Sarah Brill
Dr. Mason
CI 616
24 July 2014
Teaching Notes #2
Mississippi Trial, 1955 by Chris Crowe
Summary
Hiram Hillburn is 16-year-old boy from Arizona visiting his grandparents in Greenwood,
Mississippi. Hiram’s father and his grandfather do not get along, but Hiram does not understand
why. The reader finds out that it is because Hiram’s grandfather has slaves working in his fields
for him, and Hiram’s father “hates hate” (Crowe 1). While in Mississippi, Hiram meets Emmett
Till, a fourteen-year-old black boy from Chicago whom is also visiting town. An old friend
named R.C. Rydell tells Hiram a few days later that he saw Emmett whistling at a white woman
at the grocery store. R.C. tells Hiram that Emmett should be taught a lesson. Hiram is worried for
Emmett and a few days later sees in the paper that Emmett has been found floating in the
Tallahatchie River. Although two men, Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam were arrested, Hiram still
suspected R.C. had something to do with the murder. The two men went to trial and were found
innocent. Hiram then understands the prejudices against African Americans in the south and sees
why his father does not get along with his grandfather. Things are never quite the same between
Hiram and his grandfather after that. As he gets off the train from Mississippi, his father is
waiting for him. Hiram and his father talk about his father’s relationship with his grandfather.
They realize that although they do not always agree on everything, they still love each other and
Hiram still loves his grandfather.
Historical Placement
As seen in the title, Mississippi Trial, 1955 is set in the year 1995 in Greenwood,
Mississippi. This book is based off of a true story. The author included actual people and events
in this book. There is a historical note at the end of the book detailing what happened to Emmett
Till in Mississippi in 1955. At the end of the historical notes it reads, “This novel is a work of
historical fiction. Though Hiram Hillburn, R.C. Rydell, and many other characters in this story
never existed, the events directly related to Emmett Till’s kidnapping, murder, and the trial of his
killers are true, and the material from The Greenwood Commonwealth is presented as it actually
appeared in 1955” (231).
Works Cited
Crowe, Chris. Mississippi Trial, 1955. New York: P. Fogelman, 2002. Print.
Annotated Bibliography
"AMERICA'S CIVIL RIGHTS TIMELINE." America's Civil Rights Timeline. N.p., n.d. Web.
22 July 2014. <https://www.sitinmovement.org/history/america-civil-rightstimeline.asp>.
This resource leads to a timeline of relavent events in the Civil Rights Movement. It has events
dating back to 1857 and leading up to 1992. The timeline also includes what happened to Emmitt
Till in 1955. This timeline will show students when the Civil Rights Movement began, its'
progress through the years, and where Emmitt Till's murder occurs in relation to the movement
as a whole. I would use this in my classroom as a whole class activity. I could place a large
timeline on the wall of the classroom with the date and years and leave out the event that
occurred on that date. The students would get into four or five groups and would be in charge of
placing 8-10 events in the correct place on the timeline. First I would simply have them guess
without using any resources. After going through and seeing which ones were correct, the class
as a whole could try to figure out the correct placement of all the other events.
"Martin Luther King I Have a Dream Speech - American Rhetoric." Martin Luther King I Have a
Dream Speech - American Rhetoric. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 July 2014.
<http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm>.
This resource is an online recording of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s I Have a Dream speech.
There is a picture of him giving the speech, but other than that it is just the recording of his
voice. Since there are no graphics to go along with this, I could do further research and find
pictures depicting the civil rights movement across America and put them on a slideshow to give
students a visual as they are listening to the speech. As they are listening to the speech, I would
have students write their reactions in their student journals. This would be a silent activity and
would give students “think time” to work independently. I would encourage students to come up
with a few questions to pose to the class during a classroom discussion after listening to the
speech and watching the video. Although this speech was in 1963 and took place after the time
period of the book, this would only show students that racism was still as severe as it was in the
book almost 10 years later.
"Significant Articles." Emmett Till Murder. Ed. Devery Anderson. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 July 2014.
<http://www.emmetttillmurder.com/>.
This website features many on the true case of Emmett Till. One thing in particular that I
found especially interesting was the “Significant Articles” section of the website. This sections
list several articles published in magazine and newspapers from 1955 – 1986. The articles feature
different perspectives and viewpoints of what happened in the Emmett Till case including a
series of investigative journals recently after the murder was committed, the reactions of his
mother, and a look at what happened to Emmett Till’s murderers. One way I could use this in the
classroom is to print out all or a few of the articles and host a silent discussion with them. Each
student would respond in his/her journal to the articles and then rotate and respond to the next
article and/or another student’s response to that article. This would give students a chance to see
the real story behind what happened to Emmett Till and also what happened after the murder
acurred.
"To Kill a Mockingbird - Book Summary & Analysis by Thug Notes." YouTube. N.p., 18 June
2013. Web. 24 July 2014. <http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IntI62LWSJA>.
In this YouTube clip, a YouTube channel called "Thug Notes" summarizes To Kill a
Mockingbird by Harper Lee. The channel has multiple different videos summarizing other
classic novels but with a twist. The man summarizing the books uses "thug" language or an
imitation of it. This helps students get a synopsis of the book in a language they are more
familiar with. This is helpful due to the fact that some of the students may not have read the
book. It could also be an introduction to the book if I were to teach Mississippi Trial, 1955 and
To Kill a Mockingbird at the same time. The storylines are very similar, so this is why they were
so well together. In my class, I would show this clip and then have students make a Venn
diagram listing the simarities and differences of the two books. This would give students an
opportunity to see that classic canonized books can stand the test of time and their subjects are
still relevant today.