The Wrong Side of Murder Creek

Even forty years after the movement, the transition from son and grandson of Klansmen to field secretary of SNCC (Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee) seems quite a journey. In the early 1960s, when Bob Zellner's professors and classmates of a small  church school in Alabama thought he was crazy for even wanting to do research on civil rights it was nothing short of remarkable. Now, in his long-awaited memoir, Zellner tells how one white Alabamian joined ranks with black students who were sitting-in, marching, and sometimes dying to challenge the Southern "way of life" he had been raised on but rejected. Decades later, he is still protesting on behalf of social change and equal rights. Fortunately, he took the time to write his memories and reflections. The Wrong Side of Murder Creek is Bob Zellner's larger-then-life story and it was well worth the wait. Published November 2008, New South Books, www.newsouthbooks.com

VISIT THE WRONG SIDE OF MURDER CREEK WEBISTE.

Tales of a Civil Rights Activist. East Hampton Star, East Hampton, NY, Long Island Books, January 1, 2009

By James S. Henry

"The Wrong Side of Murder Creek" is an extraordinary personal memoir by one of the Hamptons' most colorful Southern imports and gifted political activists. It is required reading for anyone who wants to understand the inside story of the civil rights movement in this country.

More than that, it offers an inspiring account of a purposeful life that has been devoted to the cause of human rights and social justice.

continue to full Star review

The Alabama Writers' Forum, Reviews Online, October 2008 (review on site)

Reviewed by Chris Bouier

The Wrong Side of Murder Creek is an important book for many reasons. First, it offers the minority perspective of a Caucasian who was intimately involved in the Civil Rights Era of the mid-twentieth century on the frontline: the Deep South. The significance of this perspective cannot be overstated. Although the vanguard of the movement was African-American, its universal relevance is starkly illustrated by those who could have found their niche in the dominant social hierarchy yet chose to cast their lot with said vanguard for the sake of all who found themselves disenfranchised by the extant power structure.

Secondly, Zellner draws attention to certain aspects of this struggle that are too often glossed over by other raconteurs of the era such as the fact that there was no more a singular "movement" than there was a monolithic “establishment.” He recounts how each was comprised of groups and subgroups that formed a complex dynamic of earnestness and hypocrisy on both sides. As one follows his narrative one can discern how the prevailing social structure’s intractability helped shatter the overt racial divide birthing the myriad subtle divides which remain with us today. One can also see how the fervor and explosive growth of the “revolution” ultimately sowed the seeds of its idealistic fatigue. It became fractured and was ultimately subsumed by the dominant social hierarchy as Zellner in his characteristic honesty admits was reflected in his own personal experience as well.

Thirdly, Zellner poignantly portrays the difficulties that he and others experienced dealing with their adopted creed of non-violence. He speaks candidly about the violent tendencies inherent in the southern mindset as well as the spiritual effects and rewards of non-violent discipline. Zellner relates how this conflict and its resolution lay at the heart of the inner struggle of many of those brave souls striving for social change through psychological and spiritual means.

This work will appeal to its readers on many levels in many ways. It will find its place as historical source material, and it possesses the overtones of sociological analysis that will resonate with academics. At the same time its accessible, matter-of-fact style will strike chords within the curious lay-reader seeking to learn more about this definitive period in American history for personal fulfillment and a deeper understanding of how things got to be the way they are today. The Civil Rights Era is perennially relevant, and its story must be continually retold. Bob Zellner has told it in a refreshing manner, and he has told it well.

Paul Harvey - Bob Zellner's Civil Rights Memoir (review on site)

Everyone who studies SNCC and the civil rights movement will recognize the name of Bob Zellner. A white Alabamian, son of a clergyman and college student in the early 1960s, Zellner cast his lot with the black freedom movement. In spite of his ubiquity in the historical literature of the movement (including a couple of brief appearances in my book Freedom's Coming), he remains much less well known than other characters from the era. That may be rectified somewhat now by the publication of Zellner's new memoir, Wrong Side of Murder Creek: A White Southerner in the Movement. Connie Curry, instrumental in the wonderful collection Deep in Our Hearts: Nine White Women in the Freedom Movement, and a number of other memoirs and books about the period, is listed as the co-author, and Julian Bond provides the foreword. I look forward to reading this soon and blogging about it some more.

Library Journal (review on site)

Zellner's memoir focuses on his experiences as a civil rights activist from 1960 to 1967. He tells a story that is sometimes horrific, always interesting, and ultimately inspirational about a white Southerner's commitment to racial justice. Born and raised in the Deep South, Zellner was profoundly influenced by his father, a Methodist minister who rejected his own Ku Klux Klan ties and encouraged his son in his growing interest in the civil rights movement. In the 1960s, Zellner became a member and ultimately a field secretary of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and participated in numerous demonstrations attacking racial discrimination. He was arrested, jailed, beaten—often savagely—shot at by police, and almost killed. Yet he remained committed to the cause of racial justice and the organizing needed to achieve it. In 1967, he and his activist wife, Dottie, were kicked out of SNCC owing to a decision to remove all whites from the organization, which he understood but was saddened by. Written with Curry (Silver Rights: The Story of the Carter Family's Brace Decision To Send Their Children to an All-White School and Claim Their Civil Rights), this powerful portrait of a courageous man is highly recommended for all but the smallest libraries.—Anthony O. Edmonds, Ball State Univ., Muncie, IN

The journey white Southerners travel in this riveting memoir, from virulent racism to acceptance of blacks' civil rights, is as momentous as any in American history. Zellner moved a shorter distance-son of a progressive, integrationist minister from Alabama , he had his family's support when he joined the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in 1961. A frontline participant in many civil rights battles, he was jailed, beaten, slashed, shot at by police and taken on a terrifying night ride by Klansmen as they debated whether to lynch him. He's also a canny observer of major figures in the struggle, from SNCC legend Robert Moses to segregationist stalwart George Wallace. Zellner comes off as confident, even cocky-especially in his many arguments with racist antagonists, of which he has an implausible verbatim recall-but the constant menace of howling white mobs, vicious cops and Klan terrorists takes its toll. The result is a testament both to the courage of civil rights activists and to the hatred they overcame; when Zellner survives to see white and black workers come together for a wildcat strike, it seems almost miraculous.