Money is the site of events leading to the 1955 lynching of 14-year-old Emmett Till.
History
The settlement was named for Hernando Money, a United States Senator from Mississippi.[3] Money was a stop on the Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Railroad.[4] This rural area was developed for cotton cultivation. The population in 1900 was 40.[4] The Money post office was established in 1901.[5]
Money gained international attention in 1955 after Emmett Till, a 14-year-old African-American boy from Chicago visiting his uncle, was accused of flirting, by means of whistling, with a white woman working alone at Bryant's Grocery & Meat Market in Money. Till was subsequently murdered.[6]
A historic marker has been placed in front of Bryant's Grocery, and the site draws "an ever-increasing number of tourists". The crumbling building is privately owned, which has hindered efforts to preserve it.[7][8]
The town was formerly served by the Leflore County School District.[10] Effective July 1, 2019 this district consolidated into the Greenwood-Leflore School District.[11]
A wooden bridge across the Tallahatchie River at Money was the focus of Bobbie Gentry's 1967 hit song "Ode to Billie Joe." The November 10, 1967 issue of Life magazine featured a photo of Gentry crossing the bridge. The bridge collapsed in June 1972 after being burned by vandals.[14] It has since been replaced.
The novel The Trees by Percival Everett is set in Money and depicts a mysterious series of murders that seem to follow identical patterns and involve the families of the confessed murderers of Emmett Till.