The Barn: The Secret History of a Murder in Mississippi

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of child death and racism.

“All of these places, and the history buried around them, aren’t disparate dots on a map but threads in a tapestry, woven together, so that the defining idea of the Delta is to me one of overlap, of echo, from the graves of bluesmen to the famous highways.”

Thompson highlights the connections between the people and places in the Delta. For example, the jurors had connections to those accused of Till’s murder. The families who had key roles in this tragedy were interlocked in their ancestry. That interlocking crossed racial lines but was not acknowledged.

“This book is my attempt to go beyond what is known and explore the unknown registers of a killing that, when seen clearly, illuminates the true history of our country.”

Given the importance of Till’s murder in the civil rights movement and American history, Thompson points out that there are gaps in the details of what happened. Those details are important, as they implicate several people in the crime and cover-up. An understanding of those details exposes the long history of The System of Racial Violence and Oppression.

“His dad never told him about the history of the barn even though they drove past it thousands of times.”

For decades, no one in the Mississippi Delta spoke of the infamous murder of Till. Those born after the murder, especially white people, were unaware of it or the significance of the grocery store in Money and the barn in Drew. Here, Thompson is referring to Jeff Andrews, who was the last owner of the barn before the Till Center purchased it. Andrews learned of the murder after he purchased the property.