The work’s title, The Cross and the Lynching Tree, may cause some to think that the author is referring to one specific tree—as “the cross” obviously refers to one specific cross, the one used in the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth—but this is not the case. When the author refers to “the lynching tree,” he refers to the object in the abstract, using it as a substantive noun to refer to any or all trees or gibbets upon which the victim was hung. While the author explains that the action of lynching did not always refer to hanging specifically, this was the most common use of the term, referring to the spectacle of such a public act of violence; the act of hanging someone on a tree specifically is what gives the author the parallel imagery with that of the crucifixion.

White supremacy refers to the racially motivated ideology that elevates a specific group of people based purely on their supposed race and skin color. In America, the author argues that white supremacy has its roots in the relationship between white slave owners and Black slaves, as white men and women usually considered themselves to be of higher intelligence and greater worth and thus enabled by nature to dominate and wield power over all other races.