Cry In Mississippi Summary

Mississippi is in the United States that is located in the southern United States. The name of the state derived from the Mississippi river which flows along the western boundary. Mississippi is lowest median household income. Mississippi is covered by wild trees such as pine, pecan, and sweet gum. Mississippi has more acres of cotton than soybeans. Mississippi is the second cotton production in the United States and Texas is the first state.

Although not all went to the extremes of the KKK using terror, beating, and even murder to fulfill their quest in purifying America, they however they did support it’s ideology in many rural America. It has been estimated that, between the years 1920-27, the hands of the Klan members in the Southern states butchered 416 Blacks. Research indicates that most of the victims were innocent or were convicted of small offenses that certainly didn’t deserve such punishment. In the southern states, where the majority of the African American population resided, the notion of ‘white supremacy’ went unquestioned. Scarily enough, the KKK reached their hands into politics as well. In the state o f Indiana, the ‘Grand Wizard’, David Stephenson was politically powerful. It was also alleged that the Klan helped elect the governor of Maine, Colorado, and Louisiana in 1924. Moreover, on August 18th 1925 the Ku Klux Klan was able to parade down 40,000 men on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington D.C without any intervention from state officials. Segregated facilities in government buildings remained unchanged since the first decade of the century, which showed the American government during the twenties was continually ignoring issues linked to ethnic minorities and the hostile attitudes of its people towards them. The act of

An organization called Ku Klux Klan had a goal to eliminate as many african american people as possible. African americans found themselves in a very dangerous situation because not only was the law giving them very little attention but they were in risk of being mobbed out or killed by the KKK. It says, “ We believe you are not familiar with.. Ku Klux Klan’s riding nightly over the country, going from country to country and in towns spreading terror wherever they go by robbing, whipping, ravishing[rapping], and killing our people without provocation”. White people got together and attacked the blacks with violence to get rid of them.

According to the Document A, the people who were responsible for the death of the State Senator, who at the time was John W. Stephens of Caswell, was the KKK. “He was foully murdered by the Ku-Klux in the Grand Jury room of the Courthouse...” Also in Document B, it illustrates an African American man was threatened with a gun towards his head while his captors take away his freedom of speech.

If a black man resisted to the Ku Klux Klan when being bribed he was whipped and killed on the spot. But the negroes were not the only ones being killed by them the KKK stabbed and hung Senator John W. Stephens in the courtroom in North Carolina he was a white man. Tourgee was white, he was a Northern soldier that settled in North Carolina after the war and became a judge and was most likely the next white person target for the KKK after writing a letter to the North Carolina senator, Joseph Carter Abbott about the killing of Stephens and how anyone that bows to the KKK “is a coward, a traitor, or a fool.” (Document A) The political violence in the south continued while the north was getting tired of fighting for their

As reconstruction begin, many whites in the South seemed to ignore the fact that Blacks were no longer slaves. The Southern states created laws called ‘Black Codes’ that restricted the rights of the freed slaves. “Black codes were laws that were passed in each of the former confederate states following the civil war that applied only to black people.” (Hine, Darlene Clark, et al. 303) The laws highlighted that blacks have no right to vote in elections. However, after the troops were sent to the South, Blacks’ right to vote and involve in public office were secured. Many whites complained about the policy, and some of them created secret organization called Ku Klux Klan. This group tried everything including extreme and inhumane violence to

The south had many hate groups that caused violence against reconstruction. One group called the Ku-Klux Klan, or the KKK, was the most violent. On a letter from the New York Tribune by Albion Tourgee says; “Another brave, honest Republican citizen has met his fate at the hand of these fiends” (Document A, 4-5). What this letter is talking about it the murder of John W. Stephens, a state senator from Caswell, who was killed by the KKK and had his body hung in a grand jury room. John was white, as well as Tourgee who wrote the letter and

Even though the North didn’t do anything when the KKK killed northerners, the South was the one who beat up an old man, just because he didn’t give them a ticket that he bought himself. This shows how determined the KKK was, anyone that stood in their way got hurt or killed, especially

“Originally published in 2006, Mississippi Politics quickly became the definitive work on the state’s political history, campaigns, legislative battles, and litigation, as well as how Mississippi shaped and was shaped by national and regional trends.” While the second edition of the book still shows Mississippi’s gradual change from a blue state to a red state, it also examines the aftermath of Haley Barbour’s re-election campaign in 2007 along with the 2008 presidential elections. The one thing that I found most interesting about this book has nothing to do with its contents but everything to do with the two authors Jere Nash and Andy Taggart. Jere Nash is a well known Democrat who has held many political positions including chief of

What went on before the murder.Mamie Till, a black work class sent her 14 year old son to mississippi.To vist family when he got ther he went to a meat market with friends and called out a white women out of name for the harmless fun.Out side his uncles house he was kiddnaped and murderd.Not even a monthe the body of Emmett was found rallys of northern states went on influencing in dissions of the jury they were convicted of murder.

Eventually, the occurrence of the Orangeburg Massacre led to the racial integration of Orangeburg and many other parts of South Carolina. If the Orangeburg Massacre had not occurred, South Carolina might not have become the racially equal society it is today. However, not everybody agreed with the change that was being brought as a result of the event. Many caucasians at the time attempted to cover the incident up, and to blame whatever could not be hidden on the protesters. Nevertheless, civil rights protesters were not going to let the killing of their fellow pupils be in vain. The students of Orangeburg demanded the punishment of highway patrolmen and other law enforcers on scene the night of the massacre. “They wished to see the officers punished to the fullest extent of the law so that justice could be served to the families of the three young men who were killed” (Pulaski 10). But, as an attempt to hide the massacre, many white-owned newspaper companies either simply refused to report the event, or blamed the massacre on the protesters that participated that night (3 Negroes 1). “A skirmish line of highway patrolmen and city police returned the fire of demonstrating college students last night” (3 Negroes 1). After a scant two weeks, no white-owned newspaper business covered the event at all.

The Ku Klux Clan was a group consisting of white settlers that committed hate crimes against African-Americans, including acts such as hangings, lynching, and overall abuse of African-Americans. Some said the purpose of the Klan was to "keep the negroes from rising," "keep fusses down and colored men and white women apart (Firsthand 15)." A man by the name of Jim Williams, the captain of a black militia unit, was brutally hung by members of the Ku Klux Klan in 1871 and this act led to the arrests of many Klan members, and the prosecution of Klan leaders (Firsthand 3). The arrests opened the public's eyes to these atrocities resulting from Reconstruction and the existence of the Ku Klux Klan. Throughout the Reconstruction period, there are recurring recollections of the Ku Klux Clan murdering and beating African-Americans but the significance of the murder of Jim Williams is that it exposed this hateful congregation of men and their intentions, helping to alleviate the African-Americans' position at that point.

Mississippi history is a sad history of slavery and oppression. It is a history of racism and refusal to let go of segregationist ideals. Mississippi history is enough to give many the blues. In fact, the Blues style music originated in Mississippi and gravitated outward from there. .Mississippi history and Blues history are intertwined. Delta Blues is a blues style that originated in the Mississippi Delta and influenced many musicians. Another musical art form, Jazz may be considered an offspring from the Blues and also started in the South. There are many Blues musicians and singers that come from Mississippi or have become linked to Mississippi for various reasons. Bessie Smith, Charley Patton, Muddy Waters, and Cassandra Wilson have

     The Mississippi Burning Trial” was not for the cold-blooded murders of three young civil rights workers, but rather for the violation of their civil rights. The federal government wanted to break Mississippi’s “white supremacy” stronghold on the South. “The Mississippi Burning Trial” proved to be the opportunity to do so. The three branches of the federal government and their various departments were actively involved in bringing about this civil rights trial in Mississippi and these activities and personal views are well documented in court records, department records, and the press.

As desegregation progresses, the membership of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) grew. The KKK used violence or threats against anyone who was suspected of favoring desegregation or black civil rights. Klan terror, including intimidation and murder, was widespread in the South in the 1950s and 1960s, though Klan activities were not always reported in the media. One terrorist act that did receive national attention was the murder of Emmit Till, 14-year-old black boy slain in Mississippi by whites who believed he had flirted with a white woman. The trial and acquittal of the men accuse of Till's murder were covered in the national media, demonstrating the continuing racial bigotry of Southern whites.