Letter to the Editor: Book Discussion of Wright Thompson’s The Barn

The following letter appeared in the Dayton Daily News on September 19, 2025 and in the Oakwood Register on September 18, 2025.

I have attended book discussions of Wright Thompson’s The Barn session at Sinclair. They are powerful, hard to attend, but so good for the soul. You may recognize the author who is a senior writer for ESPN, known for his insightful sports journalism and compelling narratives. Thompson’s writing style is much like Dayton’s own Tom Archdeacon, who shares in-depth sports stories full of cultural and historical context about local athletes in The Dayton Daily News — in other words, Thompson’s writing is easy to read and hard to put down once you begin.

In The Barn, Thompson goes back to his home turf in Mississippi to learn about something that was “swept under the rug” for decades. Through meticulous research, interviews, and site visits, Thompson discovers the truth about the barn where Emmett Till was murdered in 1955. Thompson seamlessly weaves the complicated history of that barn and its surrounding land into a story that needs to be told and never forgotten.

Burying the past does not make it go away. Yes, it is hard to read and digest the actions of our ancestors, but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be done. Americans must embrace ALL of our heritage — the good, the bad, and the ugly — if we are to continue as a democracy. Since World War II, Germans have made a point to incorporate their ugly Nazi descendants into their history books and culture because they fear those powerful monsters will return to destroy and kill again. America needs to do the same — we will never heal until we expose our country’s oldest, deepest, and festering wound. The Barn offers an opportunity to begin a conversation towards healing our country of the racism that is tearing us apart. Wright Thompson will be at Sinclair on September 25 to discuss his research and answer questions about the book. You can register free on Sinclair’s website. Thank you to Michael Carter, Senior Advisor to the President of Sinclair, for offering our community this opportunity.

- Leigh Ann Fulford, Dayton