Published on May 22, 2017 by Sean Flynt  
Bass Book copy

A New York Times review of He Calls Me By Lightning: The Life of Caliph Washington and the Forgotten Saga of Jim Crow, Southern Justice, and the Death Penalty offers accolades for Samford history professor S. Jonathan Bass’ new book. The book explores the long ordeal of Caliph Washington, a black man unjustly convicted of murder amidst the reflexive racism of the “Jim Crow” era in Alabama.

“He Calls Me by Lightning insists that we face the cost of lives that don’t matter to a persistent racial caste system,” author Timothy B. Tyson wrote in his review for the New York Times May 21. “It reminds us that human endurance and irrepressible love outlast the glacial pace of change, and proves how much we do not yet know about our history.”

Read the New York Times review

Sean Flynt is executive director of external relations for Howard College of Arts and Sciences.

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Samford is a leading Christian university offering undergraduate programs grounded in the liberal arts with an array of nationally recognized graduate and professional schools. Founded in 1841, Samford is the 87th-oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. Samford enrolls 6,101 students from 45 states, Puerto Rico and 16 countries in its 10 academic schools: arts, arts and sciences, business, divinity, education, health professions, law, nursing, pharmacy and public health. Samford fields 17 athletic teams that compete in the tradition-rich Southern Conference and ranks 6th nationally for its Graduation Success Rate among all NCAA Division I schools.