Natchez is a small city in southwestern Mississippi, and as it's deep in the Deep South, it was an extremely segregated place, according to the Mississippi Encyclopedia, particularly in the post-Civil War, pre-Civil Rights Movement year of 1940. The Rhythm Club was a stop on the "chitlin' circuit," a loose network of African American-owned dance halls that catered almost exclusively to an African American clientele. On the night of April 23, the Rhythm Club hosted the Walter Barnes Orchestra of Chicago, led by its star jazz clarinetist, attracting about 200 patrons. Just after 11:15 PM, a fire broke out, thought to have been started by a customer improperly discarding a still-lit cigarette. 

That fire soon grew out of control and deadly due to a series of tragic factors. Of the club's two doors, the rear was locked to prevent nonpaying customers from sneaking in, and the front door opened inward, making it almost impossible to exit through when dozens of people were crushing up against each other to escape to safety. All the while, the fire swelled extremely quickly, in large part because the walls of the club were covered in dried Spanish moss, a highly flammable material made all the more dangerous by ceiling fans churning at their highest speed. According to a plaque later erected on the site, 209 people died, variously from burns, smoke inhalation, or trampling.

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