Book summary

A story of racism, violence, and self-realization set in backwoods Louisiana under the Jim Crow era. The action is set in motion when a white farmer is murdered by a black, in circumstances reminiscent of the notorious Emmet Till case of the 1950s. Rather than allow the defendant to be summarily executed--or lynched--fifteen elderly black men go to the local sheriff and each confess to the crime, thereby making prosecution of the case virtually impossible.