Emmett Till: Murder in Mississippi
14-Year Old's Death Gave Rise to Civil Rights Movement
The Emmett Till case can be argued as the single greatest catalyst in giving rise to the Civil Rights Movement in America. The 1955 murder of the 14-year old, combined with the predictable acquittal of his assailants, sparked outrage across the country and around the globe.
Till, a Chicago native, was spending the summer with relatives in the Mississippi Delta when he met with his infamous demise. Suddenly finding himself in a culture far different from his native city, Till pushed the envelope by ignoring local standards of behavior expected of young blacks and blacks in general.
Interracial Dating and Marriage Fears
Most enthralling to his cousins and local peers was his boasting of supposed sexual relations with white girls in Chicago. He carried pictures of three of his alleged conquests in his wallet as “proof” of his escapades. Racial interaction as a whole was, of course, limited in the region at the time as blacks were largely viewed as second-class citizens.
Sex between the races was the largest tabboo in a very strict, regimented unwritten code of conduct and was seen as cause by a number of local whites for violence and murder. Among the South’s greatest objections to the recent Brown v. Board of Education ruling was that such equality would lead to interracial dating and marriage.
On a dare, Till was pressured by peers to enter a country store one evening and ask the white 21-year old Carolyn Bryant, wife of the store owner, “for a date.” Accounts vary as to what exactly transpired next, but suffice it to say Till at the least made inappropriate remarks and whistled at Bryant.
All of this transpired as Till’s friends and relatives watched from outside the store window. Knowing trouble was coming, a cousin retrieved Emmett from the store and they fled. Bryant consulted a sister-in-law and they resolved to keep the incident from their husbands for fear of what they might do in retaliation.
However, the story quickly made its rounds throughout the local black community. When Carolyn’s husband Roy returned from a trucking job two days after the incident, a local black related the story as it was being told. This action pretty much sealed Till’s fate.
Mississippi Murder
Along with his half-brother J.W. Milam, Roy Bryant appeared at the home of Mose Wright, Till’s uncle, in the wee hours of the following morning and demanded to see the “boy who who did the talking.” Amid Wright’s pleas, the two men placed Till in the back of a pickup truck and drove off.
Four days later, Till’s bloated body was found floating in the Tallahatchie River by a local youth fishing. The body, which had suffered a gunshot wound, was beaten beyond recognition. Only a ring on Till’s finger allowed for Mose Wright to identify the body of his nephew.
Bryant and Milam were quickly charged and jailed on kidnapping charges. Murder charges were added when the body was found. At the pair’s trial, which was covered by media outlets from throughout the United States, defense attorneys attacked the identity of the body in an effort to create reasonable doubt. Their efforts were apparently successful, if needed at all.
Till’s body was sent home to Chicago for burial. Mamie Till Mobley, Emmett’s mother, insisted on an open casket so that the “world” could see what had happened to her son in Mississippi. A widely estimated 100,000 people viewed Till's body during a four-day viewing. Jet published an exclusive photo of the disfigured Till in his casket.
Sparking continued outrage in addition to the murder itself and the subsequent acquittal was Milam’s and Bryant’s confessions to Alabama journalist William Bradford Huie in the January 24, 1956 issue of Look. To add insult to injury, Milam and Bryant—with no fear of being tried again—were paid $3,500 for their cooperation.
Murder Inspired Civil Rights Act of 1957
Many scholars credit the Till case with inspiring the Civil Rights Act of 1957, as the case was discussed at length before the Senate Subcommittee on Civil Rights. In addition, the NAACP capitalized, as it were, on the notoriety of the case. Many organizations, groups, and wealthy individuals began donating and bequeathing considerable sums of money to the organization soon after the trial.
Unfortunately, Till’s death was not the last in the struggle for civil rights in Mississippi, only one of the most notorious. The Magnolia State continued to be the scene of infamous acts of violence over the following decade, including the murders of Medgar Evers in Jackson and the three civil rights workers in Philadelphia. In addition, two deaths and scores of injuries were attributed to James Meredith’s integration of the University of Mississippi.
However, the Till case can be viewed as an event that galvanized those in the fledgling Civil Rights Movement and provided a point of no return, as it were, to believers in the cause. As more individuals gained the courage to “step out” and join the the battle for civil rights that ensued for more than a decade afterward, many drew inspiration from the 14-yeard old Chicago native.
Sources:
Whitaker, Hugh Stephen. “A Case Study in Southern Justice: The Emmett Till Case.” MA Thesis, Florida State University, 1963.
Huie, William Bradford. “Shocking Story of Approved Killing in Mississippi.” Look, January 24, 1956.
Till with mother Mamie
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Emmett Till
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