In 1948, a Delta Mississippi socialite named Ruth Thompson Dickins, hacked her mother to death with gardening shears. She blamed the murder on a “negro” man she claimed attacked her as well. But a jury of 12 white men didn’t believe her, in Mississippi, in 1949. That fact alone is incredible. But with her prominent family, wealthy and aggressive “cotton man” husband and the backing of the elite white people of her town and county, the governor of Mississippi was finally badgered into suspending her sentence after she served only six years.

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