The Barn: The Secret History of a Murder in Mississippi

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

Put in place in the late 19th century, the Jim Crow system mandated de jure segregation, or segregation by law. Black Americans were forced to use inferior and separate facilities for everything, including housing, schools, restrooms, and restaurants. That system, and its code of conduct, was still in place in 1955 in Mississippi despite the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision. Thompson argues that the threat to this system framed the trial of Till’s killers, with jurors acquitting them and affirming Jim Crow.

The KKK was “a well-planned terrorist organization, run by former high-ranking military officers who understood the power of fear and secrecy, who strategically used violence against civilians to achieve a political goal” (119). This organization helped to create and enforce Jim Crow. Its first grand wizard, Nathan Bedford Forrest, came from the Mississippi Delta. Till’s kidnappers and murderers were following in this tradition of white terrorism.

“Lost cause mythology” refers to the celebration of Confederate Civil War heroes. It reached its peak in the first two decades of the 20th century, with multiple statues dedicated to Confederate figures. Thompson argues that this mythology glorifies a past of