William Bradford Huie

William Bradford Huie was a fiction and non-fiction author, as well as a journalist. Although he published his first novel, Mud on the Stars, in 1942, he started his career in journalism in 1932. http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1547 Much of Huie's work stirred controversy because he criticized figures such as Governor George Wallace, and supported the civil rights movement.

Huie reported on the activities of the Ku Klux Klan, and investigated the murder of Emmett Till. He Slew the Dreamer recounts his research into the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Huie published his last novel, In the Hours of the Night, in 1975 and continued his journalism work until his death in 1986.http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1547

William Bradford Huie began his career as a journalist, reporting for the Birmingham Post from 1932 to 1936. After he left the Post, Huie worked as associate editor for the American Mercury from 1941 to 1943. He halted his writing work to serve in the navy during World War II. In 1945, Huie returned to Mercury as editor and publisher.http://reportingcivilrights.loa.org/authors/bio.jsp?authorId=33

Huie sold his first story to True Story magazine in 1928 while a student at the University of Alabama. After graduating, he reported for the Birmingham Post until 1936, when he began Alabama Magazine. http://www.southernliterarytrail.org/pdfs/Mud_On_The_Stars_Study_Guide.pdf Afterwards, Huie worked primarily as a freelance writer, publishing novels and continuing his career as a journalist. He published numerous civil rights pieces in national magazines such as TIME Magazine. His investigation into the murder of Emmett Till began after the Emmett Till killers were found not-guilty. Huie paid them to describe how and why they did it. Since they had already been tried for the crime, they agreed and Look magazine published the story. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/till/sfeature/sf_look_confession.html

After Huie died of a heart attack on November 20, 1986, Martha Hunt Huie, his widow, donated his unfinished papers. Martha Huie continues to represent William Bradford's literary properties. http://uanews.ua.edu/2010/10/%E2%80%98william-bradford-huie-100%E2%80%99-exhibition-to-open-at-ua%E2%80%99s-hoole-library/

"And this is what uh, what people in Mississippi over there in the Delta hate me for today: it's for saddling the guilt on the community."—Interview with William Bradford Huie, conducted by Blackside, Inc.http://digital.wustl.edu/e/eop/eopweb/hui0015.1034.050williambradfordhuie.html

"...But with truth absent, hypocrisy and myth have flourished. Now, hypocrisy can be exposed; myth dispelled. Here are the facts."— "The Shocking Story of Approved Killing in Mississippi"http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/till/sfeature/sf_look_confession.html

"They didn't even know who he was. They just went out to find a black and castrate him. And they just happened to find a man named Edward Aaron, who was 33 years old, had been in the war in the Philippines, and he didn't even know what the movement was about. He didn't—he wasn't anti-anything."—Interview with William Bradford Huie, conducted by Blackside, Inc.http://digital.wustl.edu/e/eop/eopweb/hui0015.1034.050williambradfordhuie.html

• 1942: Mud on the Stars

• 1951: The Revolt of Mamie Stover

• 1954: The Execution of Private Slovik

• 1959: Wolf Whistle and Other Stories

• 1963: Hotel Mamie Stover

• 1964: The Hiroshima Pilot: The Case of Major Claude Eatherly

• 1965: Three Lives for Mississippi

• 1967: The Klansman

• 1970: He Slew the Dreamer: My Search with James Earl Ray for the Truth about the Murder of Martin Luther King

• 1975: In The Hours of Night