“This book is something of a minor miracle, in turning back the clock and giving back a voice to those once silenced.

 John McFall’s story, written over 75 years ago, is not just personal tale, but a testimony to a time, a place, and a people as Charleston, SC regressed from Reconstruction to Jim Crow.  Not just a witness but a participant, McFall vividly recorded the sights and smells of the city, its neighborhoods and customs, while never failing to keenly analyze the parts both individual Whites and Blacks played in Charleston’s growing segregation crisis. Unlikely heroes and those not so heroic appear in the book’s pages. He names names, and the author’s clear sighted assessment will, no doubt, trigger the rewriting and revisioning of this era. It offers a rare glimpse and time-capsule view of what went on when racism was allowed to run rampant, told from the perspective of a man who refused to be victimized by it. Even in its matter-of-fact tone, the narrative is gripping and engrossing and a necessary corrective to our understanding of what happened.”

— Harlan Greene, author and historian

“As with most Blacks, including myself,who witnessed life in the deep south during the Jim Crow era, Dr. McFall’s autobiography tells the complex and conflicting story of how Blacks, especially professional Blacks, had to tip-toe between the fine lines of the Black Codes initiated after Reconstruction. Resisting Jim Crow is a riveting tale of that life during those challenging times.”

—Walter O. Evans, M.D., philanthropist and collector of African American art & literature

“Dr. McFall’s autobiography… is simply riveting! I am most impressed by the level of detail he provided about places and people in Charleston during the post- Reconstruction era. As I read through his descriptions, I felt like black Charleston from that era was coming alive! I think it should be required reading for every student and scholar of Black history in Charleston”

—Felice F. Knight, Ph.D., Department of History, The Citadel

“Dr. McFall’s autobiography provides a much-needed perspective on a period of Charleston’s history that was much darker, more complicated, and more nuanced than portrayed in mainstream histories. His narrative reveals the struggles, and triumphs, of people briefly granted freedoms long overdue, only to have them taken away. The detailed stories illustrate the tremendous effort required of community leaders to lobby for fair and equitable treatment in hospitals, schools, and public places. For my own work, descriptions from his childhood of the markets, the keeping of livestock and gardens, the growth of neighborhoods, the damage and reconstruction from storms, provide a great window into everyday life.”

—Martha Zierden, The Charleston Museum