Mamie Till at the Casket of Her Murdered Son Emmett Till
All White Jury that Acquitted the Two Men Accused of Murdering Emmett Till
The abduction, torture, and murder of 14 year old Emmett Till was a major catalyst of the modern Civil Rights Movement. In August 1955, Emmett traveled from his home in Chicago to visit family in Mississippi. After supposedly whistling at and speaking offensively to a white woman in a country store, he was abducted from his great uncle’s home, tortured, murdered, and thrown into the Tallahatchie River by the husband and brother-in-law of that white woman. Less than a month later on September 23, an all white jury acquitted the two men despite evidence of their guilt including the testimony of Emmett’s great uncle Mose Wright. The jury deliberated for only 67 minutes before returning their verdict. Part of the defense strategy included claiming that civil rights groups planted Emmett Till’s body in the river to gain sympathy for challenging the Southern “way of life.”
On the Equal Justice Initiative’s website “A History of Racial Injustice,” the posting for September 23 describes the ongoing injustice of the verdict’s aftermath:
“Just a few months later, Look Magazine reportedly paid $4,000 to Mr. Milam and Mr. Bryant for their confessions. In a story published by the magazine on January 24, 1956, Mr. Milam and Mr. Bryant graphically described their abduction of Emmett Till from his uncle’s home, admitting that they pistol-whipped him, forced him to disrobe, tied a heavy cotton-gin fan around his neck with barbed wire, shot him, and dumped his body in the Tallahatchie River. Decades later, Mrs. Bryant would also admit that she lied on the stand.”
Those of us who are citizens of this country and followers of a Biblically based faith demand a system of justice that is fair and impartial, because this is consistent with the character of God. “The Lord loves righteousness and justice. The earth is full of God’s unfailing love.” (Psalm 33:5) The struggle for a fair and impartial system of justice continues today. Racial inequities in policing, arrests, legal representation, and sentencing are all too common 66 years after the injustice of the jury in Emmett Till’s case.
The short video posted below summarizes the impact of Emmett Till’s murder.