Chapter 42 Summary

The blacks of northern Mississippi know Lucien Wilbanks well as the only radical white NAACP lawyer in their area. He is the white man who filed more race discrimination lawsuits than can be counted. The northern blacks now board church buses before dawn and converge on the Ford County Courthouse. They are peacefully settled in and chanting by 8:00, with a nervous National Guard colonel and Ozzie watching. Reverend Agee, with a bullhorn, manages the masses. When a few Kluxers show up in white robes, the blacks are incensed and taunt them, actually frightening the Klansmen, who remain silent. Clanton experiences gridlock, and the judge and lawyers have to walk blocks from parking places to the courthouse. The jurors' bus is late arriving, and the fourteen jurors are dumbstruck by what they see on the courthouse lawn. Noose welcomes them and invites them to...