Banished from Johnstown, Cody McDevitt
Banished from Johnstown, Cody McDevitt
List: $19.99 | Sale: $13.99
Club: $9.99

Banished from Johnstown
Racist Backlash in Pennsylvania

Author: Cody McDevitt, Tony Norman

Narrator: Danny Campbell

Unabridged: 6 hr 28 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 05/28/2024

Synopsis

Author and journalist Cody McDevitt tells the story of one of the worst civil rights injustices in Western Pennsylvania history.

In 1923, in response to the fatal shooting of four policemen, the mayor of Johnstown ordered every African American and Mexican immigrant who had lived in the city for less than seven years to leave. They were given less than a day to move or would face crippling fines or jail time and were forced out at gunpoint. An estimated two thousand people uprooted their lives in response to the racist edict. Area Ku Klux Klan members celebrated the creation of a "sundown town" and increased their own intimidation practices. Figures such as Marcus Garvey spoke out in Pittsburgh against it as newspapers throughout the country published condemnations.

About Cody McDevitt

Cody McDevitt is an award-winning journalist and the founder of the Rosedale Oral History Project, which is the basis for Banished from Johnstown: Racist Backlash in Pennsylvania. He released a compendium of firsthand accounts of veterans who fought in World War II called "Answering the Call: Somerset County during World War II". He is also the coauthor of Pittsburgh Drinks: A History of Cocktails, Nightlife & Bartending Tradition. He lives near Pittsburgh and works for the Somerset Daily American.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Erin on June 21, 2020

I REALLY wanted to like this book - I love Tony Norman’s writing, and he wrote the forward, and Alisha Wormsley is an amazing artist whose cover art is worth the purchase price alone. That being said... McDevitt needed a different editor. He describes domestic violence (domestic homicide, actually)......more

Goodreads review by Timothy on July 16, 2020

An interesting read about a sunset town, and conveyed a lot of well-researched information and newspaper stories about this historical incident in the small-town/city of Johnstown. You can definitely tell that a lot of effort and research went into the preparation of first the newspaper series that t......more

Goodreads review by Daniel on June 14, 2024

Wow, I can't believe this happened. A mayor can simply create a rule telling the black and Mexican residents to leave town. It was sad to see how many agreed with this but also encouraging to see the backlash he received country wide. History like this needs more publicized.......more

Goodreads review by Jerry on January 27, 2022

An important read that needs better editing Rounding up from 3.5 stars. McDivitt has done an amazing job in gathering facts in one of the darkest moments in Central Pennsylvania recent history, but the book suffers from presentation and organisation issues that can lead to some confusion on time-line......more

Goodreads review by Angie on June 02, 2020

I've lived in or in surrounding areas of Johnstown my entire life and never knew any of this! In high school, I even took a local history class and none of this was ever mentioned. The author does an excellent job of providing references but that can also drag the book a bit. Overall a great and inf......more

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