Examines what life was like for the ambitious black man in the southern states of America at the turn of the century, when those who bought land or ran for political office faced the threat of the lynch mob, and smiling at a white woman or talking back to a white boss could end with a man chained to a pile of wood and set on fire. The programme argues that the northern states bear equal responsibility for the rule by lynch law in the south, as northern politicians repeatedly voted against any federal anti-lynching legislation in Congress.