Count Them One by One

Count Them One by One, Black Mississippians Fighting for the Right to Vote, a book by Gordon A. Martin - who happens to be my father-in-law - is now on sale.  The book is a very interesting, first-hand narrative from the former United States Justice Dept. trial attorney who helped challenge voter discrimination in the '60s. 

Read this review from the Social Law Society online site:


In 1961, Forrest County, Mississippi, became a focal point of the civil rights movement when the United States Justice Department filed a lawsuit against voting registrar Theron Lynd. While 30 percent of the county’s residents were black, only twelve African Americans were on its voting rolls. United States v. Lynd was the first trial that resulted in the conviction of a southern registrar for contempt of court. The case served as a model for other challenges to voter discrimination in the South and was an important influence in shaping the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Count Them One By One is a comprehensive account of the groundbreaking case written by one of the Justice Department’s trial attorneys. Gordon A. Martin, Jr., then a newly minted lawyer, traveled to Hattiesburg from Washington to help shape the federal case against Lynd. He met with and prepared the government’s sixteen courageous black witnesses who had been refused registration, found white witnesses, and was one of the lawyers during the trial.

Decades later, Martin returned to Mississippi to find these men and women whom he had never forgotten. He interviewed the still-living witnesses, their children, and friends. Martin intertwines these current reflections with vivid commentary about the case itself. The result is an impassioned, cogent fusion of reportage, oral history, and memoir about a trial that fundamentally reshaped the South.—University Press of Mississippi

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A former First Assistant United States Attorney and urban trial judge, Gordon A. Martin, Jr., is adjunct professor of law at New England Law Boston. His work has been published in the Boston Globe, the Herald, the Jackson Clarion-Ledger, the Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History, various law reviews, and other periodicals.

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There will be a book signing (and refreshments) at a November 10th reception at The Social Law Library in Boston as one of many events to celebrate the publishing of this important title.  

Social Law Library
One Pemberton Square, Suite 4100
Boston, MA 02108-1792




Here is the best way to purchase the book -  Click HERE

Look for more information, reviews and first hand anecdotes on the author and the progress of the book in the weeks and months ahead.