Mississippi Trial, 1955
Product Type: Book
Product Price: $5.99
Manufacturer: Speak
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Description
At first Hiram is excited to visit his hometown in Mississippi. But soon after he arrives, he crosses paths with Emmett Till, a black teenager from Chicago who is also visiting for the summer, and Hiram sees firsthand how the local whites mistreat blacks who refuse to "know their place." When Emmett's tortured dead body is found floating in a river, Hiram is determined to find out who could do such a thing. But what will it cost him to know? Mississippi Trial, 1955 is a gripping read, based on true events that helped spark the Civil Rights Movement.
Reviews
Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2010-07-10
Summary: "great transaction"
The book arrived in perfect condition. It also arrived in a timely fashion and am very pleased with this transaction.
Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2009-05-25
Summary: "Students Love It!"
My students were required to read this novel. They loved it so, that it was hard to get them to put it down. Most of the students read the book in two days! As a culminating activity we viewed the film The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Tilland we conducted a comparison of the two. The students learned so much about this historical moment in history and I plan to make this a required reading next year as well!
Rating: 3 / 5
Date: 2009-04-20
Summary: "1 out of 4 teachers would use this for a classroom"
If you are not a teacher, you probably don't want to read this review...
We were introduced to this book through a graduate class and were intrigued with the idea that Chris Crowe's book renewed interest in the life, death and trial of Emmett Till. Our reviews, however, are conflicting. Truth be told, only one out of four of us would use this in our classroom. Our debates range from accurate portayal of historical events to an intriguing narrative intended to stimulate interest.
Exagggerated and invented events are the author's license, but when used to dramatize the already factually horrific events of Emmett's demise, they weaken the impact it had on us and we wonder who was impacted enough to pursue a reopening of the case.
The one teacher who would use this book in her classroom felt like the book represented the historical fiction genre well and would be engaging for middle school students. This is an ideal gateway book to pique curiosity into learning more about Emmett Till and origins of the Civil Rights Movement.
Meghan MC, Chris W., Lori O. and Erinn L.
Rating: 4 / 5
Date: 2007-03-30
Summary: "Mississippi Trial, 1955"
At first, Hiram is excited about visiting his favorite grandfather in Greenwood, Mississippi. But before long, Hiram begins to feel that the small town of Greenwood is not the same place where he spent the golden years of his childhood. Then he crosses paths with Emmett Till, a black teenager from Chicago who is also visiting over the summer, and Hiram sees firsthand how local white folk treat blacks who "don't know their place." When Emmett's body is found floating in a river, Hiram is determined to make sure justice is served. But what will it cost him?
Mississippi Trial, 1955 begins during Hiram's childhood with his grandpa in Greenwood, Mississippi. His parents could not raise him at the time because Hiram's dad was in the process of getting a master's degree in English at the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss). Hiram's heart was broken when he had to move to Tempe, Arizona for his father's job. Flash forward a few years. When Hiram was sixteen, his father reluctantly decided he was old enough to go back to Greenwood for the summer. Hiram arrived there happy, but as time went on, he could not shake the feeling that something was different. Then he met Emmett Till, a nice young black boy from Chicago. Hiram and Emmett see each other a few times at the Tallahatchie River, where Hiram played and shared food with Emmett (it was a little unusual down there for whites to hang out with blacks, but Hiram didn't mind). A few days later, a body of a young black man was found in that same river. Hiram thinks he knows something about the hate crime. A day before, Hiram's racist friend, RC Rydell, said something about planning to murder a black boy. Meanwhile, there is a huge media blow-up throughout the country about this cruel crime, so Hiram tells the country sheriff about what he heard. Hiram was subpoenaed to the impending trial to present his evidence, despite his grandfather's misgivings about it. At the trial, the defendants, Mr. Bryant and Mr. Milam, explained how Emmett had made rude gestures to Mrs. Bryant the day before the homicide, but neither of them had killed Emmett. The plaintiff, Emmett's uncle Mose, said that Emmett had been kidnapped by the two men and driven off, never to be seen again. However, there was another man in the car, a blue Ford pickup truck by the looks of it. Just as he was about to testify about RC, Hiram discovered that RC had not even been in town the night of the murder, so it could not have been him. The all-white jury found Bryant and Milam innocent of all charges, even though they, in fact, did kill the young man. The morning after the trial, a few men came to pick up grandpa's blue Ford pickup after they bought it from him a couple days beforehand. Grandpa claimed the transmission went bad, but Hiram was not so sure. Finally, Ralph Remington, a neighbor who would talk in circles to anyone, told Hiram the real story of what had happened. Grandpa had been the third man in the pickup and had sold the truck to remove the evidence and perhaps, a little of his guilt. Hiram felt sick to his stomach, as if his whole world was crashing down. A couple days later, Hiram went back home to Tempe, where he and his father finally saw eye-to-eye... Dad had been right, the south was not a good place to be.
Mississippi Trial, 1955 is an excellent book to spite the sad reality of events. There is happiness as well to balance it out in this historically accurate story.
There were many examples of sadness in Mississippi Trial. One was when Hiram was a child, his grandma died. Hiram was very much upset, because he had lived with his grandparents for so long. Another example of sadness was when Hiram's new friend, Emmett Till, was found brutally murdered in the Tallahatchie River. The last bit of sadness was when Hiram discovered that his grandfather, whom he had known and trusted all his life, was part of the group who killed Emmett. That was like the final blow - Hiram felt broken after that.
The examples of happiness in Mississippi Trial were sparse, but nonetheless, they were there. One happy moment was when Hiram's father granted him permission to go back to Greenwood, the small town Hiram loved. Another was when he saw Naomi, the girl whom he rather liked, again. Hiram was happy because now he had someone who would criticize him when he talked about everything that was going on. The last example of happiness in the book was when Hiram and his dad made up when he came home - they did not always see eye-to-eye and they always argued.
Mississippi Trial was historically accurate in many ways, although the story about Hiram and his family was all fiction. One historically correct aspect of the book was, of course, the cold-blooded murder of Emmett Till, which aroused the entire nation. Another historically correct part was when Hiram's grandfather explained to Hiram that the Jim Crow Laws were the only thing keeping the southern schools segregated. The last major historically correct element of the story were how the jury was all white men, how the black people had to sit in the back of the courthouse, and how grandpa, a cotton farm owner, said the only reason black people were put on the Earth was so they could work the fields.
Mississippi Trial, 1955 was a very good book - I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for a good historically correct story, but does not mind a little bit of sadness mixed I as well, although there was happiness to balance things.
-Elizabeth H =]
Rating: 3 / 5
Date: 2007-03-18
Summary: "Mississippi Trial, 1955"
Welcome to the Delta. Back in 1955, slavery was still the way of life in Mississippi. No one cared about crimes committed to colored people. When a young colored boy is murdered for whistling at a white woman, no one but a young white boy, Hiram Hillburn, cared. I recommend this book to people who like reading about history.
This book really makes you appreciate the basic rights that we take for granted every day no matter what color or sex you are. Nowadays if you murder someone, you will suffer the consequences. The two men that murdered the colored boy, Emmit Till, got away with the murder with no punishment just because they were white.
Chris Crowe did an extremely good job of writing this book. The way he describes everything puts a descriptive picture in your mind. When a bully named R.C. Rydell was messing with Emmit Till, you can actually picture R.C. shoving fish guts all over Till's face. You can also see the tears dripping down the cheeks of Till's loved ones.
Suspense is a key factor in a book, but this book barely had any suspense. Once you figure out about the trial, you can already assume how the book is going to end by the reaction of the people in the Delta. Nobody cared about the murder, and some were happy about it because "it showed colored people their place".
This was a mediocre book. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't good enough. Sometimes it just got really boring and you get tempted to put the book down and never pick it up again. Like when Hiram was dreaming about Naomi Rydell, R.C.'s sister. I only recommend this book to people who like reading about history.
D. Clayton