MENU

Sections

  • Home
  • About
    • The Chestertown Spy
    • Contact Us
    • Advertising & Underwriting
      • Advertising Terms & Conditions
    • Editors & Writers
    • Dedication & Acknowledgements
    • Code of Ethics
    • Chestertown Spy Terms of Service
    • Technical FAQ
    • Privacy
  • The Arts and Design
  • Local Life and Culture
  • Public Affairs
    • Ecosystem
    • Education
    • Health
  • Community Opinion
  • Donate to the Chestertown Spy
  • Free Subscription
  • Talbot Spy
  • Cambridge Spy

More

  • Support the Spy
  • About Spy Community Media
  • Advertising with the Spy
  • Subscribe
May 13, 2025

Chestertown Spy

Nonpartisan and Education-based News for Chestertown

  • Home
  • About
    • The Chestertown Spy
    • Contact Us
    • Advertising & Underwriting
      • Advertising Terms & Conditions
    • Editors & Writers
    • Dedication & Acknowledgements
    • Code of Ethics
    • Chestertown Spy Terms of Service
    • Technical FAQ
    • Privacy
  • The Arts and Design
  • Local Life and Culture
  • Public Affairs
    • Ecosystem
    • Education
    • Health
  • Community Opinion
  • Donate to the Chestertown Spy
  • Free Subscription
  • Talbot Spy
  • Cambridge Spy
Spy Highlights

The Isaiah Fountain Case and Jim Crow’s Eastern Shore: A Chat with Author Joseph Koper

September 10, 2022 by James Dissette

Share

Accused of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old white girl in 1919, African American Isaiah Fountain’s appeals trial ended with a guilty verdict and his subsequent execution in Easton. 

The problem is, testimony by three white men—one by Easton’s Chief of Police—placed Fountain at a different place during the time of the crime. That evidence, and other contradictory testimony heard by a three-judge panel in Baltimore, led local author Joseph Koper on a two-year mission to find out more about this tragic and widely unknown incident in Eastern Shore history.

It was Sherrilyn A. Ifill’s On the Courthouse Lawn: Confronting the Legacy of Lynching in the 21st Century brief mention of Isaiah Fountain that first sparked Koper’s interest in the case. Sleuthing through Easton Library, Maryland State archives, and national newspapers, the first-time author assembled a timeline of Fountain’s life from arrest and two trials to his execution. 

This is not to say that much of the story has been not mentioned before. Two former editors of Kent County News Dan Davillo and Kevin Hemstock, both local history buffs, wrote about the Fountain case, but with Joseph Koper’s The Isaiah Fountain Case: Outrage and Jim Crow Justice on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, we find the first book-length account of incident that ended the life of Maryland man under a cloud of prejudice and judicial mismanagement during the Jim Crow era of racial injustice and lynching.

The Spy recently interviewed Joseph Koper to talk about his book published by Secant Publishing in Salisbury.  The author invites everyone to his book launch  at 6:30 Monday September 12 at Talbot County Free Library in Easton.

This video is approximately six minutes in length. The book may be ordered here.

 

 

 

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Filed Under: Spy Highlights

Delmarva Review: Song, Luminescence Leaving by Judith McCombs Letter to Editor: Dan Cox and Gordana Schifanelli are the Unlikely Pair for Unlikely Times 

Letters to Editor

  1. Barbara Rein says

    September 10, 2022 at 6:14 PM

    Thank you, Mr. Koper, for your interest, study and book of the Isaiah Fountain case. Learning the truths of our past is a starting point in the collective understanding of our histories as well as the personal and institutional impacts as they occurred and going forward.

Trackbacks

  1. The Isaiah Fountain Case and Jim Crow’s Eastern Shore: A Chat with Author Joseph Koper | African Elements says:
    September 11, 2022 at 10:41 AM

    […] This content was originally published here. […]

Write a Letter to the Editor on this Article

We encourage readers to offer their point of view on this article by submitting the following form. Editing is sometimes necessary and is done at the discretion of the editorial staff.

Copyright © 2025

Affiliated News

  • The Cambridge Spy
  • The Talbot Spy

Sections

  • Arts
  • Culture
  • Ecosystem
  • Education
  • Health
  • Local Life and Culture
  • Spy Senior Nation

Spy Community Media

  • About
  • Subscribe
  • Contact Us
  • Advertising & Underwriting

Copyright © 2025 · Spy Community Media Child Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in