Guest Author - Stephanie L. Ogle
Emmett Till was tried, convicted & killed in August of 1955. His judges & jury: two angry white men. His crime? Being black & talking to a white woman in a Mississippi corner grocery store.
What makes this murder so heartbreaking is that Emmett Till was only 14 years old. The Chicago youngster was visiting relative in Money, Mississippi that summer. Emmett, a fun-loving young boy who loved pranks was dared to speak to the woman in the store. Emmett took that dare. It is said that he went into the store, bought some candy & is said to have said, whistled at her & said “bye, baby” to the woman. Little did Emmett know, his dare would become deadly.
Several days passed & the husband of the woman in the store, accompanied by his brother-in-law, made a trip to where Emmett was staying with his grandfather. The two men kidnapped the young boy and took him to a secluded area where they brutally beat him, gorged out one of his eyes and then shot him in the head. They then threw his body into the Tallahatchie River. When his body was recovered from the river, it no longer resembled the energetic, smiling boy from Chicago. His body was so badly mangled & beaten that his grandfather was only able to identify him by an initialed ring still on Emmett’s finger.
Emmett’s body was returned back to Chicago. His mother, Mamie Bradley, upon viewing her virtually unrecognizable child, her only son, requested that his funeral be an open casket funeral...so that the world could see what racism had done to her child. Jet Magazine printed a photo of Emmett in the open casket. Blacks in America were outraged at how this could happen to a child. They would also be in for another shock.
In less than two weeks after Emmett’s burial, his murders were brought to trial. Jurors deliberated just a little over an hour to come back with a “not guilty” verdict...they were acquitted of the murder. They later confessed to the horrific crime that shocked the nation and in essence, set the Civil Rights Movement into action.
The heartless, cowardly actions of two grown men against a 14 year old child are shameful. But this was the accepted “tone” and the way of the south....especially the Mississippi south.
One can’t help but wonder as you look at the photo of Emmett’s distorted & disfigured face, what was going through his mind as the bigoted men took him away from his grandfather’s home after throwing him into the backseat of the car. One wonders if the bullies at ANY point sympathized with Emmett’s youthful & playful expression via the dare at the corner store. Were their intentions to cold bloodedly snuff the youngster’s life out without a second thought or were their intentions to just “scare” him.
Books and articles have been written about Emmett Till. Bob Dylan even wrote a song about him. Civil Rights leaders took a stand for him. African-American’s should never forget him.
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