Buried in the Bitter Waters

The Hidden History of Racial Cleansing in America

By: Elliot Jaspin

Narrated by: Don Leslie

"Leave now, or die!"

From the heart of the Midwest to the Deep South, from the mountains of North Carolina to the Texas frontier, words like these have echoed through more than a century of American history. The call heralded not a tornado or a hurricane, but a very unnatural disaster: a manmade wave of racial cleansing that purged black populations from counties across the nation.

We have long known about horrific episodes of lynching in the South, but the story of widespread racial cleansing above and below the Mason-Dixon Line has remained almost entirely unknown. Time after time, in the period between Reconstruction and the 1920s, whites banded together to drive out the blacks in their midst. They burned and killed indiscriminately and drove thousands from their homes, sweeping entire counties clear of blacks to make them racially "pure". The expulsions were swift; in many cases, it took no more than 24 hours to eliminate an entire African-American population. Shockingly, these areas remain virtually all-white to this day.

Based on nearly a decade of painstaking research in archives and census records, Buried in the Bitter Waters provides irrefutable evidence that racial cleansing occurred again and again on American soil, and fundamentally reshaped the geography of race.

©2007 Elliot Jaspin (P)2007 HighBridge Company

Critic reviews

"In the tradition of muckraking journalism and detective history, Elliot Jaspin employs the modern term 'cleansing' to uncover a hideous and veiled part of America's racial past....This book forces a moral confrontation with the truth that the past matters, however innocently we prefer to live in the present. With engaging prose and dogged research, Jaspin reveals America's home-grown pogroms." (David W. Blight, Professor of American History, Yale University)

Buried in the Bitter Waters

Topic was well presented and thoughtful. As a white boy raised in Kansas, I have a lot of reevaluating to do. The material was presented with me in mind.

This book should be required reading.

The history of the United States is filled with shameful stories of the treatment of her African American citizens. This book should be required reading for all students in high school and presented in such a way that it is used for understanding of the economic plight of African American families.

Powerful!

Accounts of real life occurrences that are relevant today throughout the United States - the disbelief of segregation and evidence continues to thrive throughout this country - and people want to say that it is a thing of the past - outdated by whom? My question is whose past are we trying to forget! Thought provoking accounts of inhumane treatment of people for merely sharing different skin pigmentation. Join Mr. Jaspin and others in opening up your eyes and mind to societies public divide – take a stand to erase separation permanently instead of conveniently.

Sad chapter of history...

Another chapter of American history I was not aware of. I live only a couple of hours from Pierce City, MO and had heard about the cleansing there, but didn't know how common it was. Sad history, and to paraphrase a line from the book, "shame is not your destiny," I am ashamed of my ancestors for not standing up to this horrifying segment of racism.

Great history lesson. Should be required reading.

This is an awful, terrible, truth bearing slice of not just Black history but American history. It’s important to note that it isn’t a history that’s very long ago. This is a book that should be required reading from high school through college. These pieces of lost, covered over, and “fabled” happenings are as relevant in 2019 as they were when they happened. This history lingers in our families, towns, cities and country. It is in our education and employment systems. Our history is recurring even today and this book speaks to the truth of that fact.