Who is Emmett Till?
Emmett Till was born on July 25, 1941 in Chicago, Illinois. He was the son of Louis and Mamie Till. Emmett Till never had the opportunity to know his father, a private in the US Army during the second world war. Three years after the separation of Emmett's parents, the family received a news from the Army that Louis had been executed fro "willful conduct" while serving in Italy. Emmett Till's mother was an amazing woman due to the fact that she was able to go against the constrains and discrimination that she faced being an African American woman, growing up in the 1920's and the 1930's. Mamie was the only fourth Black student that would graduate from Chicago's predominantly white community High School, and she was also the first Black student that would be on the school's honor roll.
Emmett's mother would often work more than 12- hour days and Till would take full responsibility of his share of domestic responsibilities from a very young age. He would need to be in charged of all of the house responsibilities, and his mother explained that Emmett would tell her that he would take care of all of the other responsibilities while she would go out and work to get money to pay for the bills and the food.
In August of 1955, Emmett's great uncle came to visit the family in Chicago. When Emmett heard that his great uncle was going to take his cousin back to Mississippi, he wanted to go with his great uncle as well to go and visit his cousins as well. At first, his mother did not want to let him go, but eventually she said yes and this would be the event that would create an impact on American history.
Emmett Till's Murder
On August 24 1955, just three days after arriving in Money, Mississippi; Emmett and a group of other teenagers came entered a Market to buy refreshments. What happened exactly between the white women a and Emmett would never be clarified, but apparently he had either whistled, flirted or touched the hand of the store's white female clerk and she was the wife of the owner. Four days after this incident around 2:30 am on August 28th, the husband, Roy Bryant, and his half brother kidnapped Till from his great uncle's home. They would both beat the Till, shoot him in the head, and tie him with barbed wire to a large metal fan and put his body into the water.
Impact
Sadly, there was no justice done for the murder of Emmett Till, but his murder was a catalyst into the initiative that many would take. His death would be the push for change and the civil rights movement of the 1960's.
Sources:
http://www.biography.com/people/emmett-till-507515#trial
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ReplyDeleteWell, wouldn't you say that Emmett Till's death did receive justice? His death had an impact on the immorality of racism and did indeed push for change. Very well written.
ReplyDeleteYou gave a great account of his life; having seen the photo, I think we can all understand how tragic his death was. I think the repercussions of his death are even more significant than the brutal way that he was murdered. The fact that an all-white jury issued a "not-guilty" verdict made a huge number of people outraged, and finally the injustice of Jim Crow segregation in the South was brought to light, especially through extensive media coverage in newspapers. Today, it is thought of as one of the starting forces behind the entire Civil Right Movement.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-death-of-emmett-till