Emmet Till

• Who was emmet till?


  • 14 year old boy from chicago
• What did emmet till do?


  • He visisted family in mississippi
  • went into a grocery shop
  • Allegedly dared to go into a shop and catcall Carolyn Bryant
• What happened to Emmet till?


  • Carolyn Bryant's brother and his brother in law kidnapped, tortured and murdered him
  • body was found 2 days later in a river naked, shot and beaten
  • His mother insisted on an open casket funeral
• Trial of Emmet Till's murderers

  • Found not guilty by an all white jury in just over an hour
  • African American reporters had to sit in a segregated area away from the jury
  • Multiple reliable witnesses testified against them
  • "If we hadn't stopped to drink pop it wouldn't have taken so long."
• Effects of Emmet Till 


  • international publicity
  • photos of his mutilated corpse were heavily published and shocking
  • A child being killed and his killers going unpunished seemed different to other lynchings to the American public