Overview

Bitter Harvest traces the development of Richmond Flowers, a color politician who began his career as a segregationist but who, as Attorney General of Alabama, fought bitterly against Governor George Wallace in trying to support the Constitution. In the process, he sacrificed his political career. Flowers was elected Attorney General in 1962. A likable storyteller who had served in the state senate, Flowers came into office promising like the rest to send the Yankees a message. He did not seem the stuff of which heroes (or martyrs) are made. But faced with the choice of upholding the law or of taking the popular course, he chose to uphold the law. Events thereafter made him a central figure in the most violent years of the civil rights revolution. The book sets this story against the background of the Southern war against civil rights, a savage contest motivated by hatred and fear. It advances the thesis that during this period, Alabama suffered a fundamental failure in leadership which determined the state's response to the demand for social change. Alabama's leaders encourage lawlessness with their statements and actions. They took the state down a self-destructive course which has had lasting and damaging consequences.

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9781603063715

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Comments on Bitter Harvest In retrospect, history seems and reads very differently from the day-to-day political rhetoric one recalls. I shall enjoy taking another look at a fellow Alabamian's stand for his firm beliefs in the sixties. Perhaps it's time to meet the man. - Fob James, Former Governor of Alabama One of Alabama's most fascinating political figures is former Attorney General Richmond Flowers. This book about his life and public service presents a new perspective on the volatile politics of the civil rights era in Alabama. - Albert Brewer, Former Governor of Alabama This book is a true account of the life of Richmond Flowers, a champion of equal rights in the 1960s. In the 1966 governor's race, Flowers received approximately 90-95 percent of the black vote. Sadly, contrasted with 1996, there were not enough black voters in Alabama for this to make a difference. - Jesse J. Lewis, first black appointee to former Governor George Wallace's cabinet While the author describes Flowers as a visionary leader trying to do the right thing during the most intense and emotionally-charged days of the civil rights movement, he does not ignore the shortcomings and failures of his subject . . . Richmond Flowers advocated a moderate course in the face of strong and often violent resistance to change. He ultimately paid a steep price for trying to counter the prevailing political sentiment of the era. - Howell Heflin, Former United States Senator Looking back, it seems I had the heart of a wildcat during my political career. I was mauled and tattered many a time, but I always came fighting back. If I felt a cause was right, I rushed in whatever the odds. Bitter Harvest is a full and fair account of that struggle. I heartily endorse it because it tells the truth about my life and because it includes an interesting account on the civil rights struggle in the Deep South. - Richmond Flowers

Bitter Harvest: Richmond Flowers and the Civil Rights Revolution is not only the life story of Alabama Attorney General Richmond Flowers (1918-2007) but also a window into America's tumultuous civil rights era. Flowers's story is part of a wider tale of reactionary hatred and violence during the civil rights era, a time when much of Alabama's leadership utterly failed the state by tacitly encouraging lawlessness and brutality. Bitter Harvest is a welcome addition to public and college library biography shelves, highly recommended. -- Midwest Book Review

Author Information

JOHN HAYMAN taught college, directed studies of information technology in African universities, and published six books and more than 60 articles. He was editor of Teaching and Learning with Computers and was a consulting editor for the Journal of Educational Research. Dr. Hayman lived in Birmingham, Alabama, with his wife, Clara Ruth; he died in 1999 shortly before the publication of his final book, A Judge in the Senate: Howell Heflin's Career of Politics and Principle.

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