"Blood Done Sign My Name"

I was extremely fortunate as a graduate student to be advised by an amazing historian, Tim Tyson. Tim is a fantastic and compassionate man, a crusader for social justice, and a hell of a lot of fun. My M.A. research contributed to his first (and award-winning) book, Radio Free Dixie: Robert F. Williams and the Roots of Black Power. This book revolutionized the way scholars look at Black Power and armed self-defense during the civil rights era and spurred a slew of new research, including my own work on race relations and civil rights insurgency in Milwaukee. Tim is both a rigorous academic historian as well as a beautiful and poetic writer. His books are darn good reads!

Tim's second monograph, Blood Done Sign My Name, is another gripping, award-winning page-turner, part history, part autobiography. The story focuses on the 1970 murder of an African American veteran in Oxford, North Carolina, and the fallout from this injustice. Recently, the book was optioned as a movie and it has now begun shooting. Very cool!

Here is Tim talking about the book on NPR.

Here is a brief Youtube video from the set of Blood:


Keep your ear to the ground and check out Blood Done Sign My Name when it hits a theater near you. In the meantime, pick up one of Tim's books and give it a read. You won't regret it!