We Carry Their Bones

The Search for Justice at the Dozier School for Boys

De: Erin Kimmerle

Narrado por: Janina Edwards

"With We Carry Their Bones, Erin Kimmerle continues to unearth the true story of the Dozier School, a tale more frightening than any fiction. In a corrupt world, her unflinching revelations are as close as we'll come to justice." –Colson Whitehead, Pulitzer-Prize Winning author of The Nickel Boys and The Underground Railroad

Forensic anthropologist Erin Kimmerle investigates of the notorious Dozier Boys School—the true story behind the Pulitzer Prize–winning novel The Nickel Boys—and the contentious process to exhume the graves of the boys buried there in order to reunite them with their families.

The Arthur G. Dozier Boys School was a well-guarded secret in Florida for over a century, until reports of cruelty, abuse, and “mysterious” deaths shut the institution down in 2011. Established in 1900, the juvenile reform school accepted children as young as six years of age for crimes as harmless as truancy or trespassing. The boys sent there, many of whom were Black, were subject to brutal abuse, routinely hired out to local farmers by the school’s management as indentured labor, and died either at the school or attempting to escape its brutal conditions.

In the wake of the school’s shutdown, Erin Kimmerle, a leading forensic anthropologist, stepped in to locate the school’s graveyard to determine the number of graves and who was buried there, thus beginning the process of reuniting the boys with their families through forensic and DNA testing. The school’s poorly kept accounting suggested some thirty-one boys were buried in unmarked graves in a remote field on the school’s property. The real number was at least twice that. Kimmerle’s work did not go unnoticed; residents and local law enforcement threatened and harassed her team in their eagerness to control the truth she was uncovering—one she continues to investigate to this day.

We Carry Their Bones is a detailed account of Jim Crow America and an indictment of the reform school system as we know it. It’s also a fascinating dive into the science of forensic anthropology and an important retelling of the extraordinary efforts taken to bring these lost children home to their families—an endeavor that created a political firestorm and a dramatic reckoning with racism and shame in the legacy of America.

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2022 Erin Kimmerle (P)2022 HarperCollins Publishers

Heartbreaking & Slow

This story is so important to know. However, the storytelling felt excruciatingly detailed about the process of unearthing the burial sites/ public agencies’ involvement. I think I personally just needed it to move faster. Beautiful narration. I learned so much about the trauma these families & children experienced in this part of FL. I normally read true crime but this read more like an internal monologue.

Did not hold my attention and sounded like it kept repeating itself.

She was a good narrator but did not hold my attention. It seemed like she kept saying the same things over and over, just in different ways.

Compelling and critically important

this comprehensive narrative walks readers through the unmarked graves of children that will not be forgotten. Thanks largely to the efforts of scientist and stakeholders, working collaboratively, to excavate their stories. Gratitude to Dr. Kimmerle for leading the research and to her team for their resolve .

Thorough description of context in which this can happen.

This book is for anyone who still chooses to ignore the truth for the sake of their own peace of mind. This book lays out in exquisite detail how atrocities like this have and continue to happen in this country because those in power choose to ignore them.

Very repetitive...

...and excessively detailed. I don't care about the contents of her lab and the dorm fire is mentioned at least 50 times.

What Was Learned -Florida's Dozier School for Boys

If you read Colson Whitehead's Nickel Boys, you absolutely must read We Carry Their Bones by Erin Kimmerle. If you did not read Nickel Boys, read Kimmerle's book about the struggles faced by anyone wanting to expose the horrors of Florida's long-held methods for the discipline of boys, their solution to the need for cheap labor at no cost, and way to give work to the depraved that exemplified cruelty, sadism, racism, and more.

Whitehead's book is fiction, this is not. Kimmerle's is not. Kimmerle is a noted Forensic Anthropologist who, when urged by survivors of Dozier, began the long, difficult path to open the prison to scrutiny. She was not welcome. The community surrounding Dozier did not want the past revealed. The government wanted to sweep things out of sight. But eventually she was able to bring the best of forensics to reveal the past.

The children were probably separated by race, often imprisoned for life for crimes of running away, missing school, or for being orphaned(!) The sentencing was dictated by the prison, not the judge. The prison would demand more boys! As I am concurrently reading about a Boys home in Ireland that was terrible. I will be choosing something lighter soon.

This book is detailed and very sad. The school/prison operated from 1900 until 2011. A second campus opened in 1955.

This is a must read.

Maddening

WE CARRY THEIR BONES: THE SEARCH FOR JUSTICE AT THE DOZIER SCHOOL FOR BOYS by Erin Kimmerle is an important contribution to Florida and juvenile justice history.

The Dozier School was not a school. It was a prison and torture system for wayward boys, boys who ran away and cut school. Most of the inmates were from low income families with few resources to get their boys back. The inmates were not allowed to be called boys, children, students or residents. Often presumed guilty without trials, the boys, some under age ten, were beaten, starved, murdered and sexually assaulted by their keepers. Some of the children and teens were beaten to death by guards. Many were buried in unmarked graves.

Dr Kimmerle set out to identify as many bodies as she could, through DNA.

The reason for my mediocre review is several chapters were devoted to the political process of getting permission to excavate the school. While important for the archives of history, I didn’t care which politicians helped and which blocked uncovering the truth. I wanted to know about what happened to the boys how Kimmerle helped get a modicum of justice for the thousands of boys who lived at Dozier in the 117 years it ran.

Powerful, Tragic story

This was recommended to me because of my high regard for THE NICKEL BOYS by Colson Whitehead. WE CARRY THEIR BONES is a sad, well documented non-fiction account of an egregious episode in Florida’s history. It is an indictment of Jim Crow, racism, and the juvenile justice system in the state of Florida. Highly recommend.

Well Told Story of Dedication to Truth and Recognition of the Foresaken

This is a story about forsaken boys, and the torture they endured in a place that hope forgot. It’s about men and families who never forgot. It’s a tale of complicity, whitewashing and obstruction of memory. It’s an account of a town that depended on the industrial scale dehumanization of kids to prop up its economy, and the cruel complacency of a racist state power structure. AND it is a story of dedication to unearthing the truth, respect and tenacity. It’s about being seen, found, remembered and loved. Kimmerlee tells an important story well. Janina Edwards is pitch perfect.

The word Bones

It’s a sad story and certainly not one that is told in history class. There were many times I was shocked, horrified, and tears did fill my eyes at times.