Stanley Nelson

Biography

Stanley Nelson works with Professional-in-Residence Chris Drew on the Manship School’s racial and criminal justice reporting programs. The former longtime editor of the Concordia Sentinel in Ferriday, Louisiana, Nelson was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for local reporting in 2011 for his work to unravel a 1964 civil rights-era murder in Ferriday, as well as related unsolved murders. Novelist Greg Iles based his “Natchez Burning” trilogy on Nelson’s work. Iles also based a character in the trilogy on Nelson.

Nelson has written two books on Louisiana civil rights-era cold cases. “Devils Walking: Klan Murders Along the Mississippi River in the 1960s” (2016, LSU Press) exposes the rise of an underground Klan terrorist cell known as the Silver Dollar Group whose members carried silver dollars as a sign of unity. His latest book, “Klan of Devils: The Murder of a Black Louisiana Deputy Sheriff” (2021, LSU Press), details the Klan attack on two Black deputies in Washington Parish, Louisiana, in 1965 resulting in the death of Deputy Oneal Moore.

Nelson’s work has been featured in national publications, online media outlets and documentaries. Nelson has been associated with the Manship School’s Cold Case Project since its founding by Professional-in-Residence Emeritus Jay Shelledy in 2008.