Author Description

Mulligan Stew is a period piece staged during the great depression in Southern Louisiana. The story takes place at a time in Southern US history when the prejudices toward the Black race were at their worst, and hate organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan ran rampant in their efforts to suppress and degrade the Negro race, as well as any others who may have been sympathizers to their plight. The KKK employed all measures of cruelty in enforcing their hatred such as beatings and lashings, hangings, torture, rape, and the burning homesteads, schools, and churches alike. They had even been known to block the doors and windows before setting some fires to insure that all therein perished. During this time in history the Klan viewed such practices as necessary, and as a means of protecting the sovereignty of the white Southern way of life. It was war, and they were soldiers. Thus, all was fair and done in the name of God and Country. It was as commonplace and acceptable in many households to speak of cross burnings, hangings, and beatings of the Black race around the dinner table with children present, as it was to speak of any other issues of daily family life. In this way the inbred hatred for the African Americans of that era was perpetuated and repeated generation after generation. The white people of that era, both wealthy and poor alike who interfered or may have apposed these kinds of goings on toward the Blacks were also targeted and considered second class citizens and enemies of the Klan. So it was not unheard of that in this war against the Black race there were many white people who fell victim to the hatred as well. You will read first hand depictions of the psychology and warped rationale of the KKK outlaws who fed off pure hatred. Mulligan Stew, though a work of fiction contains a number of true life atrocities and injustices that were everyday occurrences during that era. This gets to the very heart of why I felt so compelled in my effort to tell