts, police torture remained a widespread, powerful form of racial control and suppression well into the late twentieth century.
The first historical study of police torture in the American South, Niedermeier draws attention to the willing acceptance of violent coercion by prosecutors, judges, and juries, and brings to light the deep historical roots of police violence against African Americans, one of the most urgent and distressing issues of our time.
Chapter five shows the FBI investigations against William F. Sutherland as the first in a series of federal probes launched by representatives of the U.S. Department of Justice to sanction the persistent violation of the civil rights of blacks by law enforcement officials in the South. FBI investigation documented conditions of defendants capturing photos of wounds and evidence of weapons. Regardless of evidence provided against authorities, there was a limited chance of success. In addition, in all the cases covered in chapter five, lawmen were accused of abusing and torturing black suspects in violation of their civil rights. Despite the outcome of the trials, the FBI investigations exposed and brought awareness of police torture. Overall, the FBI investigations brought to light a multitude of other allegations of mistreatment by African American prisoners and challenged the system of police violence in the South.
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