Mississippi+Trial+Main+Characters


 * Mississippi Trial** **Main Characters and Setting**
 * Main Characters**


 * Hiram Hillburn**
 * As a child, Hiram loves it in Greenwood, Mississippi with his grandparents. However, when he comes back to visit several years later he sees the area in a whole new light. When no one cares about the death of Emmett Till only because his skin is colored, it shows Hiram that people will always be racist and unable to overlook the color of people's skin. Hiram understands his father's resentment for the South so much more.


 * Grandpa Hillburn**
 * Hiram's grandfather is a role model for him for a lot of Hiram's life. He loves Hiram very much and looks at him like it's his own son. However, he's much like the typical southerner in 1955, when the color of someone's skin matters. He wants nothing to do with Emmett Till's murder trial and insists to Hiram that there's nothing he can do to change what happened. However, it's concluded that the grandpa wanted nothing to do with the murder trial because he contributed to the murder.


 * R.C. Rydell**
 * R.C. is a rowdy, unforgiving boy with no limits to what he does or says. He's symbolic of all the people in Greenwood who are racist and think blacks are inferior to whites. He plans to murder Emmett Till, but doesn't follow through with it.


 * Emmett Till**
 * Emmett is an African American, originally from Chicago. He doesn't understand the inferiority society puts on him especially in the South. When he crosses the line with a white woman in a store, he is kidnapped and murdered. The two men who killed him are innocent because no one cares about Emmett because of his skin color. Emmett is symbolic of all the blacks unreasonably discriminated against during that time period.


 * Setting**
 * The setting takes place in Greenwood, Mississippi in 1955. Greenwood is a small town and many of the people living there feel superior to African Americans. Some even own slaves to work in the house or in the fields. The air is always hot and humid and the small town consists of a river, a lake, and several small stores.