In 1923, in response to the fatal shooting of four policemen, the mayor of Johnstown ordered every African American and Mexican immigrant who had lived in the city for less than seven years to leave. Author and journalist Cody McDevitt tells the story of one of the worst civil rights injustices in Western Pennsylvania history.

Cody McDevitt is an investigative reporter based in Western Pennsylvania. He has won a Golden Quill and awards from the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association and the Pennsylvania Associated Press Media Editors Organization. He co-authored Pittsburgh Drinks: A History of Cocktails, Nightlife and Bartending Tradition. He also wrote Banished from Johnstown: Racist Backlash in Pennsylvania, for which he won a Bronze Medal in the IPPY Awards in 2021.