Community History Author Talk: The Thief, the Senator, and the Knight of the Bleeding Heart with Paul Green & Reginald Hildebrand

The murder of John Walter Stephens by the Ku Klux Klan in 1870 was a turning point in the fight for equal voting rights in North Carolina. The Thief, the Senator, and the Knight of the Bleeding Heart is an intriguing and original work that’s part biography, part period history, part legal analysis, and part true crime thriller. This event will feature a conversation between the author and Dr. Reginald Hildebrand, Associate Professor of African and Afro-American Studies at UNC-Chapel Hill. Together, they’ll unpack the historical and modern implications of voter suppression, electoral fraud, and the propaganda campaigns uncovered in Green’s book. 

This event is hosted in partnership with the Orange County Remembrance Coalition.

About the Author:

Paul Green is a retired appellate criminal defense attorney with over three decades of experience in death penalty appeals, habeas corpus, and civil rights cases. Inspired by his personal ties to North Carolina history, Green’s debut book takes a “cold case” approach to one of the most significant murders of the Reconstruction era, exposing forgotten truths about voter suppression and racial violence.

About the Moderator:

Dr. Reginald Hildebrand is an Associate Professor of African and Afro-American Studies at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a respected scholar and community leader, serving on the advisory board of the Marian Cheek Jackson Center and as a member of St. Paul CME Church.