What Is Emmett Till's Murder
Fourteen-year-old Emmett Till was visiting relatives in Money, Mississippi, on August 24, 1955, when he was accused of whistling at a 21 year old white woman , who was a cashier at the grocery store, Bryan’s Grocery and Meat Market. Four days later, two white men kidnapped Till, beat him and shot him in the head. The men were tried for murder, but an all-white, male jury discharged them. Till's murder and open casket funeral motivated the emerging Civil Rights Movement
Three days after Till’s murder, his body was recovered at the bottom of the Tallahatchie River
At her son’s funeral, Mamie Till insisted on having an open casket service
The white woman’s husband and her brother–made Emmett carry a 75-pound cotton-gin fan to the bank of the Tallahatchie
River and ordered him to take off his clothes. The two men then beat him nearly to death, gouged out his eye, shot him in the head, and then threw his body, tied to the cotton-gin fan with barbed wire, into the river.
They reportedly drove to a barn nearby and pistol whipped the boy while they continued to beat him as the men debated on what to do with him next. Rev. Wright went looking for him — but fearful of his life — neglected to call the police. Curtis Jones got word back to the police, and Emmett’s mother, Mamie, was alerted that her son went missing. Bryant and Milam were questioned by local police but were not charged for kidnapping or anything.
Three days after Till’s murder, his body was recovered at the bottom of the Tallahatchie River
At her son’s funeral, Mamie Till insisted on having an open casket service
The white woman’s husband and her brother–made Emmett carry a 75-pound cotton-gin fan to the bank of the Tallahatchie
River and ordered him to take off his clothes. The two men then beat him nearly to death, gouged out his eye, shot him in the head, and then threw his body, tied to the cotton-gin fan with barbed wire, into the river.
They reportedly drove to a barn nearby and pistol whipped the boy while they continued to beat him as the men debated on what to do with him next. Rev. Wright went looking for him — but fearful of his life — neglected to call the police. Curtis Jones got word back to the police, and Emmett’s mother, Mamie, was alerted that her son went missing. Bryant and Milam were questioned by local police but were not charged for kidnapping or anything.