Emmett Till

Emmett Till

Emmett Louis Till also known as "Bobo’’was born July 25th 1941 in Chicago Illinois. Emmett was the son of a proud mother and father Mamaie Till and Louis Till. In 1955 Emmett Till and his cousin were sent to Money, Mississippi for a summer to stay with his great uncle Moses Wright. Just before Emmett left his mother cautioned him to mind his manners with white people, and gave him his fathers ring.

On August 21st Emmett arrived in Money, Mississippi. On the date of August 24, 1955 Emmett met up with other teens his age. They all went down to Bryant’s grocery and meat market to get some candy and soda. While in the store Emmett decided he would show some of his pictures of his life back home. According to Wikipedia, in one of the pictures there was a picture of Emmett and his white girlfriend. They couldn’t believe that Emmett had a White girlfriend. After looking at the pictures they dared him to talk to a white woman in the shop. People say that till was leaving the store and said "bye baby" to Carolyn Bryant, who was a married white woman. According to goggle research she was very upset she stood up and looked at him means and walked out to her car.

The news greatly upset her husband when he heard of it upon his return from out of town several days later. Wheeler Parker Jr. (Emmett’s cousin) who was with him at the store said Emmett did nothing but whistle at the woman. In Mississippi they didn’t see that appropriate to do if you were black and doing that to someone white. Now according to Carolyn she stated that till had grabbed her by her waist and asked her for a date. She also made a statement that Emmett used "unprintable" words. "He had a slight stutter and some have conjectured that Mrs.Bryant might have misinterpreted what till said".

When 24 year old Mr. Bryant returned three days after his wives encounter with Till everyone in Tallahatichi County had heard about it. Bryant decided that him and his half brother J.W. Milam 36 years old would meet at 2:00 a.m. on Sunday " to teach the boy a lesson" On August 27,1955 at 12:30 a.m. Bryant and his brother J.W. kidnapped Emmett Till from his great uncles house in the middle of the night. According to About.com witness had said they drove him to a weathered shed on a plantation in neighboring Sunflower County. They brutally beat and then shot him. They put a fan around his neck to weigh down his body. Later after beating him to death they threw his body into the Tallahatchie River. According to Bob Daylan they found Emmett’s body floating to the top with a look of foam floating around in the water. The two brothers and police tried to convince the people that Emmett Till was in Chicago, and the beaten boy was someone else. The reason they recognized him because Emmett Till was wearing his father’s ring that his mother gave him before he left. On August 29th the brothers were arrested after spending the night at a relative’s house in Ruleville, Mississippi.

According to wikipedia this location was miles from the scene of crime. After being under investigation the brothers admitted they had taken Till from his great-uncles yard and then they said they turned him loose the same night. After Till's horribly disfigured body was found, he was put into a pine box and nearly burned, but Mamie Till( Emmett’s mother) wanted to bring her son home back to Chicago where he belonged . The Tutwiler mortuary assistant back in Mississippi worked all night to prepare Emmetts body the best they could before they sent him back home to Chicago. According to my research the Chicago funeral home had agreed not to open the casket, but Mamie Till fought it. Sometime after the state of Mississippi wouldn’t allow the funeral home to open it, Mamie threatened to open it herself, insisting she had a right to open the casket to see her difugerd son.She also left it open for every one who came to the funeral.She left the casket open allowing people to take photos and letting people see how bad Emmetts body was disfiguerd.

On September 6 Emmett’s body had been buried in Burr Oak cemetery in Alsip Illinois.
This is based on a true story this needs to be taken very serious. Looking back at this story is just shows a little of how bad African-Americans were being treated. I don’t think its fair how we (African- Americans ) were beaten and killed like we werent even human. I guess from others eyes African Americans were some what like animals we got no respect from no one but our race. This made a big impact on the civil rights movement and thanks to Martin Luther King Jr. we no longer live with this night mare.