Monday, March 26, 2018
Emmett Till
On August 28th, 1955 Emmett Till would be kidnaped by two white who he was accused of whistling, flirting and saying "Bye Baby" to white women at a grocery store. Emmet's great uncle, Moses Wright came to visit his family in Chicago. At the end of his trip in Chicago, Wright exclaimed that he was going to take one of Emmet's cousins back to Mississippi to visit other relatives in the South. Emmet found out about the plans and urged his mother Mamie Till to go visit. His mom was at first hesitant, but in the end, she let him go to the South. Before Emmet left his mother gave him a ring with the initials of his father engraved with two words "L.T." On August 24th, 1955, Emmet and a couple of his friends entered Bryant's Grocery and Meat Market to buy drinks after a long day of work. The store clerk at the time Carolyn Bryant would accuse Emmet of flirting and making advances on her. She would tell her husband Roy Bryant who would get his half-brother J.W Milam to kidnap the 14-year-old Emmet Till. Emmet would be kidnapped from his uncle's house and would be beaten and shot in the head multiple times with his body being thrown into the water. He would be reported missing to local authorities and once they found him his face was disfigured. He would only be identified by the ring his mother had given him by his uncle. The news would reach his mother and she requested the body to be shipped to Chicago where she requested an open casket funeral for her son to show the world the injustice of letting two white men not being charged for the murder of her son.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Emmett Till's murder alerted Americans to the unacceptable violence being shown not only towards blacks. His mother used his dead body to further show the brutality of the murder. the murder of Emmett Till is not as widely know because it was such a brutal death. The picture of his body was seen by public and this led people to think twice about how blacks were being treated.
ReplyDeleteEverything that you talk about in your post is totally accurate. The murder of Emmet was another example of the brutality that african-american citizens faced on the daily. Some of the times, they didn't even commit the actions that were alegedly called out on, as seen in the case of Emmet Till. Years later, the woman who had claimed Till had catcalled her, confessed to her lies saying that he had actually said nothing wrong. This shows the extent that the discrimination goes to, and how discriminated against the african-americans truly were.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteTelevision played a very important role in the civil rights movement because people could directly see exactly what was happening. People of all races were horrified by the treatment of minority groups and therefore helped support them in marches and movements. Emmet Till's face shown to the world helped jumpstart people's movements, and his mother also requested that he have an open casket funeral so everyone could see what people did to him.
ReplyDeleteIt stresses me and hits such a nerve that he was killed for something he allegedly did, and for it was brutally murdered. Not only that, but it was for saying such a simple thing like baby instead of her name. It shows the true extent of segregation at that point in time, and the power one white woman could have.
ReplyDeleteI think Emmett Till's story opened up the eyes to many Americans and their actions towards African Americans during that time. They were extremely cruel and their actions were not justified because in Till's case he was falsely accused and in the end it was cleared up that he had not said anything.
ReplyDeleteThe death of Emmett Till really opened the eyes to some of the oppressed communities in America and fueled the fight in the Civil Rights Movement. People were so cruel to anybody who was different from themselves and this showed in the vicious murder of Emmett Till. I find it very disheartening to see that our country was once in this mindset.
ReplyDelete