Emmett Till, 1955
Fourteen-year-old Emmett Till was the son of a successful African-American single mother, living in Chicago. In the summer of 1955, he travelled to Mississippi with his great-uncle, having begged his mother to let him go. On August 24, 1955, the young teen interacted with a white shop clerk, Carolyn Bryant, in Money, Mississippi. Perhaps he flirted with her, whistled, or touched her hand; the stories differ.
Four days later, on August 28, 1955, Carolyn Bryant’s husband, Roy Bryant and his half-brother, J.W. Milam kidnapped the boy from his uncle’s home. He was beaten, shot in the head, and tied to a large metal fan with barbed wire before being thrown in the Tallahatchie River. Till was only identified by his father’s signet ring, given to him by his mother before he left Chicago.
Till’s body was shipped back to Chicago. His mother opted for an open-casket and a long visitation period. In the five days his body was displayed in Roberts Temple Church of God, thousands saw the impact of this hate crime. Black publications published photos of the boy’s body. While his mother expressed how difficult this was, she recognized the importance of viewing the results of the crime.
Bryant and Milam were tried on September 19, 1955 in front of an all-white jury. They were acquitted days later. A few months’ later, they sold the story of the murder to Look Magazine, protected by double jeopardy laws.
Emmett Till’s tragic death helped to mobilize the civil rights movement in the United States and, particularly, in the South. Only one hundred days later, Rosa Parks refused to relinquish her seat. The NAACP increased its activity, and a young minister was asked to support the bus boycott. His name was Martin Luther King, Jr.