Race Against Time

Speaker:  Jerry Mitchell

The stories of investigative reporter Jerry Mitchell have helped put four Klansmen responsible for the murder of three civil rights workers in the “Mississippi Burning” case and a serial killer behind bars. His stories have also helped free two people from death row, exposed injustices and corruption, prompting Justice Department investigations and reforms as well as the firings of boards and officials. Mr. Mitchell will share how some of the nation’s most notorious murders have come to be punished decades later.

Jerry Mitchell is a Pulitzer Prize finalist, a longtime member of Investigative Reporters & Editors, and a winner of more than 30 other national awards, including a $500,000 MacArthur “genius” grant.

His memoir for Simon & Schuster, Race Against Time, is an astonishing, courageous story capturing a historic race for justice, and was selected by NPR for “The Best Books of 2020,” and The New York Times made it an Editors’ Pick.

After working for three decades for the statewide Clarion-Ledger, Mitchell left in 2019 and founded the Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting, a nonprofit that exposes injustices, investigates cold cases, gives voice to the voiceless and raises up the next generation of investigative reporters.

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