The murder of Emmett Till is a historical event
The black teen was murdered in Chicago.
The casket of Emmett Till was found at 4141 Cottage Grove
The mother of the deceased demanded that the casket be opened, because she wanted the lynchers to face justice. In a statement to the Chicago Tribune, she stated that she wanted those who killed Emmett Till to be executed.
Carolyn Till
In 1955, when Emmett was 14, he visited Money, Mississippi to visit his cousin Curtis Jones. While at the Bryant Grocery, he whistled at Carolyn Bryant, who worked at the store. She responded by asking Till to go out with her. Then, she walked out of the store and overheard Till say "bye, baby." After she was arrested, Till's body was thrown into the Tallahatchie River.
Strider
Strider, a wealthy plantation owner in the cotton-growing Delta, was a central figure in the murder of Emmett Till. The letters S-T-R-I-D-E-R were prominently displayed on his property. He was the first official to discover Emmett's body after his murder, and ordered his Mississippi relatives to bury him by nightfall. The family's attorney, William Mobley-Till, claimed that Strider had ordered his brother to bury the body, but the Mississippi kin had demanded that they ship Emmett's body home to Chicago.
Malone
The story of the murder of Emmett Till is not uncommon. In 1955, Mississippi was home to the lynching of a black man and other brutal attacks against African Americans. The murder of Till triggered the Civil Rights Movement and sparked more progress in the civil rights movement. The court decision Brown v. Board of Education ruled racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional, but this ruling sparked racial tensions in the Deep South. In the aftermath, a white man stabbed Emmett Till to death and tied his body to a cotton gin fan.
White physician
"Blood Done Sign My Name" by Duke University visiting professor and author of The Murder of Emmett Till debunks myths surrounding the killing of a black man. Written over 218 pages, this book is a must-read for those interested in the events that shaped America's race relations. "Blood Done Sign My Name" also explores the murderer's motive and the repercussions of his crimes.
"Reasonable doubt" excuse
In 1955, an adolescent boy from Chicago, Emmett Till, was beaten to death in the small town of Money, Mississippi, for allegedly whistling at and touching a white woman. The man who beat Till was later beaten by other men. A white jury found Till not guilty, but a few white men later confessed to Till's murder for a few thousand dollars to Look magazine. In a subsequent trial, the men were found not guilty of the murder, and acquitted after being tried for their crimes.
Signs relating to the murder of Emmett Till
In the Mississippi Delta, a sign referring to the lynching of Emmett Till has been vandalized at least three times. Since its installation in 2008, it has been shot at, vandalized, and blotted with acid. Some people even decided to leave it in the same river where Till's body was pulled from in 1955. It's a tense situation, but the Emmett Till Interpretive Center is doing everything it can to keep the sign up.
Roy Bryant's account of the crime
The case against J.W. Milam and Roy Bryant for the murder of Emmett Till was a controversial one. The pair had been accused of murder but were acquitted by an all-white jury. The trial lasted five days, and a trial jury heard the testimony of Roy Bryant's great-uncle Mose Wright. Mose Wright was the only person who testified against the two men. The case brought a national and international media attention to the murder.
