Middlebury Magazine

  • Recent Stories
  • Menu
    • Features
    • Pursuits
    • Q&A
    • Podcasts
    • Review
    • Essays
    • Old Chapel
    • Videos
    • How Did You Get Here Series
    • About
    • Advertising
    • Contact
    • Support
    • Writers’ Guidelines
  • Search

Review

And Justice for All

In the summer of 1966, a Black man put his hand on a white boy's arm. What followed was a fight for justice in the Deep South.

By Sara Thurber Marshall
September 30, 2021
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • Email icon

In October 1966, after a long week working on a tugboat, 19-year-old Gary Duncan was driving in Plaquemines Parish in southern Louisiana when he saw six boys on the side of the road: two Black and four white. One of the Blacks was his nephew, Bert, and Duncan could tell something wasn’t right. He pulled over and got out only to learn from Bert that the white boys wanted to fight them. Duncan told his nephew and the other boy to get in the car and then putting his hand on the arm of the white ringleader, Duncan told him he’d best run along home.

So plays out the first scene in the nonfiction book Deep Delta Justice by Matthew Van Meter ’07. The touch of a Black man’s hand on a white boy’s arm sets off a criminal case that is argued all the way to the Supreme Court. Van Meter masterfully tells the story of Duncan’s search for justice with his white lawyer at the time, Richard Sobel, a northerner working at the most radical Black law firm in New Orleans. What they come up against is an entrenched racism that runs deep and is kept alive by a powerful white man, Leander Perez, known simply as the Judge, who has dedicated his life to preserving racial segregation.

Awareness of systemic racism has been a large part of conversations about racist practices in recent years after events involving the killings of Black people by white police. But all one has to do is delve into the story Van Meter tells to see exactly how it was put into action in the past. The Judge, along with his sons, uses his connections and money to try to force school segregations, voter suppression, bogus arrests, and racial inequality in the judicial system. His efforts are backed by citizens, lawmen, and government officials alike. Sobel is arrested for practicing law in Louisiana without a license; Duncan is tried in a criminal case without a jury to decide the verdict.

With comprehensive research, a knowledge of law, and extensive interviews under his belt, Van Meter tells the story of Gary Duncan against a backdrop of the power of white supremacy and strongly held racism during the civil rights movement. His characters are deeply drawn and his prose reads like a detailed novel that immerses the reader in the culture of the times. The eventual trial, Duncan vs. Louisiana, which makes its way to the Supreme Court and wins, becomes a momentous victory for all Americans, assuring people the right to a trial by jury in most criminal cases. It’s a decision that is often overlooked among the many important events of the civil rights era that have impacted society, and Van Meter has done it great justice through his compelling narrative, which shines a light on one instance of a change in the system.

 

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Recent Stories

Features

More Than a Game

In a critically acclaimed work of nonfiction, Abe Streep '04 introduces readers to the Arlee Warriors, a high school basketball team on a Native American reservation in Montana, where life's challenges are abundant.

By Alexander Wolff
Photograph by Devin Yalkin
October 21, 2022

Munya Munyati Has A Few Stories to Tell

Catching up with a young filmmaker who is rapidly making a name for himself at Vice.

By Mara Dolan
Film stills by Munya Munyati
September 16, 2022

Reverberations

A transcontinental move, a career discovered, a landmark speech studied and translated—and an identity reshaped.

By Clara Clymer, MA Translation '22
Illustration by Anna Gusella
April 2, 2022

The Road(s)

A little over a year ago, a writing student headed south to Florida for no other reason than J-Term was forced to go remote. She soon found herself reporting on an environmental justice battle that was roiling the state.

By Alexandra Burns '21.5
Illustrations by Yevgenia Nayberg
March 2, 2022

Dispatches

Japan Wants to Dump Water from a Nuclear Power Plant into the Pacific Ocean

Middlebury's Ferenc Dalnoki-Veress thinks that's a terrible idea.

By Sierra Abukins
August 11, 2023

When Mini Golf Meets Reproductive Justice

A summertime staple becomes a first-of-its-kind teaching tool.

By Jessie Raymond '90
Photographs by Todd Balfour
June 30, 2023

Welcome to All Things Scottish

Toward the end of the academic year, a group of Midd students turned Battell Beach into a setting that more closely resembled a Scottish moor.

By Caroline Crawford
Photograph by Brian MacDonald
June 30, 2023

Let’s Dance

How can one's digital experiences be interpreted through performance art? Choreographer Maia Sauer ’22 and a troupe of recent Midd grads attempt to find out.

By Alexandra Jhamb Burns '21.5
Photographs by Alexis Welch '22
June 2, 2023

The Repatriation

The Leopard Head Hip Ornament returns to Africa.

By Jessie Raymond '90
Courtesy Middlebury Museum of Art
February 16, 2023

Adventures in Filmmaking

Two professors and an alum have embarked on a journey to take a screenplay from its creation to the end product of a full-length feature film.

By Sara Thurber Marshall
Still Photograph from The Swim Lesson Proof of Concept
February 14, 2023

A Night Out

For one evening in December, Atwater dining hall hosted a student-dining experience unlike any other.

By Caroline Crawford
Photographs by Paul Dahm
January 20, 2023

Finding His Way

What happens when your identity is stolen—not by another person but by your own body?

By Sara Thurber Marshall
December 15, 2022

A Natural Selection

For more than a quarter century, Stephen Trombulak— now an emeritus professor of biology and environmental studies—guided students in avian research on a parcel of College land hard by Otter Creek. This preserved area now bears his name.

By Jessie Raymond '90
Photography by Paul Dahm
November 18, 2022
View All

Pursuits

Public Defender

On becoming one of the country's foremost cybersecurity experts.

By Jessie Raymond '90
Illustration by Neil Webb
April 14, 2022

Q&A

The Making of a Teacher

Hebrew Professor Michal Strier reflects on her life an education—in Israel and the States—a journey that led the Language School instructor to the undergraduate College for the first time this year.

By Jessie Raymond '90
Photograph by Paul Dahm
May 19, 2022

Editor’s Note

A Brilliant Fogg

Saying goodbye to a dear colleague and friend.

By Matt Jennings
Illustration by Jody Hewgill
February 25, 2020

Old Chapel

Making Democracy Real

An Update on Our Conflict Transformation Initiative

By Laurie L. Patton
Illustration by Brian Staufer
January 20, 2023

Road Taken

What to Wear Now

Through accrued life experiences, a writer discovers that a common question has become a statement of identity.

By Samantha Hubbard Shanley ’99
Illustration by Naomi Clarke
March 11, 2021

Quotation

A summer immersed in a language can do wonders, as veterans of Middlebury College’s famous language-learning program can attest. The lockdown is clearly going to amount to the equivalent of about two summers, and there are mini-Middleburys happening in millions of houses worldwide.”

—John McWhorter, writing “The Coronavirus Generation Will Use Language Differently” in the Atlantic.

Podcasts

Old Stories Being Told Differently, Part 1, featuring Carolyn Finney

Our guest for episode three of season three is Carolyn Finney, who is a storyteller, author, cultural geographer, and self-described “accidental environmentalist” whose work explores the intersection of identity, privilege, and our natural surroundings. In part one of this two-part interview, Carolyn joins host and president of Middlebury, Laurie Patton, to discuss how her upbringing and family history in Westchester County, New York became the foundation of her life’s work.

By Middlebury Magazine Staff
September 18, 2023

Every Book You Write Is a Mystery, feat. Rebecca Makkai, MA English ’04

Our guest for episode two of season three is Rebecca Makkai, MA English '04, a critically acclaimed novelist and short story writer. She joins Laurie Patton to discuss her teaching career, overcoming writer's block, her time at Bread Loaf, dabbling in other genres or mediums for inspiration, and her deep personal roots to Vermont.

By Middlebury Magazine Staff
May 30, 2023

The Virus Hunter, feat. Anne Rimoin ’92

Our guest for episode one of season three of this podcast is an epidemiologist who is an internationally recognized expert on global health, disease surveillance, and immunization. Anne Rimoin '92 joins Laurie Patton to discuss what it takes to be on the front lines as an emerging infectious disease researcher.

By Middlebury Magazine Staff
April 17, 2023

Review

Editors’ Picks for July and August

By Middlebury Magazine Staff
August 11, 2023

How Did You Get Here?

Megan Job

By Alexandra Burns '21
February 15, 2021

Leif Taranta

By Alexandra Burns '21
February 15, 2021

Mikayla Haefele

By Alexandra Burns '21
February 15, 2021

Videos

Creating Community Through Hip Hop

For three days in March, the sounds, styles, and fashions of global hip hop converged on Middlebury for an electric symposium.

By Jordan Saint-Louis '24
April 17, 2023

Pomp and Unusual Circumstances

As viewed from above.

By Chris Spencer
June 1, 2021

Davis the Owl Returns Home

Having recovered from life-threatening injuries, a beautiful winged creature is released to its natural habitat.

By Andrew Cassell
April 22, 2021
Middlebury College
  • Alumni
  • Newsroom
  • Contact Us
  • icon-instagram

The views presented are not necessarily those of the editors or the official policies of the College.

© 2023 Middlebury College Publications.