"The Penalty for Success - My Father Was Lynched in Lowndes County, Alabama" by Josephine Bolling McCall

Josephine Bolling McCall

Elmore Bolling 

This weekend, I had the pleasure of meeting Josephine Bolling McCall during her San Francisco Bay Area Book tour for "The Penalty of Success - My Father Was Lynched in Lowndes County, Alabama."

Ms. Bolling McCall is a retired psychologist who was five years old when her father was murdered.  After retirement, she set upon her investigation to uncover what really happened to her father.

The book tells the story of the murder of a black man in 1940s Lowndes County, Alabama. It is a story that reveals the scheme to cover up a "lynching". The author's story of her father's brutal murder presents convincing evidence that he was lynched although he was not hanged, mutilated, or burned in front of a crowd of people. Elmore Bolling was shot six times in the front of his body with a pistol and once in the back with a shotgun. After years of research, including interviews with relatives and elderly Lowndes County residents, Josephine Bolling McCall sought and found answers to many troubling questions about events in her father's live. Her journey of discovery presents a revealing narrative of a time, a place, and a people that challenges us to rethink the reality of life for both blacks and whites in a rural, southern community. (From Amazon.com)