Photographer Ernest Withers chronicled the civil rights movement. Did he also betray it?
civil rights
Mississippi Goddam Chapter 7: Reasonable Doubt
New revelations cast doubt on the official story that Billey Joe Johnson accidentally killed himself.
Mississippi Goddam Chapter 6: Mississippi Justice
There have long been concerns about the quality of investigations into suspicious deaths of young Black men in the state, especially when police are involved.
Mississippi Goddam Chapter 5: Star Crossed
Billey Joe Johnson was a Black boy dating a White girl. That made the story behind his death even more complicated.
Mississippi Goddam Chapter 4: The Investigator
When a detective with the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation finds out what Reveal has uncovered, he begins to wonder whether Billey Joe Johnson’s case should be reopened.
Mississippi Goddam Chapter 3: The Autopsy
The autopsy of Billey Joe Johnson helped a grand jury conclude that his death was an accident. But an independent review of the autopsy came to a different conclusion.
The Double Life of a Civil Rights Icon
Photographer Ernest Withers chronicled the civil rights movement. Did he also betray it?
Mississippi Goddam Chapter 4: The Investigator
When a detective with the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation finds out what Reveal has uncovered, he begins to wonder whether the case should be reopened.
DOJ’s civil rights workers have lost faith in leaders’ integrity
Internal employee surveys obtained by Reveal show that opinions of leadership have plummeted.
Why students are ignorant about the civil rights movement
Mississippi’s outdated textbooks teach an abbreviated version of civil rights, undermining the state’s new “innovative” standards.