WEBVTT - How Did Emmett Till's Murder Shake the U.S.?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeart Radio. Hey brain

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<v Speaker 1>Stuff Lauren vogebam here. Today's episode gives brief but graphic

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<v Speaker 1>details about the murder of Emmett Till. Listener discretion is advised.

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<v Speaker 1>Emmett Till was just fourteen years old in the summer

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<v Speaker 1>of nineteen when he traveled to visit family in the

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<v Speaker 1>small community of Money in the Mississippi Delta. Untill was

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<v Speaker 1>born and raised in a suburb of Chicago. He had

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<v Speaker 1>never been to the Deep South. The tragic story of

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<v Speaker 1>young Till's murder at the hands of white men because

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<v Speaker 1>he was black became too many a catalyst for the

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<v Speaker 1>American civil rights movement. But his story did not end

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<v Speaker 1>in Mississippi. It never really ended. We spoke with Florida

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<v Speaker 1>State University professor Davis Howe, who helped create the Emmett

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<v Speaker 1>Till Memory Project, and it's been instrumental in building f

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<v Speaker 1>s U S Emmett Till Archive. He said, I'd like

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<v Speaker 1>to think that if we had the trial again, that

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<v Speaker 1>number one, we'd have some black jurors and some women,

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<v Speaker 1>that in fact, justice would be done. That's the optimist

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<v Speaker 1>in me, But I don't want to be too optimistic,

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<v Speaker 1>because we're at a time in our country right now

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<v Speaker 1>where anything goes in terms of violence visited upon young

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<v Speaker 1>black boys for whistling at a white woman. Yeah, I

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<v Speaker 1>think we're pretty far down the road from that, But

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<v Speaker 1>I don't want to say we've arrived at some ideal place.

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<v Speaker 1>We haven't. The murder of Emmett Till could have been

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<v Speaker 1>lost to time, just another of the thousands of lynchings

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<v Speaker 1>that were perpetuated all over the United States after the

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<v Speaker 1>Civil War. The Equal Justice Initiative has documented more than

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<v Speaker 1>four thousand, four hundred lynchings in twenty states between eighteen

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<v Speaker 1>seventy seven and nineteen fifty. Until's murder stands out separately

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<v Speaker 1>from those, though not because of its sheer violence. Lynchings were,

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<v Speaker 1>by definition brutal, but because the particular in humanity brought

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<v Speaker 1>upon him was not automatically relegated to the inside pages

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<v Speaker 1>of newspapers as many others have been. Even in Mississippi,

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<v Speaker 1>shortly after his death, news accounts almost immediately condemned the

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<v Speaker 1>teen's murder. The for her at the state at the time,

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<v Speaker 1>Governor Hugh White even spoke out against it. Still, it

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<v Speaker 1>was not until Till's mother, Mamie Till Mobley then Mamie

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<v Speaker 1>Till Bradley, demanded that her son be returned to Chicago

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<v Speaker 1>for burial. That the entire world took notice because she

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<v Speaker 1>held an open casket funeral to show what had happened

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<v Speaker 1>to him. He was beaten, shot, had a seventy five

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<v Speaker 1>pound fan tied to his neck with barbed wire, and

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<v Speaker 1>was then tossed into the Tallahatchee River, where he was

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<v Speaker 1>found several days later. Bradley told documentary in Keith Bucamp

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<v Speaker 1>years later, in retelling the story of the day she

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<v Speaker 1>saw her son's body returned from Mississippi. Oh, yes, we're

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<v Speaker 1>going to open the casket. Let the people see what

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<v Speaker 1>I see. I want the world to see this. More

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<v Speaker 1>than a hundred thousand people attended Till's funeral. Jet magazine

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<v Speaker 1>published graphic photos, including one depicting Bradley standing above the

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<v Speaker 1>coffin containing her battered son's body, and the outrage grew

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<v Speaker 1>louder when the two men accused of the murder, Roy

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<v Speaker 1>Bryant and J. W. Millham, work fitted by an all

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<v Speaker 1>white jury weeks later. Anyone looking for further reason to

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<v Speaker 1>put an end to lynching and demand racial justice had

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<v Speaker 1>a rallying point. What prompted tills kidnapping and murder is

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<v Speaker 1>still debated, and in reality, is beside the point. The

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<v Speaker 1>jurors were told by Bryant's wife, Caroline, the Till had

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<v Speaker 1>whistled at her, come into the Bryant family store, grabbed

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<v Speaker 1>her by the wrist, put his hands on her waist,

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<v Speaker 1>and bragged about being with white women. But it wasn't true.

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<v Speaker 1>She recanted that story years later. What she told author

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<v Speaker 1>Timothy Tyson for his seen book The Blood of Emmett

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<v Speaker 1>Till strikes at the very truth of that night. She said,

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<v Speaker 1>nothing that boy did could ever justify what happened to him. Still,

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<v Speaker 1>the original retelling of the encounter between fourteen year old

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<v Speaker 1>Till and twenty one year old Caroline Bryant has had

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<v Speaker 1>remarkable staying power, despite the fact that it's been disavowed

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<v Speaker 1>by its creator. Nineteen fifty six Look magazine article by

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<v Speaker 1>William Bradford Huey, containing a confession from the murderers that

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<v Speaker 1>Look paid them to give, was purported to tell the

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<v Speaker 1>true account of the murder. Halke said that so called

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<v Speaker 1>confession continues in some to function as a history of

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<v Speaker 1>what happened to Emmett Till that night. What the article

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<v Speaker 1>has done. What I see is it divides Mississippi along

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<v Speaker 1>black and white lines. Oh, Emmett Till was kind of

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<v Speaker 1>this borderline rapist man child who had a coming to him.

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<v Speaker 1>You will hear that in Polite Company in Mississippi to

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<v Speaker 1>the present day. Till's story had an immediate and profound

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<v Speaker 1>effect on Americans at the time, both black and white,

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<v Speaker 1>largely because of his mother's bold decision to display his

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<v Speaker 1>body and Jet's decision among others, including the Chicago Defender,

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<v Speaker 1>to publish the pictures. A former politician and activist, Julian Bond,

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<v Speaker 1>who died, wrote a forward to Devere S Anderson's indispensable

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<v Speaker 1>look at the events Emmitt Till, the murder that shocked

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<v Speaker 1>the world and propelled at the civil rights movement. In it,

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<v Speaker 1>he wrote, the Till story was a touchstone narrative of

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<v Speaker 1>my generation. Among many Southern hor stories, this was among

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<v Speaker 1>the most morbid. The Till death picture was proof of

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<v Speaker 1>white Southerners malevolence. Their refusal to acknowledge the killer's guilt

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<v Speaker 1>was proof of their acceptance of evil. Until's story was

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<v Speaker 1>recounted through the nineteen sixties as a Civil Rights Act

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<v Speaker 1>became law. It's still widely cited by activists from Bond

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<v Speaker 1>to Rosa Parks and beyond, and the story of what

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<v Speaker 1>happened in Mississippi in August of nineteen may not be

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<v Speaker 1>finished either. Till's body was exhumed and positively identified as

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<v Speaker 1>part of a two thousand four Department of Justice reopening

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<v Speaker 1>of the case, which resulted in no new charges. A

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<v Speaker 1>Mississippi grand jury in two thousand seven found no evidence,

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<v Speaker 1>suggested by documentary and Beaucamp that as many as fourteen

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<v Speaker 1>people may have taken part in his kidnapping and murder.

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<v Speaker 1>In eighteen, the Department of Justice again opened up an investigation.

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<v Speaker 1>It's evidently still pending. Many articles, books, and documentaries have

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<v Speaker 1>been produced on the story. There's now an Emmett Till

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<v Speaker 1>Interpretive Center in Sumner, Mississippi. A few other museums are

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<v Speaker 1>in the works. The state of Mississippi has several road

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<v Speaker 1>signs that detail places in the Emmett Till story, though

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<v Speaker 1>many of the signs continue to be shot and otherwise vandalized.

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<v Speaker 1>The National Memorial for Peace and Justice, dedicated to Black

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<v Speaker 1>people Terrorized by Lynching opened in twenty eighteen, not far

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<v Speaker 1>from the Legacy Museum From in Slaveland to mass Incarceration.

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<v Speaker 1>Both are projects of the Equal Justice Initiative, and finally,

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<v Speaker 1>on February twenty six, twenty the United States House of

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<v Speaker 1>Representatives overwhelmingly passed the Emmett Till Anti Lynching Act four

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<v Speaker 1>hundred and ten to four to make lynching a federal

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<v Speaker 1>hate crime. This comes after lawmakers have tried and failed

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<v Speaker 1>more than two hundred times. The bill still needs to

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<v Speaker 1>be passed in the U s. Senate and signed by

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<v Speaker 1>the President to become law. Today's episode was written by

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<v Speaker 1>John Donovan and produced by Tyler Clang. For more on

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<v Speaker 1>this and lots of other topics, visit housetoffworks dot com.

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