Notes

Hiram Hillburn loved Mississippi. He loved his grampa. Every summer he would get invited back to Greenwood Mississippi, ever since he moved to Arizona with his mom and dad. When he finally convinced his dad to let him go back to visit, things take an unexpected turn. When he first arrives in Mississippi, he meets a black boy named Emmett Till, who was visiting his family from chicago. Soon before Hiram has to go back to Arizona to start school, Emmett Till is found dead in the tallahatchie river. The night before, R.C. Rydell, an older boy Hiram knew from growing up says something to make him believe R.C. was involved in the murder as the third suspect, and tells the sheriff. Because the sheriff thinks Hiram knows something about who was involved, he is asked to go to trial, and agrees. After being tried by an all white male jury, both suspects, J.W. Milam and Roy Bryant were found not guilty of kidnapping, torture, and murder. R.C. Rydell was never charged as the third suspect, due to lack of evidence. After the long extension to his stay in Mississippi, Hiram learns that his grampa was the third person involved in the murder. His thoughts and feelings towards his grampa and dad, and most of all his perspective of Mississippi are changed during the tragic events of Emmett Till's murder.