Though the scene wasn’t part of the original novel, the lynching that takes place in the very first episode of Starz’s American Gods was a statement from showrunners Bryan Fuller and Michael Green about the kind of story they wanted to tell—one where reflections on the horrors of the transatlantic slave trade become…
Source: https://io9.gizmodo.com/american-gods-has-a-lynching-problem-1833849755