National Repair: Judge Turner’s Justice

By William Simpkins III ’83. CreateSpace, 2010. This book tells the true story of Richard Welcome Turner, a former Confederate soldier who worked as a Union federal judge in post-Civil War Louisiana. After falling in love and marrying a woman of color, Turner was the victim of a murder that went unreported. Five generations later, Turner’s great, great-grandson lived by his example. The author argues that civilly prosecuting Judge Turner’s murderers will help heal some of the still-painful wounds inflicted on American society by slavery and the post-slavery era, weaving a tighter-knit union and a more perfect freedom.