The Barn: The Secret History of a Murder in Mississippi (Emmett Till)

This month we will be reading Wright Thompson's The Barn: The Secret History of a Murder in Mississippi.

From the book's description: "Wright Thompson’s family farm in Mississippi is 23 miles from the site of one of the most notorious and consequential killings in American history, yet he had to leave the state for college before he learned the first thing about it. To this day, fundamental truths about the crime are widely unknown, including where it took place and how many people were involved. This is no accident: the cover-up began at once, and it is ongoing.

In August 1955, two men, Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam, were charged with the torture and murder of the 14-year-old Emmett Till in Money, Mississippi. After their inevitable acquittal in a mockery of justice, they gave a false confession to a journalist, which was misleading about where the long night of hell took place and who was involved. In fact, Wright Thompson reveals, at least eight people can be placed at the scene, which was inside the barn of one of the killers, on a plot of land within the six-square-mile grid whose official name is Township 22 North, Range 4 West, Section 2, West Half, fabled in the Delta of myth as the birthplace of the blues on nearby Dockery Plantation."

This book is available on Amazon: https://amzn.to/4jfPtMY

And Bookshop.org: https://bit.ly/4j2jgbP

This book is available at the Baltimore Public Library.

If you are buying this book, please consider buying through BookShop as this supports local book shops instead of Amazon.

If you're interested in some extra information, check out the following podcasts:

Why is this thing happening? https://apple.co/4jWwh7N

Murder in America: https://spoti.fi/4jXj12X

By popular demand we're headed back to the Cheesecake Factory!

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Don't worry about bringing your book!

If you have any questions, please feel free to DM me.