Blood Done Sign My Name

A True Story

By: Timothy B. Tyson

Narrated by: Robertson Dean

Length: 11 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

The “riveting”* true story of the fiery summer of 1970, which would forever transform the town of Oxford, North Carolina - a classic portrait of the fight for civil rights in the tradition of To Kill a Mockingbird (*Chicago Tribune)

On May 11, 1970, Henry Marrow, a 23-year-old Black veteran, walked into a crossroads store owned by Robert Teel and came out running. Teel and two of his sons chased and beat Marrow, then killed him in public as he pleaded for his life.

Like many small Southern towns, Oxford had barely been touched by the civil rights movement. But in the wake of the killing, young African Americans took to the streets. While lawyers battled in the courthouse, the Klan raged in the shadows and Black Vietnam veterans torched the town’s tobacco warehouses. Tyson’s father, the pastor of Oxford’s all-White Methodist church, urged the town to come to terms with its bloody racial history. In the end, however, the Tyson family was forced to move away.

Tim Tyson’s gripping narrative brings gritty blues truth and soaring gospel vision to a shocking episode of our history.

Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award

“If you want to read only one book to understand the uniquely American struggle for racial equality and the swirls of emotion around it, this is it.” (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

“Blood Done Sign My Name is a most important book and one of the most powerful meditations on race in America that I have ever read.” (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

“Pulses with vital paradox...It’s a detached dissertation, a damning dark-night-of-the-white-soul, and a ripping yarn, all united by Tyson’s powerful voice, a brainy, booming Bubba profundo.” (Entertainment Weekly)

“Engaging and frequently stunning.” (San Diego Union-Tribune)

©2004 Timothy B. Tyson (P)2004 Random House, Inc. Random House Audio, a divison of Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

“Admirable and unexpected...a riveting story that will have his readers weeping with both laughter and sorrow.” (Chicago Tribune)

“Blood Done Sign My Name is a most important book and one of the most powerful meditations on race in America that I have ever read.” (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

“Engaging and frequently stunning.” (San Diego Union-Tribune)

Powerful and important book. Highly recommend.

I was given a copy of this book many years ago. I had never really read it. I have been moved beyond words. This book takes you through the full range of human emotion from sickening to hope in humanity. The raw honesty and willingness to dig deep and face the truth of our history is such a rare find.

Great Book!

I really enjoyed this book, and I would highly recommend to a friend or someone looking for a good read.

History we need to know

If you could sum up Blood Done Sign My Name in three words, what would they be?

Eye-opening, humbling

What was one of the most memorable moments of Blood Done Sign My Name?

All of the personal recollections of racism were very moving.

Which character – as performed by Robertson Dean – was your favorite?

The father - Vernon Tyson

This Is A Very Good Book

Listening to Tyson describe the North Carolina of the 1960s, I was reminded how much the world has changed in the last half century. Ku Klux Klan rallies, widespread white supremacism, corrupt judicial systems -- that culture of hate is almost unrecognizeable today. In addition to solid history and a gripping true crime narrative, the book includes thoughtful sections on nonviolence. Tyson shows that much of the nonviolence movement of the 1960s was a myth, and that violence and physical force were necessary to change our culture. This book is filled with big ideas and big questions, but it is written in a plain style that is easy to understand. It is smart without being difficult. Highly recommended.

Fantastic!

A must read for any native North Carolinian. A book that can change outlooks and lives.

Powerful story of intersectionality

Tyson's narrative of a white boyhood in Eastern North Carolina can be a transformative expeprience for those still uncertain about depths of the evils of white supremacy.

First Person History

Dr. Tyson combines careful -- and compassionate -- research with personal experiences to display what it was like to live in Eastern North Carolina in the racial turbulent 1960s and 1970s. This is a very powerful book to hear in the intimacy of earphones.

Excellent and Eloquent

Incredible and gripping account that is a well told biography, an account of a racist murder in Oxford North Carolina, and thoughtful history of American history, a history that is not taught in schools. "We want to transcend history without actually confronting it", and the past, sadly is also the present. This is a masterpiece and fully recommended.

Important work

Would you listen to Blood Done Sign My Name again? Why?

Yes. This book was well-done, depicting the complex relationships between blacks and whites in the South, and taking away the sunshine and rainbows of nonviolent resistance in the Civil Rights era. It is also a family history... a very personal one. Mr. Tyson got many interviews with many people who affected his life, and that made it more personal than a true crime book or a political commentary, and more well-rounded than a family biography - though it is all three.

A look into the meaning of White Privilege

Anyone looking to understand the meaning of White Privilege needs to read this book objectively. I grew up in the 60's and 70's when the n-word was still a fairly common descriptor of African Americans. As a child, I can remember the "colored maid" that my neighbor had briefly while recuperating from illness. I'm sure she rode the transit bus in her nicely starched uniform to our neighborhood of very middle class people. And I remember the "nice colored boy" that my father hired to help him on his delivery route, and how good my father felt about bringing him home for lunch, although my mother would only serve him on paper plates with paper cups.

Fast forward to present day, and here am I, the mother-in-law of an African American man and the proud grandmother of biracial boys. This has changed my perspective. A lot. Some of my Caucasian friends complain about the BLM movement, and shout the rallying cry: "All Lives Matter!!" Umm, well yes they do. And they mattered back when the KKK were burning crosses and lynching young black men for daring to stand up to white folk. In a conversation with a peer in recent months, I was challenged on using the term White Privilege. "Well, I don't know what you're talking about. I grew up poor. I didn't have privilege." To which I responded, "Your skin color was your privilege. You weren't turned away from jobs, or renting a home, or shopping at a store BECAUSE you are white." He just didn't get it, and many don't. I don't completely understand because I didn't live that experience. But one thing I know is that I want better for my beautiful grandchildren. The world will not see them as biracial; they will see them as black. So fighting for what is right for my fellow human beings whose skin color is different, is actually fighting for what I want the world to be for my grandsons.

While at times this book was a little tedious, due to discussion of background characters and timelines (and admittedly, I like a "page-turner"), it was eye-opening in regard to the racial justice system in North Carolina in the 1970's! Not the 1870's, or 1940's, but just less than 50 years ago. What happened to Henry Marrow and the subsequent lack of justice handed out to his killers, made me cry, made me so angry, and made me question why there can't be exclusions to double-jeopardy. This is when one has to rely on Mr. Teal and his family having to answer to their Maker.

Lastly, I think the world needs more people like Rev. Tyson and Timothy Tyson. People who are willing to withstand the backlash because they know that they have to follow their conscience. That's the kind of person I hope to be.