Race Against Time: The Untold Story of Scipio Jones and the Battle to Save Twelve Innocent Men

In this key civil rights and social justice book for young readers, Scipio Africanus Jones—a self-taught attorney who was born enslaved—leads a momentous series of court cases to save twelve Black men who'd been unjustly sentenced to death.

In October 1919, a group of Black sharecroppers met at a church in an Arkansas village to organize a union. Bullets rained down on the meeting from outside. Many were killed by a white mob, and others were rounded up and arrested. Twelve of the sharecroppers were hastily tried and sentenced to death. Up stepped Scipio Africanus Jones, a self-taught lawyer who'd been born enslaved. Could he save the men's lives and set them free? Through their in-depth research and consultation with legal experts, award-winning nonfiction authors Sandra and Rich Wallace examine the complex proceedings and an unsung African American early civil rights hero.

Investigative journalists Sandra Neil Wallace and Rich Wallace are award-winning writers of nonfiction titles including First Generation: 36 Trailblazing Immigrants and Refugees Who Make America Great and Blood Brother: Jonathan Daniels and His Sacrifice for Civil Rights, which won the International Literacy Association's Social Justice Award. Sandra's picture-book biography Between the Lines: How Ernie Barnes Went from the Football Field to the Art Gallery earned the National Council of Teachers of English 2019 Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction. The authors' other recent books have won the Paterson Prize, the California Reading Association's Eureka Gold Award, and the Parents' Choice Gold Award and have been named to many "best books" lists such as the ALA-ALSC Notable Children's Books.