1955: You Will See the Results of Hate

1900-1999: A New Divide
Written By Stephanie Brizee

Big Idea

After the brutal lynching of 14 year old Emmitt Till in Mississippi, his mother, Mamie Till-Mobly, went on a public tour across the United States showing pictures of his brutalized body and speaking to the horrors of lynching and its impact on the African American community.

What’s important to know?

  1. The Murder of Emmitt Till: Emmitt Till was 14 years old when he was brutally beat and murdered by White residents of Money, Mississippi.

  2. Profiles in Courage: Emmitt’s mother, Mamie Till and cousin, Moses Wright, demonstrated great courage and leadership in fighting the perpetrators of Emmitt’s lynching and murder and calling attention to the racism at work in his death and the lack of justice brought against the murderers.

1: The Murder of Emmitt Till

Emmett Till

Image Source: Wikipedia

Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, 14-year old Emmitt Till was visiting family in Money, Mississippi when he was accused of heckling a young woman in her grocery store. On August 28, he was abducted and violently lynched. His body was weighed down and thrown into the Tallahatchie River.

The accounts of what actually transpired in and around the grocery store have been contested. Till’s cousin, Maurice Wright said of the follow-up investigation, “We didn't dare him to go to the store—the white folk said that. They said that he had pictures of his white girlfriend. There were no pictures. They never talked to me. They never interviewed me” (Kim, 2015). As with so many cases involving African American deaths in this period, the White story became the story despite facts to the contrary.

Further complicating things, Till had a stutter that was a result of polio when he was six years old. His mother had taught him to whistle as a way to help overcome the stutter. Some have wondered if what the White woman perceived as a “wolf-whistle” was instead Till trying to overcome his stutter to ask for candy — the reason they had driven to the store in the first place.

The trial took place in September and lasted five days. Witnesses for the prosecution (two Black men) were locked up by the county sheriff so they could not testify. After 67 minutes, the all-male, all-White jury aquitted the White defendants. One juror noted, “If we hadn't stopped to drink pop, it wouldn't have taken that long” (Whitfield. 1991, pp. 41–4).

Watch

Watch an oral history conducted with Emmett Till’s cousin, Simeon Wright about his abduction, murder, and the subsequent miscarriage of justice. Visit the Library of Congress to see more.

“Simeon Wright discusses his cousin, Emmett Till, and his attempts to correct the historical record concerning Till's murder. He recalls Till's visit to his home in Mississippi, going to Bryant's store, and the night that Till was kidnapped. He remembers the trial, moving to Chicago, and how the murder and publicity affected his family.” From the Library of Congress.

2: Profiles in Courage

Black and white picture of Moses Wright in courthouse pointing at the defendent

Moses Wright in the courtroom pointing at the defendent.

Image Source: Wikipedia

Moses Wright

During the trial of the men accused of killing Emmett Till, J. W. Milam and Roy Bryant, Till’s cousin, Moses Wright was asked to identify the men he saw take away Emmitt the night of his abduction.

In an act that risked his own life, Wright stood and pointed a finger at the White men identifying them as the perpetrators.

This act of courageous defiance of Jim Crow norms signaled an important shift further built upon during the Civil Rights movement.

Records are hard to verify, but some believe this was the first time that a Black man identified a White man as a perpetrator of a crime and lived (WGBH).

Mamie Till

Mamie Till outside the courthouse before Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam were acquitted for the murder of her son

Image Source: Wikipedia

While Till’s body was returned to his mother in a nailed shut coffin, Mamie Till insisted on opening his casket. She also required that the casket remain open for his viewing for the world to see the horror inflicted upon his son. This courageous act is seen as a defining moment in American understanding of lynching. Her act “exposed the world to more than her son Emmett Till's bloated, mutilated body. Her decision focused attention on not only American racism and the barbarism of lynching but also the limitations and vulnerabilities of American democracy” (White et al, 2013, p. 237).

The trial was just the start of her efforts. She toured the country speaking about his death and the injustice of the trial (Rammey Berry et al, 2021, p.167). Her efforts continued to attract hate as she received death threats and daily insults by Whites she encountered on her tour. She noted of these threats, “I would like to tell those people tonight, that if it hadn’t been for those letters, I probably wouldn’t be standing here. I want them to know that every one of those letters gave me a new determination to stand up and fight that much harder” (p. 167).

Her resolve became a rallying cry for Civil Rights activists and Rose Parks cited Emmett’s death as one of the reasons she decided to take the stand she did in Montgomery, Alabama when she refused to give up her bus seat (p. 167).

Your Turn

How did Mammie’s actions force the nation to confront its racism? How effective do you think her actions were?

    • Missing articles from the St. Louis Argus related to. the Emmett Till trial.

    • Kendi, I. X. (2017). Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America. Bold Type Books.

    • Mace, D. (2014). In Remembrance of Emmett Till: Regional Stories and Media Responses to the Black Freedom Struggle. University of Kentucky Press.

    • Ramey Berry, D. and Gross, K. N. (2021). A Black Women’s History of the United States. Penguin Random House.

    • Till-Mobly, M. and Benson, C. (2003). Death of Innocence: The Story of the Hate Crime that Changed America. Random House.

    • Wells-Barnett, I. (2022, reprint). On Lynchings. Rowman and Littlefield.

    • Wilkerson, I. (2020). Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents. Random House.

    • Wright, S. and Boyd, H. (2011). Simeon's Story: An Eyewitness Account of the Kidnapping of Emmett Till. Lawrence Hill Books.

    • Kim, Michelle (April 27, 2015). "Emmett Till's cousin gives eyewitness account of relative's death, says little has changed". The Daily Northwestern. Retrieved June 25, 2017.

    • Ramey Berry, D. and Gross, K. N. (2021). A Black Women’s History of the United States. Penguin Random House.

    • White, Deborah Gray; Bay, Mia; Martin, Waldo E. Jr. (2013). Freedom on My Mind: A History of African Americans, with Documents. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's. p. 637. ISBN 978-0-312-64884-8.

    • Whitfield, Stephen (1991). A Death in the Delta: The story of Emmett Till. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

    • Wright, S., Mosnier, J. & Civil Rights History Project, U. S. (2011) Simeon Wright oral history interview conducted by Joseph Mosnier in Chicago, Illinois. [Video] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/

    • "Brave Testimony". WBGH American Experience. PBS. Retrieved November 8, 2021.2015669109/.

Stephanie Brizee
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1956: Community Erasure and Community Building in the Highway Revolts