History Professor Turned Blogger Makes History

It appears that the recent exoneration of the Duke lacrosse players was in no small part due to history professor,
KC Johnson who meticulously documented the misapplication of justice by potentially-soon-to-be-possibly de-barred prosecutor, Mike Nifong who may have been pushing the case a little too hard so that he could

[use] the case to win support for his re-election campaign from Durham's black community, which largely sided with the players' black accuser.

Johnson spent his days and nights documenting the case, digging up facts, and applying comparison to what had happened. That is, just being a historian for the events as they occurred. His blog, Durham-in-Wonderland, continues to document the case, the impact, the outcome, and the context. From what little I've gathered, and I admittedly have not paid the case much attention, the case has become a lightening rod of race and justice. Here is an example from his Redeeming the Times post of today (April 16, 2007):

Essex Fells mayor Ed Abbot noted, “People had racial agendas, economic agendas, media-driven agendas, and who these boys were got totally lost. You feel like you’re in the middle of the forest screaming and no one can hear.”

Tricia Dowd, whose son, a lacrosse player, graduated from Duke last year, recounted her experience at the NCCU forum (yes, she actually went): “Maybe I’m naïve. I didn’t know there was so much hate in the world.”

And Nona Farahnik, who lived in the same dorm as Reade and Collin, lamented how “they became a perfect example of all the injustices in society, except in their case, justice went out the door. And the same people usually championing basic human rights were so intent on denying it to them.”