Convicted in the womb

by Carl Upchurch

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