Emmett Till Murder Case
Emmett Louis “Bobo” Till, a 14 year old African-American boy was murdered after potentially flirting with a white store clerk in Money, Mississippi. Mamie Bradlie, his mother gave birth to Emmett on July 25, 1941. Louis Till, Emmett's father, was executed by the U.S Army after committing two accounts of rape and one of murder in Italy. Life was hard dealing with being a single mother, Mamie and “Bo” lived at Mamie’s mothers house in downtown Chicago. Despite the tough times with her husband, Mamie described life with Emmett as being “as close to perfect as you could get”. On August 20, 1955 Emmett was sent by his mother to visit relatives in a nearby town close to Money, Mississippi. A train took Emmett to Money, starting his supposed two
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week visit with his cousins. Emmett explored a different lifestyle in Mississippi for a few days, on the night of the 24th, he and five of his friends and relatives drove into Money to a small grocery store known as “Bryant’s Grocery & Meat Market”. Inside the store, Emmett shopped around and made his purchase, after making his purchase he was left alone in the store with the clerk, Carolyn Bryant. Carolyn and her husband, Roy Bryant, owned the store. After Emmett made his purchase and was left alone in the store, he started to “flirt” with Carolyn, he grabbed her wrist asking her “How about a date, baby?”, making her feel uncomfortable. Next, Till grabbed her waist and said "You needn’t be afraid of me, baby I’ve slept with white women before.” With accounts of no inappropriate behavior being said, by Till’s cousin Simeon Wright, there were suspicions of the words being said or not. Till left then, and Carolyn was walking out to her car to supposedly retrieve a gun, as stated in her testimony in court. When they left, and Carolyn was walking outside, Emmett whistled at Carolyn while passing by the store. Roy was out of town at the time and was not home to see the incident happen. Emmett’s relatives then knew that his actions were very frowned upon and that he was going to be in a great amount of trouble. The news about what happened at Bryant’s store quickly spread and the townsfolk were upset these allegations, On August 26th, Carolyn’s husband Roy returned from Texas. Quickly after his return, Roy found out what had happened involving the young black teenager, and his wife. Going home that night, Roy asked Carolyn about any altercations with the boy. Carolyn denied knowing about anything that he said, he was angry at her denial and made her tell him what had happened. Roy created a plan to kidnap Till and “teach him a lesson”. On August 27th, the plans to kidnap Emmett had begun, John W. Milam, Bryant’s half brother agreed to help with the dirty work. Bryant and Milam were reported by the FBI to be “very close”. On the evening of that day Roy, John, Carolyn, and Johnny Washington, who was a helper of Roy, set out in their pickup truck to find the troubled teenager. After picking up the wrong black boy and throwing him out of the back of the truck, they received information of where Till was staying. They then went to the house of Moses Wright, who lived a few miles from Money. Arriving at approximately 2:30 A.M Bryant went up to the porch knocking on the door, when Moses Wright answered the door, Roy introduced himself and told Wright that he was looking for “a fat boy” from Chicago. The men searched Wright’s home for Till, after finding him the conversation was as follows: Milam asked “You the niggah that did the talking down at Money?" Till answered with “Yeah”, Milam then responded “"Don't say 'yeah' to me, niggah. I'll blow your head off. Get your clothes on." Emmett was then escorted out of the house and the Wright family was warned that they would be killed if they told anyone that they had been there. What happened over the next few hours is undetermined. After the kidnapping they drove 75 miles to a cliff overlooking the Mississippi river where they were going to simply "just whip him...and scare some sense into him." as reported in an interview of Milam. Before returning the next morning around 6 A.M,they had searched for the cliff but were unsuccessful, leading to a different plan. They had then returned to a barn on the farm of Leslie Milam, John Milam’s brother. Willie Green, a witness of the arrival, said they had come to the barn at around 6 A.M in a white and green Chevrolet pickup truck. Green saw Bryant, Milam, and two black men, including Levi Collins, who was a truck driver for Milam. After a few minutes, Green heard yelling and screaming, along with whipping sounds coming from inside the barn. There were two unverified locations at where Till was shot and killed, there were reports of him being shot inside of the barn on Leslie Milam’s property, and reports of him being shot on the banks of the Tallahatchie River. Milam and Bryant described Till as being defiant and taking the beating and whipping strongly in the barn, Emmett reportedly said "You bastards, I'm not afraid of you. I'm as good as you are. I've had white women." Milam said, "When a nigger gets close to mentioning sex with a white woman, he's tired of living. I'm likely to kill him...I stood there in that shed and listened to that nigger throw that poison at me, and I just made up my mind." Later going to Milam’s store in Glendora, a witness saw blood running and dripping from the bed of his truck, Milam responded saying that he had killed a deer. The witness told him that is was not deer hunting season, Milam then pulled the tarp back revealing Till’s body and responded with "This is what happens to smart niggers.", then got in the truck and left town. Bryant and Milam then decided to throw Till’s body in the Tallahatchie River, they stole a heavy fan from a nearby ginning company to ensure the sinking of the boy’s body. Bryant tied the fan to Till’s neck with barbed wire and rolled him down the embankment into the river. Three days later the body was discovered by a boy fishing 8 miles downstream, Moses Wright came to identify the body as Emmett Till’s. The corpse was transported back to Illinois where Mamie Till was waiting, she insisted that her boy was shown in open casket so everyone could see what damage the men had done to the boy. On September 3, two days before a Grand Jury in Tallahatchie County would indict Bryant and Milam on both murder and kidnapping charges.
The county sheriff, H.C Strider made a surprising statement saying that he highly doubted that the body found in the river was that of Emmett Till’s, which now had the support of the sheriff that the men did not kill Emmett. On September 19th, 12 white male individuals were selected onto the jury for the trial, leaving the decisions clearly biased. Before the trial had begun the men admitted to kidnapping Till, they were charged for that but the murder trial was awaiting. Once the murder trial had begun, Mamie wanted to eliminate the question of whether or not the body was Till’s, she then testified that "I positively identified the body in the casket, and later on when it was on the slab, as being that of my son, Emmett Louis Till.", Bradlie also testified that the ring from Till’s father sent to her from Europe was on his finger when she saw his body. Witnesses then testified and Willie Green reported hearing “licks and hollering” from inside of the barn that morning. Carolyn Bryant then told the jury what had happened the night that Till had touched and grabbed her, reporting that she was scared to
death. Almost none of the jurors in the court were persuaded that the body pulled from the river was that of Till’s because of H.C Striders statement saying that the body had been in the river 10-15 days and was unidentifiable. District Attorney Chatham had demanded justice for Till’s murder saying "They murdered that boy, and to hide that dastardly, cowardly act, they tied barbed wire to his neck and to a heavy gin fan and dumped him into the river for the turtles and the fish.” The two defendants, Chatham insisted, "were dripping with the blood of Emmett Till." Defense attorneys responded and told jurors, "Every last Anglo-Saxon one of you has the courage to set these men free." The jury was sent to make their decisions, Hugh Whitaker reported “Sheriff-elect Dogan told jurors to wait a while before coming out to make "it look good”." The jurors enjoyed a Coke and after 68 minutes came back to give their verdict of “not guilty” of the murder charges. The aftermath of the trial resulted in the boycotting of both men’s stores, closing them for business. In 1957, an attempt to assassinate H.C Strider was made but was unsuccessful. A song was made by Bob Dylan, memorializing Emmett Till. Both Bryant and Milam died from cancer in their old ages. This case just goes to show how discrimination was a massive factor before the Civil Rights movement. All in all, the trial was very biased and the men clearly murdered Emmett Till that day.
week visit with his cousins. Emmett explored a different lifestyle in Mississippi for a few days, on the night of the 24th, he and five of his friends and relatives drove into Money to a small grocery store known as “Bryant’s Grocery & Meat Market”. Inside the store, Emmett shopped around and made his purchase, after making his purchase he was left alone in the store with the clerk, Carolyn Bryant. Carolyn and her husband, Roy Bryant, owned the store. After Emmett made his purchase and was left alone in the store, he started to “flirt” with Carolyn, he grabbed her wrist asking her “How about a date, baby?”, making her feel uncomfortable. Next, Till grabbed her waist and said "You needn’t be afraid of me, baby I’ve slept with white women before.” With accounts of no inappropriate behavior being said, by Till’s cousin Simeon Wright, there were suspicions of the words being said or not. Till left then, and Carolyn was walking out to her car to supposedly retrieve a gun, as stated in her testimony in court. When they left, and Carolyn was walking outside, Emmett whistled at Carolyn while passing by the store. Roy was out of town at the time and was not home to see the incident happen. Emmett’s relatives then knew that his actions were very frowned upon and that he was going to be in a great amount of trouble. The news about what happened at Bryant’s store quickly spread and the townsfolk were upset these allegations, On August 26th, Carolyn’s husband Roy returned from Texas. Quickly after his return, Roy found out what had happened involving the young black teenager, and his wife. Going home that night, Roy asked Carolyn about any altercations with the boy. Carolyn denied knowing about anything that he said, he was angry at her denial and made her tell him what had happened. Roy created a plan to kidnap Till and “teach him a lesson”. On August 27th, the plans to kidnap Emmett had begun, John W. Milam, Bryant’s half brother agreed to help with the dirty work. Bryant and Milam were reported by the FBI to be “very close”. On the evening of that day Roy, John, Carolyn, and Johnny Washington, who was a helper of Roy, set out in their pickup truck to find the troubled teenager. After picking up the wrong black boy and throwing him out of the back of the truck, they received information of where Till was staying. They then went to the house of Moses Wright, who lived a few miles from Money. Arriving at approximately 2:30 A.M Bryant went up to the porch knocking on the door, when Moses Wright answered the door, Roy introduced himself and told Wright that he was looking for “a fat boy” from Chicago. The men searched Wright’s home for Till, after finding him the conversation was as follows: Milam asked “You the niggah that did the talking down at Money?" Till answered with “Yeah”, Milam then responded “"Don't say 'yeah' to me, niggah. I'll blow your head off. Get your clothes on." Emmett was then escorted out of the house and the Wright family was warned that they would be killed if they told anyone that they had been there. What happened over the next few hours is undetermined. After the kidnapping they drove 75 miles to a cliff overlooking the Mississippi river where they were going to simply "just whip him...and scare some sense into him." as reported in an interview of Milam. Before returning the next morning around 6 A.M,they had searched for the cliff but were unsuccessful, leading to a different plan. They had then returned to a barn on the farm of Leslie Milam, John Milam’s brother. Willie Green, a witness of the arrival, said they had come to the barn at around 6 A.M in a white and green Chevrolet pickup truck. Green saw Bryant, Milam, and two black men, including Levi Collins, who was a truck driver for Milam. After a few minutes, Green heard yelling and screaming, along with whipping sounds coming from inside the barn. There were two unverified locations at where Till was shot and killed, there were reports of him being shot inside of the barn on Leslie Milam’s property, and reports of him being shot on the banks of the Tallahatchie River. Milam and Bryant described Till as being defiant and taking the beating and whipping strongly in the barn, Emmett reportedly said "You bastards, I'm not afraid of you. I'm as good as you are. I've had white women." Milam said, "When a nigger gets close to mentioning sex with a white woman, he's tired of living. I'm likely to kill him...I stood there in that shed and listened to that nigger throw that poison at me, and I just made up my mind." Later going to Milam’s store in Glendora, a witness saw blood running and dripping from the bed of his truck, Milam responded saying that he had killed a deer. The witness told him that is was not deer hunting season, Milam then pulled the tarp back revealing Till’s body and responded with "This is what happens to smart niggers.", then got in the truck and left town. Bryant and Milam then decided to throw Till’s body in the Tallahatchie River, they stole a heavy fan from a nearby ginning company to ensure the sinking of the boy’s body. Bryant tied the fan to Till’s neck with barbed wire and rolled him down the embankment into the river. Three days later the body was discovered by a boy fishing 8 miles downstream, Moses Wright came to identify the body as Emmett Till’s. The corpse was transported back to Illinois where Mamie Till was waiting, she insisted that her boy was shown in open casket so everyone could see what damage the men had done to the boy. On September 3, two days before a Grand Jury in Tallahatchie County would indict Bryant and Milam on both murder and kidnapping charges.
The county sheriff, H.C Strider made a surprising statement saying that he highly doubted that the body found in the river was that of Emmett Till’s, which now had the support of the sheriff that the men did not kill Emmett. On September 19th, 12 white male individuals were selected onto the jury for the trial, leaving the decisions clearly biased. Before the trial had begun the men admitted to kidnapping Till, they were charged for that but the murder trial was awaiting. Once the murder trial had begun, Mamie wanted to eliminate the question of whether or not the body was Till’s, she then testified that "I positively identified the body in the casket, and later on when it was on the slab, as being that of my son, Emmett Louis Till.", Bradlie also testified that the ring from Till’s father sent to her from Europe was on his finger when she saw his body. Witnesses then testified and Willie Green reported hearing “licks and hollering” from inside of the barn that morning. Carolyn Bryant then told the jury what had happened the night that Till had touched and grabbed her, reporting that she was scared to
death. Almost none of the jurors in the court were persuaded that the body pulled from the river was that of Till’s because of H.C Striders statement saying that the body had been in the river 10-15 days and was unidentifiable. District Attorney Chatham had demanded justice for Till’s murder saying "They murdered that boy, and to hide that dastardly, cowardly act, they tied barbed wire to his neck and to a heavy gin fan and dumped him into the river for the turtles and the fish.” The two defendants, Chatham insisted, "were dripping with the blood of Emmett Till." Defense attorneys responded and told jurors, "Every last Anglo-Saxon one of you has the courage to set these men free." The jury was sent to make their decisions, Hugh Whitaker reported “Sheriff-elect Dogan told jurors to wait a while before coming out to make "it look good”." The jurors enjoyed a Coke and after 68 minutes came back to give their verdict of “not guilty” of the murder charges. The aftermath of the trial resulted in the boycotting of both men’s stores, closing them for business. In 1957, an attempt to assassinate H.C Strider was made but was unsuccessful. A song was made by Bob Dylan, memorializing Emmett Till. Both Bryant and Milam died from cancer in their old ages. This case just goes to show how discrimination was a massive factor before the Civil Rights movement. All in all, the trial was very biased and the men clearly murdered Emmett Till that day.