28.
– 825.) The Secret of Magic by
Deborah Johnson – There is a rising sense of doom in the opening of the book
that I could almost not bear to read as I dreaded the consequences. Lt. Joe
Howard Wilson, decorated WW II veteran and discharged from the Army, is riding
the bus back to Revere Mississippi. Struggling with what we would call PTSD he
is desperately looking forward to seeing his father Willie Willie.
After
fighting for America he has returned to the stifiling segregation of the
American South. (Joe Howard is a Negro in the language of the times. In this
review I will use Johnson’s descriptions of African Americans in the 1940’s).
Already forced to sit in the back of the bus, when a white police officer
demands Joe Howard give up his seat for a German prisoner of war, he snaps and
refuses to surrender his place on the bus and swears at the officer.
As
the bus crosses from Alabama to Mississipi, less than 30 miles from home, a
group of white men wearing hoods take Joe Howard from the bus.
Over
a year later a letter arrives at the office of the NACCP Legal Defense Fund in
New York City. Regina Mary Robichard, a newly graduated lawyer, opens the
letter. It is from Mary Pickett Calhoun in Revere asking Thurgood Marshall, the
real life lawyer who led the Fund, to come down to Revere to investigate the
death of Joe Howard.
Regina
has spent her life working hard at her education and being proper. She longs to
prove her worth as a young female Negro lawyer and asks Marshall to let her go
to Revere.
Both
Regina and Marshall recognize the letter writer’s name. M.P. Calhoun has
written The Secret of Magic, a work
of fiction for young adults, 16 years earlier. A pivotal character is a wise
colored man, Daddy Lemon:
He knew about
the land, and his land was Mississippi. He had hold of its secrets and its
magic.
In
the book 3 children, 2 white and 1 Negro, want to find out about a murder. The
book had enthralled Regina when she was a pre-teen girl who loved reading.
Regina’s
family history provides her with a compelling reason for her to seek justice
for Joe Howard and M.P. Calhoun has offered to pay expenses. Marshall agrees to
Regina going to Mississippi.
When
Regina arrives she finds a community rigidly segregated yet whites and Negroes
interact daily. In the North she had not lived with legal segregation but
whites and Negroes lived separate lives.
Mary
Pickett, while disappointed it is not Marshall, grudgingly allows Regina to
stay in the small house that had been the home of Willie Willie.
A
wise old man Willie Willie is clearly the inspiration for Daddy Lemon. He works
to help Regina understand the dynamics of the town.
It
is clear what has happened to Joe Howard but what can a young Negro woman
lawyer in 1946 do about the death of a young Negro man in Mississippi when the
grand jury, after the briefest of hearings, has declared that he “met with the
adventure of an accident and was drowned”?
Regina
asks questions. She follows up answers. She is not reckless but she has the
determination of the young lawyer to right a grievous wrong through the law.
Chased
out of the District Attorney’s office twice by the receptionist she sits
outside upon the steps atop her lacy handkerchief until invited in for an
interview with the D.A.
Regina
does not fit into the place set for Negroes in Revere.
She
is an admirable lawyer. Many lawyers of any generation would hesitate to embark
on a futile cause with an unknown personal danger. I have taken on difficult
cases but none with the element of personal risk.
Regina’s
quest for justice for Joe Howard is a fascinating journey into life and law and
justice in 1946 Mississippi.
I
found the middle of the book dragged abit but The Secret of Magic, both the book of Regina and the story of Daddy
Lemon, are striking with vivid powerful characters. I love John Grisham’s legal mysteries
set in Mississippi 40 years later in time. Johnson has written a book of
Mississippi and law that equally captured me. It is the second book I have read from the shortlist for this year's Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction.
Regina
Mary Robichard is a fictional lawyer to be remembered.
It does sound like a compelling read, Bill. Along with the legal questions and the other plot threads of this book, it sounds as though there's the element of looking at a society (in this case, the South of that time) from 'the outside in.' And that can be fascinating. Glad you enjoyed this.
ReplyDeleteMargot: Thanks for the comment. It is a book that looks from the outside and the inside at the South.
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