Characters
The serious African American detective from the Mississipi Bureau of Investigation who assists in investigating the murders.
Who is Ed Morgan?
The book mixes this and horror to criticize racism within society
What is satire?
The town where the story takes place and the murders happen.
What is Money?
The lynching of this young African American boy in Mississippi influences the book.
Who is Emmett Till?
These bodies appear next to caucasian victims but then go missing from the morgue.
The humorous African American detective who assists in investigating the murders.
Who is Jim Davis?
What is supernatural?
The state where the events of the novel takes place.
What is Mississippi?
This violent act prevalent in African American United States history is essential to the story.
What is lynching?
This character who is caucasian wants access to Mama Z's records.
Who is Damon Thruff?
The woman who has recorded every lynching in United States history.
Who is Mama Z?
This theme deals with the history of violence against Black people in the United States.
What is racial violence?
This city is where the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation is located.
What is Jackson?
This group of white men performed acts of racism against African Americans and is a big part of history.
What is the Klu Klux Klan?
This object is a haunting symbol of America's past regarding racial oppression. They are connected to lynching and are thought to hold history.
What are trees?
The waitress involved in the secret plan to get revenge on the ancestors related to lynching history
Who is Gertrude?
This theme is about remembering past racial violence to understand the oppression seen today.
What is history?
This place holds the secrets recordings that Mama Z has of all the lynchings.
What is the archive?
This civil rights era was when people were kept separate based on race.
What is segregation?
What is the state agency where the two detectives work?
What is the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation?
This man's death beside a colored body is what begins the investigation into the murders.
Who is Junior Junior?
This theme is the idea of getting back at someone/something for wrongs in the past.
What is justice?
This place is where the bodies are stored, but it also has a connection to the disappearances of the bodies.
What is the morgue?
This era of time was when African Americans fought back against the racial oppression.
What is the Civil Rights Movement?
This word is frequently used throughout the book. It is a call to action against racism.
What is Revenge?