Author Chris Crowe visits MJHS

On February 8th, young adult literature author Chris Crowe came to speak with the 8th graders at Mapleton Junior High about his book Mississippi Trial, 1955. Dr. Crowe is also an English professor at Brigham Young University. He described his experience with writing his book, which is based around the story of 14 year old African American Emmett Till. Till was visiting his uncle in Mississippi during the summer and made the mistake of whistling at and flirting with a white woman at a general store. Till was unaware of the seriousness of racial segregation in the south at the time and paid for it with his life. This tragic story triggered the civil rights movement. The 8th grade class will now get to start reading Crowe’s novel,Mississippi Trial, 1955 to learn more about this historically significant event.