Policing Greene: A Policeman at the Sunset of the Jim Crow South

About Policing Greene: A Policeman at the Sunset of the Jim Crow South

In 1964 at age 48, Carlton Lewis took an abrupt turn in life to become a policeman in a rural Georgia county - half white, half black – that must cope with new federal civil rights laws. He was a roughneck Son of the South whose grandfather owned slaves. How would he perform in his new role? Would he treat all Greene County citizens fairly and equally regardless of their color? This is the true story of an exceptional police officer at a turning point in U.S. history. Recruited as a deputy to legendary Greene County Sheriff L. L. Wyatt, Carlton Lewis rose to become Wyatt’s Chief Deputy before taking on the job of Chief of Police of the small Greene County town of Union point. His 22-year career led Carlton Lewis through many incidents and encounters ranging from murder and extortion to banishing a peacock. Along the way, Carlton’s predilection for a good fight and equal justice for all of Greene’s citizens exposed him to dangers mostly unknown to his family. When it was clear that federally-enforced integration of schools would occur in Georgia, the Greene County school superintendent stated that they would do the right thing without being ordered by having a few teachers volunteer to go the black and white schools to set examples for the community. Carlton’s wife Eleanor was the first white teacher to volunteer to go to the black school. This was a clear indication of the Lewis family’s attitude towards the societal changes coming their way. While Carlton would arrest and get in “tussles” with many of Greene County African Americans throughout his policing years, he would make sure that they received the same treatment in the justice system as did the white citizens he arrested. When Sheriff Wyatt died in 1977, community black leaders encouraged Carlton to run for the vacant office. He was grateful for such support but decided to complete his career by staying on as the Union Point police chief. In early 1986, as Carlton was approaching retirement, his son Tom, then Chief of Staff to Georgia Governor Joe Frank Harris, sat down with his dad and recorded their conversation about Carlton's policing exploits. Two months later, and just two weeks after his retirement, Carlton Lewis collapsed and died while on one of his daily walks. He had been shot at, bludgeoned on the head, and bloodied in numerous knock-down-drag-outs but survived his policing career only to be taken down by a fatal heart attack. Those audio recordings were incorporated in the 2018 book Policing Greene written in a collaboration between Tom and his friend Hal McAlister, who worked together at Georgia State University where Tom was a senior Vice President and Advisor to the President and Hal was Regents Professor of Astronomy. Their book is available on Amazon.com. Now, you can hear Carlton, Tom, and others describe incidents and encounters from the book, brought back to life in their own voices in these five podcast episodes. This podcast is sponsored by Team BlueLine, a non-profit giving back to families of fallen officers physically or mentally injured in the line of duty. Visit teamblueline.org. The episodes were produced by Andrew (Drew) Nelson with the editing assistance of Marion (Mars) Rinaldi. Drew narrates the series, and Mars reads occasional passages from the book. You can learn more about the book at amazon.com and halmcalister.com.

Publisher

Tom Lewis & Hal McAlister

Category

arts · true crime

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

30 Dec 2022

Latest episode

30 Dec 2022

Latest episodes

5 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   30 Dec 2022

   EPISODE 5 - So, what kind of cop was Carlton Lewis?

   EPISODE 5 - In this closing episode, Tom Lewis and Hal McAlister sit down together to talk about how the book and this podcast came to be. Tom’s request to his father that they record a long conversation about the Chief’s policing career just weeks before Carlton’s death is a lesson to us all about preserving family history before it’s too late. Hal asks Tom about how his mother reacted to her husband telling them at the dinner table that he wanted to quit his job and become a deputy sheriff with half the income they had been accustomed to. Her response was surprising. Early in the first podcast, Tom’s dad says that “to be a good policeman you have to love people.” And yet, Carlton was a fearless fighter who relished a good brawl. Those two things seem to be contradictory. Tom and Hal talk about what led him to find that balance? While Carlton’s mentor, Sheriff L. L. Wyatt, killed nine men all of whom fired at him first, Chief Lewis never killed anyone, even when it entirely justified. How does all this relate to an assessment of Carlton Lewis as a law man? [Accompanying image: Carlton Lewis late in his career.]

2. 

   30 Dec 2022

   EPISODE 4 - It's midnight. Let's go shut down a juke joint

   Enforcing the law to a T, Carlton, accompanied by his African-American partner Johnny Grimes, goes into an all-black juke joint to shut it down for violating curfew laws. Fights ensue, and they take several men off to jail to sober up. The next morning, Carlton recommends that the judge let them all go as they were just blowing off steam after a long week of hard work and can’t “feed their families” sitting in jail. The conclusion to the shooting death of Officer Rowry is described. Deputy Sherif Lewis arrests the famous civil rights leader Hosea Williams for driving drunk through Greene County. That action has positive repercussions for the arrestee and for civil unrest in the county going forward. Ironically, after Carlton’s passing, Tom is given the job by his boss, Governor Joe Frank Harris, of protecting Williams and other civil rights leaders during a highly tense 1987 march into Forsyth County, one of the largest such protests ever in the U.S. [Accompanying image: Tom and Eleanor in the late 1970s.]

3. 

   30 Dec 2022

   EPISODE 3 - Chief Lewis befriends the Gambler

   Carlton personally takes on providing security for Kenny Rogers during the filming of a movie in Greene County and quickly gets bored with the job. Tom is jailed for speeding in Union Point, and deputies Grimes and Lewis stakeout a moonshine still. The Chief snatches a shotgun pointed at him from the hands of a deranged man who is then sent off to the huge and notorious Central State Hospital in Milledgeville. Carlton’s grandson rides along with him in his police car when the Chief pulls a car over and puts the drunk driver in the back seat to the dismay of Tom’s wife. Two of Carlton’s four-man Union Point police force are shot and one man, Officer Tommy Rowry, dies. [Accompanying image: Tom and Carlton Lewis with Georgia Governor Joe Frank Harris.]

4. 

   30 Dec 2022

   EPISODE 2 - Shooting at the Chief

   Here you’ll learn the outcome of Reuben Flynt’s murder and hear Chief Lewis talk about being shot at from close range by a normally trustworthy town employee. The Chief takes an ill-advised short-cut over the top of a parked train rather than walk around it. Tom and Andrew take a trip to Union Point to talk with Mayor Lanier Rhodes and his Jill and visit with Carey Williams, long-time publisher of the Greensboro Herald Journal, all of whom well remember Carlton Lewis. The question is also posed as to whether Carlton Lewis might be another “Bull” Connor in the making. When Sheriff L. L. Wyatt retired, many urged Carlton to run for that office. His letter to the Herald Journal touchingly explained why he would not take that plunge. But that didn’t keep him from influencing politics when he felt it necessary. [Accompanying image: The Union Point Police Department ca.1980.]

5. 

   30 Dec 2022

   EPISODE 1 - Murder in Union Point

   This first episode explores Carlton’s life from his Navy service in World War II through to his retirement. You’ll meet Johnny Grimes who worked with Carlton as a rookie deputy and rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the Georgia State Patrol. You will hear part one of the murder of Reuben Flynt, a bank vice president beloved by the community. Next up is the encounter with Willie the mental patient who, as described by Johnny Grimes, answered Carlton’s request that he open his front door by knocking the door out of its frame and bringing it down on top of Carlton. Then there was the time when Chief Lewis, to his son’s astonishment, flagged down a car with Connecticut plates and grilled them on what they were doing in Union Point. And wait until you hear the story of someone the Chief calls “the Streaker.” {Accompanying image: Greene County Sheriff L. L. Wyatt with deputies Reese Smith and Carlton Lewis with a confiscated still displayed outside the old Greene County jail.}

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.9 / 5

11 ratings