Johnson, Sandra E.

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JOHNSON, Sandra E.

PERSONAL: Born in Frankfurt, Germany.

ADDRESSES: Agent—c/o St. Martin's Press, 175 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10010. E-mail—[email protected]

CAREER: Freelance writer and columnist.

WRITINGS:

Standing on Holy Ground: A Triumph over Hate Crime in the Deep South, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2002.

Contributor of newspaper column to State (South Carolina's largest newspaper); contributor of articles to periodicals, including Washington Post, Transitions Abroad, and Columbia Metropolitan.

WORK IN PROGRESS: A novel with the working title Soul Catch a Fire.

SIDELIGHTS: Sandra E. Johnson was born in Frankfurt, Germany, the daughter of a military father. When she was one year old her family moved back to the United States, where Johnson currently lives in South Carolina. Her family's roots are in the South and the topic of her first published book confronts the issues of racism and hate crimes as witnessed by the African-American community in the South.

Standing on Holy Ground: A Battle against Hate Crime in the Deep South was born from a magazine article Johnson wrote that was slated to be published by one of Johnson's favorite magazines until the editor decided against it at the last minute. The reason: Too many similar articles had been recently published by other magazines on the same topic. Although Johnson was disappointed by the rejection, she maintained confidence in her account, knowing that the whole story behind the rash of church burnings and other hate crimes in the South had not truly been told. Her belief in her story lead her to extend the it into a full-length book, for which she subsequently found a publisher.

Standing on Holy Ground relates the account of how, in January 1985, Ammie Murray and Barbara Simmons organized the refurbishing of St. John Baptist Church in Dixiana, South Carolina, after it had been desecrated by vandals. The two women—one black, the other white—had been friends before the vandalism occurred, but over the course of their thirteen-year venture of trying to save the church, their friendship had deepened. The church was attacked several times, and at one point, the graveyard was even dug up, the graves violated, and evidence of satanic rituals was left behind. In 1995 the church suffered its worst offence when someone burned it to the ground.

The efforts of Murray and Simmon were often criticized by people in their community, and their lives were threatened for their attempts to save the church. However, the confidence and spiritual strength of their commitment kept their project alive. In the end, their story received nationwide publicity, and people from all over began offering their assistance.

As it turned out, St. John's was only the first church to be torched in the South during the 1980s and 1990s; and Johnson broadens the scope of her book to include information on the successful lawsuit brought against the Ku Klux Klan by two other Southern churches. As a Publishers Weekly reviewer noted: "By the end, the book becomes a stimulating whodunit and courtroom drama."

The strength and commitment of Murray and Simmon won the hearts of many people in their community, who eventually supported the women's efforts. Murray and Simmon proved themselves through their own continued efforts as they withstood personal attacks against them, verbal abuse, and other pressures that would not shake them from their goal. As Cathleen Medwick for O wrote: Johnson's book "shows how faith, love, and sheer bullheadedness may lose battle after battle against racism—and still win the war."

Karen Sandlin Silverman in Library Journal, called Johnson's book a "gripping page-turner" and commended the author for telling such a "compelling" story, while a Kirkus Reviews writer referred to Standing on Holy Ground as a confident report that "delves without blinking into the depths of human depravity and emerges with an inspiring story."