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Tammy Bradshaw Emmett Till the Cruel Summer of 1955 His1527712 DEC07

History of civil rights

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African American History Since 1865 (HIST 115)

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Bowie State University

Academic year: 2020/2021

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Emmet Till the Cruel Sumer of
- World History 152-
  - December 07,

Emmit Till’s murder played a crucial role in the Civil Rights Movement. As a result of this Emmet brought nationwide attention to racial violence and the injustice in America which sparked future moments against white supremacy. Emmett Till was born July 25, 1941, in Chicago Illinois. His parents were Louis and Mamie Till. Emmett's father died when he was three years old while serving in the United State military and his mother Mamie raised Emmet by herself. Emmet had polio and a speech impediment that caused him to stutter however his mother taught him how to whistle to stop him from stuttering. Growing up just like any little boy Emmett enjoyed hanging with friends helping family and neighbors with various things he especially had a very close bond with his mother. Emmett would make sure that his mother would be relaxed when she came home by doing mostly the chores and ensured her that he would one day take care of her. Emmett had a comfortable life in Chicago although there was racism there it was less severe but still segregated neighborhoods and schools, he attended McCosh Elementary School, which was an all-black school. Chicago was different Emmett did have some white friends he was just a normal kid who was loved by everybody within his community. That summer Emmett and his cousin begged to be allowed to spend the summer in Money, Mississippi Emmett wanted to be with children their age. However, his mother wanted him to spend his summer vacation in Omaha Mamie had a soft spot for Emmet and allowed him to go down to Mississippi. Mamie reminded Emmett that the Mississippi was a rural area deeply rooted in racism after all she was born and raised there. Emmett was so happy and excited his mother had to remind to respect his relatives and to say goodbye to her. Mamie had no idea that would be the last time that she would see Emmett. Emmett and his cousin finally arrived at his great uncle’s Mose Wright and great aunt Elizabeth Wright. Emmett and his cousin spent the day

completely unrecognizable. He was shot and wrapped in a barbed wire attached to a 75-pound fan. The Charleston Sheriff H Strider said that it was not Emmett’s body. Mamie stated it was her son's body The only way they knew it was Emmett was because he had on a monogrammed ring that belonged to his father. Mamie was deeply hurt and shocked to see her baby boy Emmett's body disfigured. The funeral owner asked Mamie if she wanted a closed caskets Mamie said no let the world see what I see. Over 100,000 people attended Emmett’s funeral in Chicago. Emmett’s mutilated corpse laid there for them to see it was even published in the Jet magazine. Indeed, the country was outraged how could Mississippi decided that it was okay to murder children who were known for their white supremacy. The trail set for Bryan and Milam was on September 19, 1955, it consisted of 12 all-white unbiased jurors with very few witnesses Most blacks was barred from serving on juries in Mississippi. The courtroom was packed with seventy reporters’ newspersons, photographers, radio, television, even outsider from London. There were very few witnesses although Mose Wright gave an identification of Bryant and Milam a series of prosecution witnesses left no reasonable doubt that Bryant and Milam abducted Emmett. Three supportive witnesses stated that the defendants were at Leslie Milam’s barn that morning. However, another witness Willie Reed heard Bryant and Milam beating Emmet from the barn. The jurors were instructed to wait a while before giving their verdict, they even insisted to make it look good and had a cold coke-cola. Within an hour of deliberation, jurors came back with a not guilty verdict Bryant and Milam was acquitted. Bryant and Milam thought that because of a not guilty verdict it would be the end to their troubles. Blacks in the area started to boycott Bryant’s store and refused to work on Milam’s farm. In addition to that Bryant, store closed, and Milam started bootlegging. Even sheriff Strider was under attack five black families left the delta plantation. The incident spurred the people of the United States to

work towards civil rights. Emmett’s murder awakened America to the true extent of racism. The injustice of black people would go on to leading roles in the Civil Rights Movement many people felt that Emmett’s death was the last straw. The violence of black men and women for breaking the rules of white supremacy in the deep south particularly black men who found themselves constantly threaten caused for a change. White supremacists used public policy and electoral power to reinforce Jim Crow. Rosa Parks initiated the Montgomery Bus Boycott just months after Emmet’s trial. She refused to give up her seat to a white passenger and was arrested for violating Alabama’s bus segregation laws. Because of Rosa Parks' arrest Joann Robinson of the Women’s’ Democratic Council called for a city-wide bus boycott, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. joined as well. Dr. King fought for social and racial injustice invoking Emmett’s murder. The SCLC which was led by Dr. King and the CORE and the SNCC arranged nonviolent demonstrations to call attention to specific inequalities. Other important protests and demonstrations included the Greensboro sit-in and the Freedom Rides. Civil rights came to national prominence in the mid-1950s. The nonviolent protest broke the pattern of public facilities being segregated in the south achieved the most important breakthrough in equal rights The American civil rights movement broke the entrenched system of racial segregation in the south and achieved crucial equal rights legislation. Mamie turned to the federal government and the president at that time Eisenhower but he refused and the FBI director J. Edgar Hoover wrote a memo stating that Emmet Till has been subjected to deprivation of any rights or privilege which secured and protect by the constitution and laws of the United States. After thousands of letters protesting the Mississippi verdict poured into the white house. Mamie gave speeches to overflowing crowds across the country. Mamie became an outspoken champion for children in poor neighborhoods and spent more than half of her life keeping Emmett’s memory alive with

Bibliography Alexice, Mya. 2018. “Let the People See; The Story of Emmett Till.” ForeWord, July 12. search.ebscohost/login.aspx? direct=true&db=edsglr&AN=edsgcl&site=eds-live. Catsam, D. C. 2016. “Emmett Till: The Murder That Shocked the World and Propelled the Civil Rights Movement.” Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries 53 (7): 1067. search.ebscohost/login.aspx? direct=true&db=edo&AN=113560675&site=eds-live. Duchess Harris, JD, PhD. Black Lives Matter. Protest Movements. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Core Library, 2018. search.ebscohost/login.aspx? direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=1613071&site=ehost-live. Houck, Davis W., and Matthew A. Grindy. Emmett Till and the Mississippi Press. University Press of Mississippi, 2008. search.ebscohost/login.aspx? direct=true&db=cat04331a&AN=bccc&site=eds-live.  Tyson, Timothy B. The Blood of Emmett Till. First Simon & Schuster trade paperback edition. Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, 2017. search.ebscohost/login.aspx? direct=true&db=cat04331a&AN=bccc&site=eds-live. Whitfield, Stephen J. A Death in the Delta : The Story of Emmett Till. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991. search.ebscohost/login.aspx? direct=true&db=cat04331a&AN=bccc&site=eds-live. pbs/wgbh/americanexperience/films/till/#transcript

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