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.


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.


From Booklist
One book that helped Upchurch turn his life around was the Narrative Life of Frederick Douglass; Upchurch's story is spiritually identical to it. He was born into the closest thing to slavery in contemporary America, the poverty and violence of the urban black underclass. But he was intelligent and curious; as he committed ever worse crimes and wound up in ever severer prisons, he learned to appreciate literature and even wrote poems. Finally, 32 and in solitary confinement, he discovered a leg of the table in his cell was propped up by a copy of Shakespeare's sonnets; he read them, and then book upon book in the prison library, thoroughly; they launched him on the journey of spirit he calls "deniggerization." He has become a strikingly well balanced, passionate activist for justice, whose most famous achievements so far have been the 1993 urban gang leaders' summit in Kansas City and several smaller follow-ups. His story is awe inspiring, and he is awe inspiring, not least for his ability, so rare in an activist, to criticize others without condemning them. Ray Olson


From Kirkus Reviews
A provocative memoir of life as an enemy of society. Born in 1950, Upchurch freely admits that he has been a bad man for much of the last half century: a robber, a thief, prone to violence, and quick with a lie. He was educated in his bad ways by the mean streets of South Philadelphia; ``I was niggerized by my environment,'' Upchurch writes, ``governed by a careless, heartless ruthlessness fostered by a pervasive sense of inferiority.'' Stints in reform schools followed his earliest forays in criminality, and there Upchurch found that the ``cumulative caring'' of those assigned to guard him took the place of family love. That caring was still not enough to set him straight, and as a young adult Upchurch drifted, committing crimes petty and major, eventually winding up in a federal prison in Michigan. There, in a narrow cell, he discovered the works of William Shakespeare--an earlier occupant had used a copy of the sonnets to prop up a crooked table- -and other writers, and he educated himself in a program of self-improvement that, while not likely to earn Upchurch a spot on William Bennett's list of culture heroes, could well serve as an inspirational model for others seeking a way out. His narrative is sometimes marred by self-righteous passages, but Upchurch, now a community activist, has much of value to say about the way American society marginalizes its ethnic minorities, forcing many of its citizens to endure hellish lives. For all that, he is quick to accept ultimate responsibility for his actions. ``I could choose to wallow in niggerhood--shooting drugs, robbing people, committing murder, going to jail, disrespecting people--or I could choose to rediscover my humanity and work against being a nigger for the rest of my life,'' he writes. ``I chose the latter.'' In doing so, Upchurch has become a thinker and social critic well worth paying attention to. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


Review
"This is not another sad personal litany of crime, drugs, violence and misery in the 'hood.'  This is an inspiring personal litany of human renewal and accomplishment.  Upchurch gives us hope that we can change society."
-- Dr. Earl Ofari Hutchinson author of The Assassination of the Black Male Image

" Convicted in the Womb by Carl Upchurch was a painful book for me to read, but I know what he says is fact for too many America's children.  It should be read by every individual who has ever doubted the value and importance of early childhood education, cares about children and the future of our society."
-- Dr. Joycelyn Elders, Arkansas Children's Hospital

"A provocative memoir of life as an enemy of society--Upchurch has become a thinker and social critic well worth paying attention to."
--Kirkus Reviews


Review
"This is not another sad personal litany of crime, drugs, violence and misery in the 'hood.'  This is an inspiring personal litany of human renewal and accomplishment.  Upchurch gives us hope that we can change society."
-- Dr. Earl Ofari Hutchinson author of The Assassination of the Black Male Image

" Convicted in the Womb by Carl Upchurch was a painful book for me to read, but I know what he says is fact for too many America's children.  It should be read by every individual who has ever doubted the value and importance of early childhood education, cares about children and the future of our society."
-- Dr. Joycelyn Elders, Arkansas Children's Hospital

"A provocative memoir of life as an enemy of society--Upchurch has become a thinker and social critic well worth paying attention to."
--Kirkus Reviews


Book Description
"Being black is an inheritance. Being a nigger is a state of mind." Born in a roach-infested tenement in South Philadelphia, on the streets by age four, a gang member by age nine, and in reform school by age twelve, Carl Upchurch's life epitomized the tragedy of inner-city America. Incarcerated for the sixth time, he was confined to solitary with only a table and chair for company. Propping up the leg of one table was a book, which, out of sheer boredom, he picked up and read: Shakespeare's Sonnets. So began his transformation from a hopeless hoodlum, lacking respect for himself, for others, for human life in general, to a self-educated advocate for urban peace and justice.Convicted in the Womb is the story of how Carl Upchurch overcame his abject youth to become a radical civil rights activist, culminating in his organizing the first Gang Summit for Urban Peace and Justice in Kansas City. It is also an urgent call for change. Outspoken in his criticism of Jesse Jackson, the NAACP, and other icons of the established civil rights movement., Upchurch argues that it's time for a new generation of leaders, drawn from the masses, not the elite. He also outlines a grassroots New Black Power Paradigm to overcome America's political, economic, and athletic apartheid.


From the Publisher
"Being black is a genetic inheritance. Being a nigger is a state of mind."Born into a roach-infested tenement in South Philadelphia, on the streets by age four, a gang member by age nine, and in reform school by age twelve, Carl Upchurch's life epitomized the tragedy of inner-city America. Incarcerated for the sixth time, he was confined to solitary with only a table and chair for company. Propping up one leg of the table was a book which, out of sheer boredom, he picked up and read: Shakespeare's Sonnets. So began what Carl Upchurch calls his deniggerization.Over the next several years, Upchurch educated himself, reading the classics, philosophy, religion, and finally African-American literature and politics. As his mind was opened, he relentlessly scrutinized his past, concluding that as long as children are born into the self-imposed slavery he defines as niggerization--without hope, believing they are inferior, lacking self-respect--the cycle of poverty, drugs, and violence will never be broken.Convicted In The Womb is the story of how Upchurch overcame his abject youth to become a radical civil rights activist, culminating in his organizing the first Gang Summit for Urban Peace and Justice in Kansas City. It is also an urgent call for change. Outspoken in his criticism of Jesse Jackson, the N.A.A.C.P., and other icons of the established civil rights movement, Upchurch argues that it's time for a new generation of leaders, drawn from the masses, not the elite. He also outlines a grass-roots New Black Power Paradigm to overcome America's political, economic, and athletic apartheid.


From the Inside Flap
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


From the Back Cover
"This is not another sad personal litany of crime, drugs, violence and misery in the 'hood.' This is an inspiring personal litany of human renewal and accomplishment. Upchurch gives us hope that we can change society."
-- Dr. Earl Ofari Hutchinson author of The Assassination of the Black Male Image

" Convicted in the Womb by Carl Upchurch was a painful book for me to read, but I know what he says is fact for too many America's children. It should be read by every individual who has ever doubted the value and importance of early childhood education, cares about children and the future of our society."
-- Dr. Joycelyn Elders, Arkansas Children's Hospital

"A provocative memoir of life as an enemy of society--Upchurch has become a thinker and social critic well worth paying attention to."
--Kirkus Reviews

FROM THE PUBLISHER

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 with degrees in literature and psychology, and one of the most compelling and visionary leaders of the civil rights movement. This is his story - a timely, hard-hitting look at the reality of urban crime, gang warfare, and racial injustice from one who knows firsthand what it's like to be... Convicted in the Womb. Not since The Autobiography of Malcolm X has there been such a moving account of conversion from criminal violence to enlightened activism. Beginning with a copy of Shakespeare's sonnets he found propping up a table in his jail cell, Carl Upchurch educated himself, reading the classics, philosophy, religion, and finally African American literature and politics. Since then, Carl Upchurch has dedicated his life to empowering inner-city youth to resist the temptations of lawlessness, and training community leaders to establish and run neighborhood self-help groups. His grassroots activism culminated in 1993, when he organized the first national gang summit, which peacefully brought together the country's most notorious gangs. Recognized by the President of the United States for its historic significance, the summit instantly catapulted Carl Upchurch into the national spotlight...and into direct conflict with other African American civil rights leaders. In chapters sure to spark new debate, Upchurch provides a scathing critique of the established civil rights movement and argues that it's time for a new generation of leaders, drawn from the masses, not the elite. Eschewing political correctness and cynical big-party politics, he offers his own solutions to the critical problems facing urban America, and outlines a visionary manifesto to overcome this country's political, economic, and athletic apartheid.

FROM THE CRITICS

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." (Sept.)

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. (LJ 9/1/96)

Kirkus Reviews

A provocative memoir of life as an enemy of society.

Born in 1950, Upchurch freely admits that he has been a bad man for much of the last half century: a robber, a thief, prone to violence, and quick with a lie. He was educated in his bad ways by the mean streets of South Philadelphia; "I was niggerized by my environment," Upchurch writes, "governed by a careless, heartless ruthlessness fostered by a pervasive sense of inferiority." Stints in reform schools followed his earliest forays in criminality, and there Upchurch found that the "cumulative caring" of those assigned to guard him took the place of family love. That caring was still not enough to set him straight, and as a young adult Upchurch drifted, committing crimes petty and major, eventually winding up in a federal prison in Michigan. There, in a narrow cell, he discovered the works of William Shakespeare—an earlier occupant had used a copy of the sonnets to prop up a crooked table—and other writers, and he educated himself in a program of self-improvement that, while not likely to earn Upchurch a spot on William Bennett's list of culture heroes, could well serve as an inspirational model for others seeking a way out. His narrative is sometimes marred by self-righteous passages, but Upchurch, now a community activist, has much of value to say about the way American society marginalizes its ethnic minorities, forcing many of its citizens to endure hellish lives. For all that, he is quick to accept ultimate responsibility for his actions. "I could choose to wallow in niggerhood—shooting drugs, robbing people, committing murder, going to jail, disrespecting people—or I could choose to rediscover my humanity and work against being a nigger for the rest of my life," he writes. "I chose the latter."

In doing so, Upchurch has become a thinker and social critic well worth paying attention to.