The immediate context of Till’s murder is informed by the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision that ends school segregation in 1954. This prompts Judge Thomas Brady of Mississippi to write a pamphlet called “Black Monday,” in which he predicts blacks will become unruly and provoke a violent response in whites. He suggests authoritarian measures may be needed to stop this violence.

In addition to the Brown decision, World War II prepares many black Mississippians to fight for their civil rights. Anzie Moore sees segregation in the army and learns how to fight it. When he returns to America, he becomes a businessman and heads the Mississippi chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). He works with other successful black businessmen like Theodor Howard to form the Regional Council of Negro Leadership, which promotes black economic development. Medgar Evers fights for voting rights for blacks, as Southern blacks are routinely denied the right to vote.

These black leaders organize movements like the boycotts of white gas stations that deny equal services to blacks. Whites begin to recognize that change is coming, and they see that the Democratic Party, which has been the defender of white supremacy, is changing as a result of Franklin D.