Convicted in the Womb [Paperback]

Carl Upchurch (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 4, 1997

Once Carl Upchurch was an elementary school dropout fighting for survival on the streets of South Philadelphia, a gang member wedded to a life of violence, a bank robber facing a future in federal penitentiaries.  Now he is a respected community organizer and one of the most compelling and visionary leaders of the civil rights movement.  Catapulted into the national spotlight following his organization of a summit that brought together the country's most notorious gangs.  Carl Upchurch has found himself in direct conflict with other African American civil right leaders.  This is his scathing critique of t he established civil rights movement and his bold manifesto for solving the critical problems facing today's urban American.  And this is his own unforgettable story-reality of urban crime gang warfare, and racial injustice from one who knows firsthand what it's like to be Convicted in the Womb

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Upchurch tells his up-from-prison story well and with conviction. He calls his childhood "niggerization," describing the Philadelphia ghetto deprivations and depredations that turned him into a pre-teen criminal. Later he was politicized by Martin Luther King's assassination, but he reverted to criminality and became a violent prisoner. In prison, he discovered Shakespeare (by accident), then James Baldwin, Dostoyevski, Twain and other writers. Thus began what Upchurch terms "deniggerization," fighting his self-hatred and despair. After 10 years in prison, he was set free at 31. He pursued a college degree, married and, in 1992, founded the Council for Urban Peace and Justice (based in Columbus, Ohio) to work for gang truces and other ways of bringing progress to inner cities. He describes the 1993 Kansas City gang summit he organized as bringing hope, but it is still unclear what lasting effects it had. Upchurch concludes his book with proposals for "antiniggerization," challenging African Americans to take personal responsibility, proposing that they use boycotts to shape society and urging black leaders (he's suspicious of Jesse Jackson, hopeful about Kweisi Mfume) to challenge both their followers and the powers that support "American apartheid."
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

In this account of his tough childhood, the founder and director of the Council for Urban Peace and Justice reveals his encounters with violence, gangs, and reform schools and how by educating himself he finally escaped from that life.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Bantam (August 4, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553375202
• ISBN-13: 978-0553375206
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.6 x 8.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #826,965 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Womb is Sacred, October 26, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Convicted in the Womb (Paperback)

"Convicted in the Womb" is a deeply captivating too true autobiography that reads like the first half of the life of an untold number of African-American men in the last half century.
The detailed descriptive analysis of the terms and concepts Niggerization, DeNiggerization, and AntiNiggerization is not only long overdue to the public, but gives voice and creedence to particularly those men who can identify with Carl Upchurch's
LIFE Experiences and Mission.
For someone like myself to live and breath my passion in teaching incarcerated teen boys in a court-mandated program called ACE - Adolescent Counseling Education, copies of "Convicted In The Womb" have now been placed into the hands of all my students. Through this story they can see themselves, each other, and how they place in the history of this country. They also have read and expressed that it's truly the first book they have ever read, and wanted to read!!!! This is a story to be shared and read together and discussed, because IT MEANS BUSINESS. This is a story that must be understood. People must be understood! It teaches how when we look at our personal circumstances, and then have the opportunity to look outside our life,"hood",and prison life, particularly through books, and then we can find our FREEDOM, our HOPE, our POSSIBILITIES, our ANSWERS, our WISDOM, OUR TRUE POWER IN UNITY. My students know that I care about them and demonstrate it by my fierce committment to AntiNiggerization. May the Youth of America read this book! May the people who work with Youth read this book! May the Prison Staff read this book! May our Spiritual Leaders and Activists read this book! May the High Schools and Colleges put this in their adopted book lists for VIOLENCE PREVENTION coursework and THE RESOURCE MANUAL for all students on how to help our youth coming up with the Community Work they can do to CHANGE our World for the better!!! And so May the Politicians read this book! May the Parents [who understandably worry about their childrens' safety and future] read this book. My students all know now that there are people all over this country changing things for the better, people just like them, and they have our support!!! My students are learning that the Womb is Sacred, we all as Equals are Sacred.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hope and Inspiration, December 30, 2000

By 

Gabrielle Peton (Columbia, MO USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Convicted in the Womb (Paperback)

Carl vividly describes his life beginning as a young child. The challenges he faced growing up in this society are dramatically expressed in the first paragraph of the book. This is clearly a story of hope and inspiration as it shows the struggles one endures in making positive changes in one's life. Carl shows how God worked in his life and how the impact of the Holy Spirit in one person's life can impact the world. Many inmates identify with Carl's life experiences and view him as a role model. Carl's story quickly invites the reader into his life and is difficult to put down until the last page is read.

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth aRead, July 26, 2011

By 

Steven M. Taylor-rot - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Convicted in the Womb (Paperback)

Well written & well defined story documenting what life is really like for inner city person & how he changed for the better.