70 years ago this week, on August 28, 1955, Emmett Till was kidnapped, tortured, and murdered in Mississippi. The fourteen year old boy from Chicago traveled south for the first time to visit family. After purchasing some items in a local store, he was accused of whistling at the white woman behind the counter. In the early morning hours of August 28, the woman’s husband and his brother abducted Emmett from the home of his great uncle Mose Wright. Along with several others, they took Emmett to a barn near Drew, MS where they tortured and eventually killed him before tying a cotton gin fan around his neck with barbed wire and throwing his body into the Tallahatchie River. His mutilated and disfigured body was recovered several days later. The white woman’s husband and his brother were indicted for Emmett’s murder but were aquitted by an all white male jury in about one hour. Four months later, the men sold their story to a national magazine and admitted their guilt knowing that they could not be tried again.
Despite this gross miscarrige of justice, the horrific lynching became a major catalyst for the modern Civil Rights Movement. This was due largely to the courage of three Black people who were committed to telling the truth in the face of the violent system of racial oppression that was an accepted “way of life” at that time. Emmett’s mother Mamie Till-Mobley insisted on having an open casket funeral for her son at Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ in Chicago so that the world could see the real life consequences of racial hatred and violence. Pictures of his mutilated and unrecognizable face that were published in Jet Magazine shocked the nation. At the trial in the Tallahatchie County Courthouse, Emmett’s great Uncle Mose Wright stood up in court and identified the man who abducted Emmett from his home. An eighteen year old named Willie Reed testified to seeing the pick up truck that took Emmett to the barn and hearing screams coming from the barn as Emmett was being tortured. Both Mose Wright and Willie Reed had to flee from Mississippi shortly after the trial. Although the two white men were aquitted, the fact that two Black men testified in support of the prosecution showed the kind of courage needed to confront systemic racism. Just a few months after the trial, the famous Montgomery bus boycott started when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a city bus to a white person. She would later say she thought about Emmett and Mamie Till that day on the bus.
The legacy of Emmett Till continues to impact our nation 70 years after his death. It challenges us to tell the truth about the consequences of racial hatred and systemic racism. It also offers hope through the example of those who stood up for justice despite the personal costs. In 2007, Tallahatchie County finally issued an apology to the family of Emmett Till for the miscarriage of justice in 1955. The first and last paragraph of that apology are quoted below. I invite you to reflect on those words on this 70th anniversary of Emmett’s death. At a time when the story of our nation’s history is being whitewashed and distorted, making a commitment to tell the truth is essential.
We the citizens of Tallahatchie County believe that racial reconciliation begins with telling the truth. We call on the state of Mississippi, all of its citizens in every county, to begin an honest investigation into our history. While it will be painful, it is necessary to nurture reconciliation and to ensure justice for all. By recognizing the potential for division and violence in our own towns, we pledge to each other, black and white, to move forward together in healing the wounds of the past and in ensuring equal justice for all of our citizens.
We the citizens of Tallahatchie County acknowledge the horrific nature of this crime. Its legacy has haunted our community. We need to understand the system that encouraged these events and others like them to occur so that we can ensure that it never happens again. Working together, we have the power now to fulfill the promise of liberty and justice for all.
The videos posted below focus on the witnesses who told the truth and call us to tell the truth today.