Charles L. Chavis Jr. - The Silent Shore: The Lynching of Matthew Williams and the Politics of Racism in the Free State

The Silent Shoreis a must-read account of the 1931 lynching of a young Black man on a December evening in downtown Salisbury, Maryland. The event was a seminal onean act of racial terrorism that, along with other lynchings on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, shaped the dynamics of race and power across the state for decades to come. Chavis digs deep, finding documents never before seen publicly, to present a rich and revealing story of how lynchings were planned and executed, and the conspiracy of silence among white people in the region that shrouded the perpetrators of lynching from accountability. The story resonates with power and caution for our contemporary efforts to address racial violence and discrimination.

Sherrilyn Ifill, author of On the Courthouse Lawn: Confronting the Legacy of Lynching in the Twenty-First Century

The Silent Shoreis a poignant and revelatory reflection on lynching, violence, and racism. Seemingly southern in its heritage of slavery and white supremacy, the Free State of Maryland also had a robust tradition of Black activism. In this prodigiously researched and gracefully told story, Charles Chavis reveals the clash of these two traditions while tracing a surprising story of political courage and community resolve in the wake of the gruesome execution of Matthew Williams.

W. Fitzhugh Brundage, author of Civilizing Torture: An American Tradition

Excellent and essential reading. By recovering the tragic story of Matthew Williams, Chavis enriches the history of lynching in America. Deeply researched and brimming with important insights, this book locates the Free State of Maryland as a critical site of contestation over race, democracy, and citizenship in ways that continue to reverberate in the age of Black Lives Matter.

Penial E. Joseph, author of The Sword and the Shield

Chaviss book brings the painful truth of antiblack violence to light and breaks the silence that, up until now, surrounded the murder of Matthew Williams. For nearly 90 years, this lynching has haunted the Eastern Shore; now, Chaviss investigative work helps heal old wounds and opens new ones by revealing Williamss killers and those who assisted them. The detailed retelling of these fateful eventsreconstructed from sources never before used by scholarsis powerful, timely, and devastating.

Aston Gonzalez, author of Visualizing Equality: African American Rights and Visual Culture in the Nineteenth Century

Chavis, who has discovered period sources that shed new light on the lynching of Matthew Williams, a Black man who was killed by a mob in Salisbury, Maryland, in 1931, brings the sensibilities of both a scholar and a history detective to bear in scrutinizing the ins and outs of an often complicated story and narrative arc. This book is further enhanced by a number of excellent photographs and other illustrations.

Claude A. Clegg III, author of The Black President: Hope and Fury in the Age of Obama

The Silent Shore

The Lynching
of Matthew Williams
and the Politics
of Racism
in the Free State

Charles L. Chavis Jr.

Johns Hopkins University Press

Baltimore

2021 Johns Hopkins University Press

All rights reserved. Published 2021

Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper

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Johns Hopkins University Press

2715 North Charles Street

Baltimore, Maryland 21218-4363

www.press.jhu.edu

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Chavis, Charles L.