In The Heat Of The Night Analysis

Historical Appreciation Project: In the Heat of the Night Fifty years ago, as the Civil Rights Movement gained momentum, activists protested across the deep South, and tensions rose between black demonstrators and the police. During this time, John Ball wrote his first book. It was a murder mystery set in a small Carolina town. The crime-solving detective of Ball’s novel was Virgil Tibbs, an famed homicide detective from Pasadena, California, who happened to be passing through the area on the night of the killing, having visited his mother downstate. Although local cops initially arrest Tibbs at the train station, suspecting without any evidence that Tibbs may have involvement in the murder, they soon determine that they have arrested an innocent man. The newly-appointed police chief persuades Tibbs to stay in town and help solve the crime. Ball’s first draft attracted interest from publisher Harper & Row, but editors wanted the new author to make Virgil Tibbs. Ball’s lead character, white. Ball refused, and Harper & Row gave in. The novel was published in 1965, and Ball received several writing awards for his debut novel and went on to pen other mysteries featuring Virgil Tibbs. Hollywood soon bought the rights to the original book, adapting a screenplay from Ball’s work that not only enjoyed box office success but won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, in 1967. Two decades later, In the Heat of the Night became a popular, Emmy-winning …show more content…
The members of the Klu Klux Klan that savagely bet Tibbs consisted of a prominent businessman, a police officer, and the mayor. Business owners repeatedly told Tibbs that he could not be a patron at their various establishments because they did not, “serve his kind.” Despite his superior intelligence, Tibbs’ superiors continue to treat him as