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While visiting family in Money, Mississippi, 14-year-old Emmett Till, an African American from Chicago, is brutally murdered for allegedly flirting with a white woman four days earlier.
His assailants—the white woman’s husband and her brother—made Emmett carry a 75-pound cotton-gin fan to the bank of the Tallahatchie River and ordered him to take off his clothes. The two men then beat him nearly to death, gouged out his eye, shot him in the head and then threw his body, tied to the cotton-gin fan with barbed wire, into the river.
WHO WAS EMMETT TILL?
Till grew up in a working-class neighborhood on the south side of Chicago, and though he had attended a segregated elementary school, he was not prepared for the level of segregation he encountered in Mississippi. His mother warned him to take care because of his race, but Emmett enjoyed pulling pranks.
On August 24, while standing with his cousins and some friends outside a country store in Money, Emmett bragged that his girlfriend back home was white. Emmett’s African-American companions, disbelieving him, dared Emmett to ask the white woman sitting behind the store counter for a date.
He went in, bought some candy, and on the way out was heard saying, “Bye, baby” to the woman. There were no witnesses in the store, but Carolyn Bryant—the woman behind the counter—later claimed that he grabbed her, made lewd advances and wolf-whistled at her as he sauntered out.
EMMETT TILL MURDER
Roy Bryant, the proprietor of the store and the woman’s husband, returned from a business trip a few days later and heard how Emmett had allegedly spoken to his wife. Enraged, he went to the home of Till’s great uncle, Mose Wright, with his brother-in-law J.W. Milam in the early morning hours of August 28.
The pair demanded to see the boy. Despite pleas from Wright, they forced Emmett into their car. After driving around in the Memphis night, and perhaps beating Till in a toolhouse behind Milam’s residence, they drove him down to the Tallahatchie River.
Three days later, his corpse was recovered but was so disfigured that Mose Wright could only identify it by an initialed ring. Authorities wanted to bury the body quickly, but Till’s mother, Mamie Bradley, requested it be sent back to Chicago.
OPEN-CASKET FUNERAL
After seeing the mutilated remains, she decided to have an open-casket funeral so that all the world could see what racist murderers had done to her only son. Jet, an African American weekly magazine, published a photo of Emmett’s corpse, and soon the mainstream media picked up on the story.
Less than two weeks after Emmett’s body was buried, Milam and Bryant went on trial in a segregated courthouse in Sumner, Mississippi. There were few witnesses besides Mose Wright, who positively identified the defendants as Emmett’s killers.
On September 23, the all-white jury deliberated for less than an hour before issuing a verdict of “not guilty,” explaining that they believed the state had failed to prove the identity of the body. Many people around the country were outraged by the decision and also by the state’s decision not to indict Milam and Bryant on the separate charge of kidnapping.
CAROLYN BRYANT CONFESSES
The Emmett Till murder trial brought to light the brutality of Jim Crow segregation in the South and was an early impetus of the African-American civil rights movement.
In 2017, Tim Tyson, author of the book The Blood of Emmett Till, revealed in the book that Carolyn Bryant recanted her testimony, admitting that Till had never touched, threatened or harassed her. “Nothing that boy did could ever justify what happened to him,” she said.
His assailants—the white woman’s husband and her brother—made Emmett carry a 75-pound cotton-gin fan to the bank of the Tallahatchie River and ordered him to take off his clothes. The two men then beat him nearly to death, gouged out his eye, shot him in the head and then threw his body, tied to the cotton-gin fan with barbed wire, into the river.
WHO WAS EMMETT TILL?
Till grew up in a working-class neighborhood on the south side of Chicago, and though he had attended a segregated elementary school, he was not prepared for the level of segregation he encountered in Mississippi. His mother warned him to take care because of his race, but Emmett enjoyed pulling pranks.
On August 24, while standing with his cousins and some friends outside a country store in Money, Emmett bragged that his girlfriend back home was white. Emmett’s African-American companions, disbelieving him, dared Emmett to ask the white woman sitting behind the store counter for a date.
He went in, bought some candy, and on the way out was heard saying, “Bye, baby” to the woman. There were no witnesses in the store, but Carolyn Bryant—the woman behind the counter—later claimed that he grabbed her, made lewd advances and wolf-whistled at her as he sauntered out.
EMMETT TILL MURDER
Roy Bryant, the proprietor of the store and the woman’s husband, returned from a business trip a few days later and heard how Emmett had allegedly spoken to his wife. Enraged, he went to the home of Till’s great uncle, Mose Wright, with his brother-in-law J.W. Milam in the early morning hours of August 28.
The pair demanded to see the boy. Despite pleas from Wright, they forced Emmett into their car. After driving around in the Memphis night, and perhaps beating Till in a toolhouse behind Milam’s residence, they drove him down to the Tallahatchie River.
Three days later, his corpse was recovered but was so disfigured that Mose Wright could only identify it by an initialed ring. Authorities wanted to bury the body quickly, but Till’s mother, Mamie Bradley, requested it be sent back to Chicago.
OPEN-CASKET FUNERAL
After seeing the mutilated remains, she decided to have an open-casket funeral so that all the world could see what racist murderers had done to her only son. Jet, an African American weekly magazine, published a photo of Emmett’s corpse, and soon the mainstream media picked up on the story.
Less than two weeks after Emmett’s body was buried, Milam and Bryant went on trial in a segregated courthouse in Sumner, Mississippi. There were few witnesses besides Mose Wright, who positively identified the defendants as Emmett’s killers.
On September 23, the all-white jury deliberated for less than an hour before issuing a verdict of “not guilty,” explaining that they believed the state had failed to prove the identity of the body. Many people around the country were outraged by the decision and also by the state’s decision not to indict Milam and Bryant on the separate charge of kidnapping.
CAROLYN BRYANT CONFESSES
The Emmett Till murder trial brought to light the brutality of Jim Crow segregation in the South and was an early impetus of the African-American civil rights movement.
In 2017, Tim Tyson, author of the book The Blood of Emmett Till, revealed in the book that Carolyn Bryant recanted her testimony, admitting that Till had never touched, threatened or harassed her. “Nothing that boy did could ever justify what happened to him,” she said.
Emmett Till is murdered - Aug 28, 1955 - HISTORY.com
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RARE 1955 SPECIAL REPORT: "THE EMMETT TILL TRIAL"
Emmett Louis Till (July 25, 1941 – August 28, 1955) was a 14-year-old African-American who was lynched in Mississippi in 1955 after offending a white woman i...
Thank you my friend TSgt Joe C. for reminding us that on August 28, 1955 African American young teenager from Chicago 14-year-old Emmett Till was brutally murdered for allegedly flirting with a white woman four days earlier while visiting family in Money, Mississippi.
Very sad incident and thankfully the thugs were charged and convicted.
Background blackthen.com/august-28-1955-14-year-old-emmett-till-abducted-and-murdered-in-mississippi-delta-video/
AUGUST 28, 1955 – 14-YEAR-OLD EMMETT TILL ABDUCTED AND MURDERED IN MISSISSIPPI DELTA
Sixty-thee years ago, on August 28, 1955, 14-year-old Emmett Till was abducted and brutally murdered.
About a week earlier, Emmett, who lived in Chicago, traveled by train to Money, Mississippi, to spend a few weeks with his great-uncle and cousins. His mother, Mamie Till Bradley, cautioned him before the trip, as life in Chicago was much different than life in the Mississippi Delta.
In her testimony at the trial of his murderers, she recalled the advise she gave to her son.
“He would have to adapt himself to a new way of life. And I told him to be very careful about how he spoke and to whom he spoke, and to always remember to say ‘Yes, Sir’ and ‘No, Ma’am’ at all times. And I told him that if ever an incident should arise where there would be any trouble of any kind with white people, then if it got to a point where he even had to get down on his knees before them, well, I told him not to hesitate to do so.”
Four days into his visit, Till and a group of friends went to Bryan’s Grocery Store to buy some candy. While in the shop, Till allegedly acted “familiar” when speaking to the white female storekeeper, Carolyn Bryant. Accounts differ as to what actually transpired: some said he “wolf whistled,” others said he said “Bye, baby” upon leaving the store.
A few days later, Carolyn Bryant’s husband, Roy, became aware of the interaction. On August 28, 1955, he and his half-brother, J.W. Milam, abducted Emmett at gunpoint. They beat and tortured Till, forced him to load a 74-pound fan into the back of their pick-up truck, and drove to the Tallahatchie River. Once they arrived at the body of water, they ordered Emmett to undress and proceeded to shoot him in the head. After the shooting, they attached the heavy fan to Emmett’s neck and rolled his body into the river.
Emmett’s badly disfigured body was discovered three days later by two young boys. Heart-broken and grief-stricken by the brutality of her son’s death, Mamie Till Bradley defiantly held an open-casket funeral in Chicago for her son. She also distributed a photo of his corpse to newspapers and magazines for publication, later explaining that “the whole nation had to bear witness to this.”
In September 1955, Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam were indicted for the murder of Emmett Till. The trial lasted 3 days; the jury deliberated for just over one hour. On September 23, 1955, the all-white, all-male jury announced a not-guilty verdict.
Seven years after the acquittal, one juror admitted during an interview that most of the jurors believed Bryant and Milam were guilty. However, the jury decided to acquitt them because the mandatory punishment of life in prison or death seemed too harsh to impose on white men for killing a black boy.
Hosted by the late D’Army Bailey, Moments in Civil Rights History is produced in collaboration with the Equal Justice Initiative and is part of Comcast NBCUniversal’s “His Dream, Our Stories” project.
RARE 1955 SPECIAL REPORT: "THE EMMETT TILL TRIAL"
Emmett Louis Till (July 25, 1941 – August 28, 1955) was a 14-year-old African-American who was lynched in Mississippi in 1955 after offending a white woman in her grocery store. The brutality of his murder and the fact that his killers were acquitted drew attention to the long history of violent persecution of African Americans in the United States. Till posthumously became an icon of the Civil Rights Movement.
Till was born and raised in Chicago and in August 1955, was visiting relatives near Money, in the Mississippi Delta region. He spoke to 21-year-old Carolyn Bryant, the white married proprietor of a small grocery store there. Although what happened at the store is a matter of dispute, Till was accused of flirting with or whistling at Bryant. Years later, Bryant disclosed that, in 1955, she had fabricated testimony that Till made verbal or physical advances towards her in the store. Till's reported behavior, perhaps unwittingly, violated the strictures of conduct for an African American male interacting with a white woman in the Jim Crow-era South. Several nights after the store incident, Bryant's husband Roy and his half-brother J. W. Milam went armed to Till's great-uncle's house and abducted the boy. They took him away and beat and mutilated him before shooting him in the head and sinking his body in the Tallahatchie River. Three days later, Till's body was discovered and retrieved from the river.
Till's body was returned to Chicago where his mother insisted on a public funeral service with an open casket. "The open-coffin funeral held by Mamie Till Bradley exposed the world to more than her son Emmett Till's bloated, mutilated body. Her decision focused attention not only on American racism and the barbarism of lynching but also on the limitations and vulnerabilities of American democracy". Tens of thousands attended his funeral or viewed his open casket, and images of his mutilated body were published in black-oriented magazines and newspapers, rallying popular black support and white sympathy across the U.S. Intense scrutiny was brought to bear on the lack of black civil rights in Mississippi, with newspapers around America critical of the state. Although initially local newspapers and law enforcement officials decried the violence against Till and called for justice, they responded to national criticism by defending Mississippians, temporarily giving support to the killers.
In September 1955, Bryant and Milam were acquitted by an all-white jury of Till's kidnapping and murder. Protected against double jeopardy, the two men publicly admitted in a 1956 interview with Look magazine that they had killed Till. In 2004 the case was officially reopened by the United States Department of Justice. The defense team in the 1955 trial had questioned whether the body was that of Till. In 2004, Till's body was exhumed and positively identified. Till's original casket was then donated to the Smithsonian Institution and it is displayed in the National Museum of African American History and Culture. After Milam and Bryant were acquitted, they initially remained in Mississippi, but were boycotted, threatened, attacked and humiliated by local residents. Milam died in 1980 at the age of 61, and Bryant died in 1994 at the age of 63. Bryant expressed no remorse for his crime and stated: "Emmett Till is dead. I don't know why he just can't stay dead."
The trial of Bryant and Milam received extensive press coverage. Till's murder was seen as a catalyst for the next phase of the Civil Rights Movement. In December 1955, the Montgomery Bus Boycott began in Alabama and lasted more than a year, gaining a US Supreme Court ruling that segregated buses were unconstitutional.
According to historians, events surrounding Emmett Till's life and death continue to resonate. Some writers have suggested that almost every story about Mississippi returns to Till, or the Delta region in which he died, in "some spiritual, homing way." An Emmett Till Memorial Commission was established in the early 21st century. The Sumner County Courthouse was restored and includes the Emmett Till Interpretive Center. The Emmett Till Memory Project is a website and smartphone app commemorating his life; fifty-one sites in the Mississippi Delta are associated with Till."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCDzLSzFd9c
FYI LTC Jeff ShearerSGT Philip Roncari Sgt Arthur Caesar ]Lt Col Jim CoeCWO3 Dennis M.SGT (Join to see)PO3 Bob McCordSGT Jim Arnold Sgt Albert Castro PO3 Phyllis Maynard Maj Robert Thornton 1SG Carl McAndrews SPC Douglas Bolton Cynthia Croft PO1 H Gene Lawrence SGT Brent Scott CW5 John M. CMSgt (Join to see) PO2 Kevin Parker
Very sad incident and thankfully the thugs were charged and convicted.
Background blackthen.com/august-28-1955-14-year-old-emmett-till-abducted-and-murdered-in-mississippi-delta-video/
AUGUST 28, 1955 – 14-YEAR-OLD EMMETT TILL ABDUCTED AND MURDERED IN MISSISSIPPI DELTA
Sixty-thee years ago, on August 28, 1955, 14-year-old Emmett Till was abducted and brutally murdered.
About a week earlier, Emmett, who lived in Chicago, traveled by train to Money, Mississippi, to spend a few weeks with his great-uncle and cousins. His mother, Mamie Till Bradley, cautioned him before the trip, as life in Chicago was much different than life in the Mississippi Delta.
In her testimony at the trial of his murderers, she recalled the advise she gave to her son.
“He would have to adapt himself to a new way of life. And I told him to be very careful about how he spoke and to whom he spoke, and to always remember to say ‘Yes, Sir’ and ‘No, Ma’am’ at all times. And I told him that if ever an incident should arise where there would be any trouble of any kind with white people, then if it got to a point where he even had to get down on his knees before them, well, I told him not to hesitate to do so.”
Four days into his visit, Till and a group of friends went to Bryan’s Grocery Store to buy some candy. While in the shop, Till allegedly acted “familiar” when speaking to the white female storekeeper, Carolyn Bryant. Accounts differ as to what actually transpired: some said he “wolf whistled,” others said he said “Bye, baby” upon leaving the store.
A few days later, Carolyn Bryant’s husband, Roy, became aware of the interaction. On August 28, 1955, he and his half-brother, J.W. Milam, abducted Emmett at gunpoint. They beat and tortured Till, forced him to load a 74-pound fan into the back of their pick-up truck, and drove to the Tallahatchie River. Once they arrived at the body of water, they ordered Emmett to undress and proceeded to shoot him in the head. After the shooting, they attached the heavy fan to Emmett’s neck and rolled his body into the river.
Emmett’s badly disfigured body was discovered three days later by two young boys. Heart-broken and grief-stricken by the brutality of her son’s death, Mamie Till Bradley defiantly held an open-casket funeral in Chicago for her son. She also distributed a photo of his corpse to newspapers and magazines for publication, later explaining that “the whole nation had to bear witness to this.”
In September 1955, Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam were indicted for the murder of Emmett Till. The trial lasted 3 days; the jury deliberated for just over one hour. On September 23, 1955, the all-white, all-male jury announced a not-guilty verdict.
Seven years after the acquittal, one juror admitted during an interview that most of the jurors believed Bryant and Milam were guilty. However, the jury decided to acquitt them because the mandatory punishment of life in prison or death seemed too harsh to impose on white men for killing a black boy.
Hosted by the late D’Army Bailey, Moments in Civil Rights History is produced in collaboration with the Equal Justice Initiative and is part of Comcast NBCUniversal’s “His Dream, Our Stories” project.
RARE 1955 SPECIAL REPORT: "THE EMMETT TILL TRIAL"
Emmett Louis Till (July 25, 1941 – August 28, 1955) was a 14-year-old African-American who was lynched in Mississippi in 1955 after offending a white woman in her grocery store. The brutality of his murder and the fact that his killers were acquitted drew attention to the long history of violent persecution of African Americans in the United States. Till posthumously became an icon of the Civil Rights Movement.
Till was born and raised in Chicago and in August 1955, was visiting relatives near Money, in the Mississippi Delta region. He spoke to 21-year-old Carolyn Bryant, the white married proprietor of a small grocery store there. Although what happened at the store is a matter of dispute, Till was accused of flirting with or whistling at Bryant. Years later, Bryant disclosed that, in 1955, she had fabricated testimony that Till made verbal or physical advances towards her in the store. Till's reported behavior, perhaps unwittingly, violated the strictures of conduct for an African American male interacting with a white woman in the Jim Crow-era South. Several nights after the store incident, Bryant's husband Roy and his half-brother J. W. Milam went armed to Till's great-uncle's house and abducted the boy. They took him away and beat and mutilated him before shooting him in the head and sinking his body in the Tallahatchie River. Three days later, Till's body was discovered and retrieved from the river.
Till's body was returned to Chicago where his mother insisted on a public funeral service with an open casket. "The open-coffin funeral held by Mamie Till Bradley exposed the world to more than her son Emmett Till's bloated, mutilated body. Her decision focused attention not only on American racism and the barbarism of lynching but also on the limitations and vulnerabilities of American democracy". Tens of thousands attended his funeral or viewed his open casket, and images of his mutilated body were published in black-oriented magazines and newspapers, rallying popular black support and white sympathy across the U.S. Intense scrutiny was brought to bear on the lack of black civil rights in Mississippi, with newspapers around America critical of the state. Although initially local newspapers and law enforcement officials decried the violence against Till and called for justice, they responded to national criticism by defending Mississippians, temporarily giving support to the killers.
In September 1955, Bryant and Milam were acquitted by an all-white jury of Till's kidnapping and murder. Protected against double jeopardy, the two men publicly admitted in a 1956 interview with Look magazine that they had killed Till. In 2004 the case was officially reopened by the United States Department of Justice. The defense team in the 1955 trial had questioned whether the body was that of Till. In 2004, Till's body was exhumed and positively identified. Till's original casket was then donated to the Smithsonian Institution and it is displayed in the National Museum of African American History and Culture. After Milam and Bryant were acquitted, they initially remained in Mississippi, but were boycotted, threatened, attacked and humiliated by local residents. Milam died in 1980 at the age of 61, and Bryant died in 1994 at the age of 63. Bryant expressed no remorse for his crime and stated: "Emmett Till is dead. I don't know why he just can't stay dead."
The trial of Bryant and Milam received extensive press coverage. Till's murder was seen as a catalyst for the next phase of the Civil Rights Movement. In December 1955, the Montgomery Bus Boycott began in Alabama and lasted more than a year, gaining a US Supreme Court ruling that segregated buses were unconstitutional.
According to historians, events surrounding Emmett Till's life and death continue to resonate. Some writers have suggested that almost every story about Mississippi returns to Till, or the Delta region in which he died, in "some spiritual, homing way." An Emmett Till Memorial Commission was established in the early 21st century. The Sumner County Courthouse was restored and includes the Emmett Till Interpretive Center. The Emmett Till Memory Project is a website and smartphone app commemorating his life; fifty-one sites in the Mississippi Delta are associated with Till."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCDzLSzFd9c
FYI LTC Jeff ShearerSGT Philip Roncari Sgt Arthur Caesar ]Lt Col Jim CoeCWO3 Dennis M.SGT (Join to see)PO3 Bob McCordSGT Jim Arnold Sgt Albert Castro PO3 Phyllis Maynard Maj Robert Thornton 1SG Carl McAndrews SPC Douglas Bolton Cynthia Croft PO1 H Gene Lawrence SGT Brent Scott CW5 John M. CMSgt (Join to see) PO2 Kevin Parker
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