The latest book by Pulitzer Prize-winning author and former Miami Herald columnist Leonard Pitts Jr. — 54 Miles — is a historical fictional novel that follows a family forced to confront its tumultuous past during a turning point in the Civil Rights Movement. The title references the 54 miles from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.
It’s a continuation of his previous novel The Last Thing You Surrendermajor plot thread was left at the end of it, and he wanted to tie up that loose end in 54 Miles.
“There was a character who led a lynch mob, and he never saw any sort of consequences or any sort of comeuppance or whatever for that,” Pitts told WLRN. “That just always bothered me, but I couldn’t figure out a way to resolve it in the context of the last novel.”
The novel begins with Selma’s infamous Bloody Sunday attacks on civil rights marchers on March 7, 1965. It was the day when demonstrators were beaten by officers on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, as they tried to march across Alabama, from Selma to the state capital of Montgomery, to support voting rights.
The then-25-year-old activist John Lewis — who died in 2020 — and other civil rights leaders led the march and everything went according to plan until they crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge, which was named after a Confederate general and grand dragon of the Alabama Ku Klux Klan.
READ MORE: Leonard Pitts Jr. asked ‘Why is America like this?’ He tells us what he’s learned
The unarmed marchers were then attacked by law enforcement officers who beat them with billy clubs and sprayed them with tear gas. One of the novel’s protagonists, Adam, was beaten during this confrontation.
Pitts said that, given the nature of the novel, it’s important to reflect the racial tension in the country nearly 60 years ago.
“It’s of critical and vital importance to be able to talk about the racial tensions that were afoot during the civil rights years and, puncture this notion that we have overcome … and that there’s no need to know or to discuss those things in the past,” he said.
The book is a work of historical fiction, weaving some of the biggest events of the Civil Rights Movement with the lives of the protagonists: Adam, George, Luther, and Thelma.
Pitts deals with themes that are critical to the lives of African Americans, such as generational trauma. Thelma and Luther struggle as their traumatic experiences come back to haunt them and affect those around them like Thelma’s son Adam and her husband George.
Through his characters, Pitts highlights the experiences of African Americans who lived through segregation. He doesn’t want to keep the truth away from his readers.
“If you read any of my stuff, one thing I know is that you will not be allowed to be ignorant of the history. You may not like it, but you’re not going to be allowed to be ignorant of it,” he said.
IF YOU GO
Leonard Pitts Jr. will be at Books & Books in Coral Gables for a discussion and book signing eventon Thursday, Aug. 8, beginning at 7 p.m. Learn more about this free event here.
