Emmett Till

The Untold Story of Emmett Till

Chere’ Newton

Norfolk State University

SOCI 101-01

The Untold Story of Emmett Till

BACKGROUND

One day Emmett Till left from Chicago, IL to go to Money, MI to visit his uncle, Moses Wright and his cousins (movie). He was given his father’s ring by his mother the day of his departure with the initials L.T. carved in it. August 19, 1955 was the last day him and his mother ever saw each other. On August 24, 1955 Emmett, friends and cousins went to Bryant’s Grocery and Meat Market after they helped in the field to pick cotton (Klopfer, 2005). No one will ever know what went on in the store but outside the store Emmett whistled at a white woman, Carolyn Bryant, who was the wife of the owner (movie). There was talk about the town about what happened and days later at two thirty that morning, the husband of Carolyn, Roy Bryant and his brother J.W. Milam went into Moses Wright house with a pistol in one hand and a flashlight in another looking for Emmett (Klopfer, 2005). They ordered the boy to get up and go with them. From that point on he was taken to Sheridan’s Plantation where he had been kidnapped, beaten, shot in the head and his body was pushed into the water. Days after he was kidnapped, his uncle reported him missing because he did not come back and at that point he knew he was dead.

Funeral

He called Emmitt’s mother, she quickly reported from Chicago. They had finally found the body in the Tallahatchie River; no one could even recognize him until they saw the ring of his late father. Till was returned to Chicago and his mother insisted on a public funeral service with an open casket to show the world the brutality of the killing. The funeral box was unable to be opened but when it was opened there was a smell that wreaked the streets of Chicago. He had a clear shot in his head by his ear, the front of his head was detached from the back, one of his eyes was popped out of the socket, his tongue was missing and his ear...