On the 24th of August, 1955, 14-year-old Emmett Till went to Bryant’s Grocery and Meat Market in Money, Mississippi, to purchase some candy. Emmett was from Chicago and was in Mississippi visiting some relatives. What took place next is widely disputed. However, Emmett was accused of whistling at 21-year-old white store clerk, Carolyn Bryant. This action violated the Jim Crow social code and his fate was sealed.
In the early morning hours of the 28th of August, 1955, Carolyn, her husband, Roy, and his half-brother, John Miliam, appeared at Mose Wright’s house which was where Emmett had been staying. Emmett’s great-aunt offered them money in the hopes that they would cause no trouble but it one fruitless. They grabbed Emmett and shoved him in their truck before dropping Carolyn back home and driving out to an isolated barn. Once there, Emmett was pistol-whipped and beaten. Afterwards, he was shot dead and thrown in Tallahatchie River.
Two days later, Emmett’s body was found. His mother insisted on an open-casket funeral in Chicago. His face was so mutilated that it was unrecognisable. The brutality of his slaying sparked outrage and gave urgency to the civil rights movement. Eventually Bryant and Miliam were indicted for murder. During the trial, African American Willie Louis testified against the two white men, something Emmett’s family described as a “godsend.” At the time, his testimony would have posed great danger in the segregated south and its astounding that nothing untoward happened to him afterwards. Louis told the court that had spotted Emmett with Bryant and Miliam as he walked home and had heard the beating taking place in the barn. “I heard the screaming, beating, the screaming and beating,” he said.
The trial was extremely informal. Jury members were often drunk and many male white spectators carried handguns. During the trial, Bryant and Miliam confessed that they had taken Emmett that night but claimed that they had let him go. The defence had even argued that the body could have been anyone’s and not Emmett. An all white, all male jury acquitted both men. Years later, several members of the jury would acknowledge they knew the two men were guilty but didn’t see anything wrong with white men killing African Americans.
At the 60 year anniversary of Emmett’s murder, his family and friends gathered at his grave. Also in attendance was Sybrina Fulton, the mother of Trayvon Martin, and Michael Brown Sr., the father of Michael Brown Jr. “Black lives matter. Black lives mattered when Emmett was killed. Black lives mattered when Fred Hampton and Mark Clark were killed. Black lives matter even today,” said U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush.
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