The History of the Lynching Site Where Jason Aldean Filmed ‘Try That in a Small Town’

A new video for country singer Jason Aldean’s song “Try That In A Small Town” takes place outside the Tennessee courthouse where an 18-year-old black man was mobed and lynched nearly a century ago.

Aldean came under fire after releasing a video containing violent news footage of looting and rioting during protests in American cities. Country Music Television removed the video this week after accusations surfaced on social media that its lyrics and message were offensive.

“I think the use of that courthouse as a prop is lacking sensitivity,” says Cheryl L. Keys, dean of African American Studies and professor of ethnomusicology at UCLA.

On November 11, 1927, Henry Choate, a lynched teenager—then Armistice Day, now known as Veterans Day—was leaving his home in Coffee County, Tennessee, where he was working as a roadbuilder, to visit his grandfather in nearby Morley County.

While he was there, he was accused, now mistakenly believed by historians, of raping a 16-year-old white girl.

According to the account of “Lynching and Frame-Ups in Tennessee”In Robert Minor’s 1946 book, the girl’s family called the county sheriff, who responded by rounding up a pack of bloodhounds to track down the girl’s attacker.

But before the hounds arrived, a group of whites went to Choate’s grandfather’s house, “called” him and took him to the girl, according to Minor’s book, but did not recognize him as the attacker.

When the hounds were brought in, they were “sniffed” on a street called Hicks Lane, where the raid was supposed to have taken place. But the scent didn’t lead the dogs to Choate’s grandfather’s house.

Instead, “the trail faded in the other direction,” Miner writes. “And the girl again said she didn’t recognize Henry Choate as the perpetrator.”

But one man said he saw Choate returning to his grandfather’s house from the direction of Hicks Lane. Choate’s arms were tied with ropes and taken away. Eventually he was handed over to the sheriff and arrested.

After Choate was taken to prison, Miner’s book said, the prison cook told him to “pray, the mob is coming to lynch you.”

“I know they are,” Choate said.

According to Miner’s testimony, a crowd of white men gathered outside the prison and demanded the keys. Mr. Miner wrote that she initially refused because the sheriff’s wife, to whom the sheriff entrusted the key, believed Mr. Choate was innocent.

A contemporary article in The Tennessian reported that the mob tried twice to enter the prison, but failed.

One of the mob left, returned with a sledgehammer and began banging on the prison door, Minor wrote.

Fearing that the mob would dynamite the prison, the sheriff’s wife relented and the deputy unlocked the door. Choate was beaten with a sledgehammer and dragged out of prison.

The mob used ropes to tie the man to the bumper of his car and dragged him to the Morley County Courthouse in Columbia, Tennessee, where he was hanged through a window. news report.

According to a survey by the Mob, there were about 250 men in the mob. University of North Carolina.

The International News Service reported that two pastors, two lawyers, and Tennessian editor James I. Finney pleaded with mob members to spare Mr. Choate’s life, but to no avail.

Some condemned the mob’s actions.

The executive committee of a group called the Tennessee Interracial Commission later said in a statement, “All available information indicates that the Sheriff of Morley County failed to perform his duties as a police officer,” The Tennessee Anne reported just over a week after the lynching.

The Morley County Sheriff, identified as Luther Wiley in a news account at the time, said in a statement days after the lynching that he was keeping his word.

According to a 1927 Tennessee An article, “I made an agreement with my mother, brother, and girl that the criminal should not be taken out of the county and should be given a speedy trial,” he said. “And I kept my promise.”

He referred to mob members armed with crowbars, sledgehammers and dynamite, adding that they were “overwhelmed with all kinds of weapons.”

A telegram article in the Philadelphia Tribune in December 1927 said that the grand jury ultimately refused to indict those involved in the lynching.

As details of Choate’s death resurfaced this week, Aldean said: reacted on twitter In response to criticism of his music video, he denied releasing a “Lynch defense song”.

“These references are not only worthless, they are dangerous,” he wrote. “There are no lyrics in the song that refer or point to race, and there are no video clips that are not actual news footage. And while you can try to respect that others have their own interpretations of songs with music, this is going too far.”

Tacklebox Films, which produced the video, did not respond to a request for comment.

Alain Dracheriere Contributed to research.