Hello Readers! I have just finished reading a very good book and I would like to tell you about it. Chris Crowe calls the book Mississippi Trial, 1955. The genre is African- American Genre. The copyright date is 2002. This story takes place in a small town called Greenwood, Mississippi. The time is 1955 and during that time blacks and whites did not get along. In this story one of the main characters, Emmett Till, a black teenager, is visiting his grandpa. Emmett lives in Chicago. Emmett’s grandpa lives in Mississippi. One day while Emmett is at a store he whistles at a white woman. During the 1950’s that was not acceptable. Blacks and whites to did not socialize together and this was very wrong. Hiram, who is back visiting Mississippi from Arizona, tells the story. Hiram hears about what Emmett did and several days later Emmett is missing and then he is found dead. Hiram’s friend R.C., who is a racist, is talking about what happened, as if he were there. Hiram goes to the trial and tells the readers all about what is going on, but he feels that R.C. is involved and not being tried.

Hiram feels guilty throughout the book because he didn’t stop what happened to Emmett nor can he prove that R.C. is involved. The mystery continues in the book and finally in the end … if I told you then you wouldn’t read it. What I will tell you is that this book really made me think about what it must have been like to live in the South in the 1950’s, when the Civil Rights Movement was trying to help African-Americans. If Hiram had whistled at the woman he probably would have gotten in trouble, but not murdered. Emmett was black and from Chicago where blacks had more freedoms than blacks in the South. He did not know any better and didn’t deserve to be killed. Also, the trail was a joke because the people were not found guilty. The story also helps Hiram’s grandfather start to see that change has to take place between blacks and whites, so that people can start living together. This book is a very good look at what happened in the South during the 1950’s. I really recommend that you read this book and the other book about the murder called Getting Away With Murder, by Chris Crowe, to learn more about what really happened during this time in history.

I recommend the book Mississippi Trial, 1955 to readers who enjoy learning about the civil rights era. The book overall was really good and I give it and ranking of 5 out of 5 stars because it kept me wanting to read the book. I wanted to learn what happened and who did murder Emmett and if Hiram would ever tell about R.C. The reason why I picked this book was because it sounded like a good book. I hope you will enjoy it, too.