While the book elaborates on Maryland's role in the beginning and end of the Jim Crow era, the most compelling aspect of the book is the stories Smith gleaned from dozens of interviews with Marylanders, black and white, who lived with segregation and fought to end its practices. Baltimore Sun Hand it to your students... and make sure their parents ... Read moreread it, too. It's a road map of America's long political struggle from slavery to a black man running for president.
Michael Olesker Baltimore Examiner It's a darned good book by a darned good writer. Those of you who love fine writing and history can't afford to pass on Here Lies Jim Crow.
Gregory Kane Baltimore Sun In this case, you can judge a book by its cover... it sets the tone for Smith's spirited discussion of Jim Crow laws and the efforts of Marylanders to resist and overturn them.
John Lewis Baltimore Magazine By its very nature a moving but difficult and painful read. Painful or not, it is a book that helps one see present-day Maryland with a greater depth of understanding, and is certainly worth whatever discomfort it creates.
Petula Caesar Baltimore City Paper Tells the story of the long life and hard death of racial segregation in the Free State.
Ben Miller Bay Weekly Show Less