1 00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:03,320 Speaker 1: Hey there, history fans. We're taking the next two weeks 2 00:00:03,320 --> 00:00:06,360 Speaker 1: off so that I can move across country. But don't worry. 3 00:00:06,480 --> 00:00:09,280 Speaker 1: We've got plenty of classic shows to tide you over, 4 00:00:09,680 --> 00:00:12,200 Speaker 1: and be sure to tune in on September eleventh for 5 00:00:12,280 --> 00:00:14,720 Speaker 1: a brand new episode. 6 00:00:15,400 --> 00:00:18,400 Speaker 2: Welcome to This Day in History Class from HowStuffWorks dot 7 00:00:18,400 --> 00:00:20,360 Speaker 2: com and from the desk of Stuff You Missed in 8 00:00:20,440 --> 00:00:22,960 Speaker 2: History Class. It's the show where we explore the past, 9 00:00:23,079 --> 00:00:25,160 Speaker 2: one day at a time with a quick look at 10 00:00:25,160 --> 00:00:32,120 Speaker 2: what happened today in history. Welcome to the podcast. I'm 11 00:00:32,120 --> 00:00:35,320 Speaker 2: Tracy V. Wilson. In It's August twenty eighth. Emmett Till 12 00:00:35,600 --> 00:00:38,479 Speaker 2: was murdered on this day in nineteen fifty five. He 13 00:00:38,560 --> 00:00:42,280 Speaker 2: had just turned fourteen. Emmett was visiting his cousins outside 14 00:00:42,320 --> 00:00:44,960 Speaker 2: of Money, Mississippi. He had been living with his mother 15 00:00:45,080 --> 00:00:48,760 Speaker 2: in Chicago, Illinois, and on August twenty fourth, Emmett and 16 00:00:48,840 --> 00:00:51,360 Speaker 2: his cousins drove into Money because they wanted to buy 17 00:00:51,360 --> 00:00:55,360 Speaker 2: some gum and candy at Bryant's grocery store. Witnesses, including 18 00:00:55,360 --> 00:00:57,920 Speaker 2: Emmittt's cousins, say that while he was in the store, 19 00:00:57,960 --> 00:01:01,440 Speaker 2: he whistled at Carolyn Bryant, who was the proprietor's wife. 20 00:01:01,640 --> 00:01:04,120 Speaker 2: She was working at the store that day. His mother 21 00:01:04,319 --> 00:01:06,560 Speaker 2: thought that he might have whistled, because that was a 22 00:01:06,600 --> 00:01:09,000 Speaker 2: trick that he had learned to cope with his stutter. 23 00:01:09,520 --> 00:01:11,640 Speaker 2: He was having trouble getting his words out, he would 24 00:01:11,640 --> 00:01:15,000 Speaker 2: whistle and that would help. His cousins thought that maybe 25 00:01:15,080 --> 00:01:18,959 Speaker 2: Emmett was trying to impress them. Carolyn, though, told her 26 00:01:19,040 --> 00:01:21,520 Speaker 2: husband Roy that Emmett had been lewed with her, that 27 00:01:21,600 --> 00:01:25,240 Speaker 2: he had menaced her, he had grabbed her. So Roy 28 00:01:25,280 --> 00:01:27,920 Speaker 2: Bryant and his brother in lawd. W. Milem showed up 29 00:01:27,959 --> 00:01:30,440 Speaker 2: at the home of Emmett's uncle, Moe's Right, where he 30 00:01:30,520 --> 00:01:32,800 Speaker 2: was staying, at about two thirty in the morning on 31 00:01:32,800 --> 00:01:36,040 Speaker 2: August twenty eighth. Moe's Right and his wife, Lizzie both 32 00:01:36,080 --> 00:01:39,000 Speaker 2: tried to persuade these men not to take Emmett away 33 00:01:39,040 --> 00:01:41,440 Speaker 2: from them. They even offered to pay them, but the 34 00:01:41,520 --> 00:01:45,640 Speaker 2: men were armed and they would not be dissuaded. None 35 00:01:45,640 --> 00:01:49,240 Speaker 2: of his family ever saw Emmett alive again, and his 36 00:01:49,360 --> 00:01:51,600 Speaker 2: mother got the call that two white men had taken 37 00:01:51,640 --> 00:01:54,080 Speaker 2: Emmett away from his uncle's house at about nine thirty 38 00:01:54,080 --> 00:01:56,720 Speaker 2: in the morning on August twenty eighth. She and the 39 00:01:56,760 --> 00:01:59,680 Speaker 2: rest of the family were obviously distraught. They tried to 40 00:01:59,720 --> 00:02:03,000 Speaker 2: work with the authorities in both Illinois and Mississippi to 41 00:02:03,040 --> 00:02:05,960 Speaker 2: find her son, but a fisherman found his body in 42 00:02:06,000 --> 00:02:09,520 Speaker 2: the Tallahatchie River on August thirty first. He had been tortured, 43 00:02:09,880 --> 00:02:12,560 Speaker 2: he had probably been shot, and his body was weighed 44 00:02:12,600 --> 00:02:15,280 Speaker 2: down with a fan from a cotton gin. Authorities in 45 00:02:15,280 --> 00:02:18,520 Speaker 2: Mississippi tried to rush through a funeral for him, but 46 00:02:18,680 --> 00:02:21,440 Speaker 2: his mother refused to allow it. She demanded that he 47 00:02:21,560 --> 00:02:24,960 Speaker 2: be returned to Chicago, and then once he was there, 48 00:02:25,040 --> 00:02:28,040 Speaker 2: she made the brave decision to share photographs of his 49 00:02:28,160 --> 00:02:31,680 Speaker 2: body in two publications that had a predominantly black readership. 50 00:02:31,720 --> 00:02:35,400 Speaker 2: They were The Chicago Defender in Jet Magazine. In her words, 51 00:02:35,520 --> 00:02:38,480 Speaker 2: she wanted to quote, let the world see what I've seen. 52 00:02:38,919 --> 00:02:43,440 Speaker 2: Those pictures and the thousands of people who attended Emmett's 53 00:02:43,440 --> 00:02:47,960 Speaker 2: funeral on September third helped reinvigorate the civil rights movement. 54 00:02:48,360 --> 00:02:51,600 Speaker 2: Although Roy Bryant and J. W. Milam were indicted for 55 00:02:51,720 --> 00:02:54,720 Speaker 2: murder and everyone knew that they had done it, they 56 00:02:54,760 --> 00:02:57,800 Speaker 2: had basically bragged about it. A jury returned a not 57 00:02:57,880 --> 00:03:02,040 Speaker 2: guilty verdict on September twenty thirty, nineteen fifty five. They 58 00:03:02,120 --> 00:03:06,079 Speaker 2: later gave interviews where they admitted and even bragged about 59 00:03:06,120 --> 00:03:10,080 Speaker 2: having done this. In twenty seventeen, Carolyn Bryant now Carolyn 60 00:03:10,120 --> 00:03:14,120 Speaker 2: Bryant Dunham admitted that her allegations that Emmett had been 61 00:03:14,120 --> 00:03:17,480 Speaker 2: threatening and crude to her had been false. Today, Emmett 62 00:03:17,480 --> 00:03:20,240 Speaker 2: Till's casket is in the collection of the National Museum 63 00:03:20,280 --> 00:03:23,160 Speaker 2: of African American History and Culture. The photos of his 64 00:03:23,280 --> 00:03:26,600 Speaker 2: body have been named one of Time Magazine's hundred most 65 00:03:26,720 --> 00:03:30,240 Speaker 2: Influential Pictures of all time, and his mother spent a 66 00:03:30,240 --> 00:03:32,840 Speaker 2: lot of the rest of her life trying to make 67 00:03:32,880 --> 00:03:35,200 Speaker 2: sure that his death would have some kind of meaning. 68 00:03:35,600 --> 00:03:38,000 Speaker 2: When talking about that effort, she said, quote, if it 69 00:03:38,040 --> 00:03:40,839 Speaker 2: can further the cause of freedom, then I will say 70 00:03:40,880 --> 00:03:44,200 Speaker 2: that he died a hero. In March of twenty eighteen, 71 00:03:44,320 --> 00:03:47,440 Speaker 2: the United States Department of Justice stated in a report 72 00:03:47,480 --> 00:03:51,320 Speaker 2: to Congress that it was reopening the investigation into Emmett 73 00:03:51,320 --> 00:03:55,760 Speaker 2: Till's murder sixty three years after it happened, citing quote 74 00:03:55,800 --> 00:04:00,480 Speaker 2: the discovery of new information. This made headlines in July 75 00:04:00,840 --> 00:04:04,360 Speaker 2: of twenty eighteen. It's not clear as of when I'm 76 00:04:04,400 --> 00:04:08,880 Speaker 2: recording this exactly what that new information is, although there's 77 00:04:08,920 --> 00:04:11,480 Speaker 2: been a lot of speculation that it's the admission of 78 00:04:11,560 --> 00:04:15,120 Speaker 2: Carolyn Bryant Dunham that she lied about Emmett's behavior in 79 00:04:15,160 --> 00:04:17,800 Speaker 2: the grocery store that day. You could learn more about 80 00:04:17,839 --> 00:04:21,200 Speaker 2: Emmett Till and about his mother's lifelong work to make 81 00:04:21,279 --> 00:04:23,280 Speaker 2: meaning out of his death in the August twenty eighth, 82 00:04:23,320 --> 00:04:25,880 Speaker 2: twenty seventeen episode of Stuff You Missed in History Class 83 00:04:25,880 --> 00:04:29,560 Speaker 2: called The Motherhood of Maymie Till Mobley. Thanks to Tari 84 00:04:29,600 --> 00:04:32,359 Speaker 2: Harrison for her audio work on this podcast, and you 85 00:04:32,360 --> 00:04:35,599 Speaker 2: can subscribe to This Day in History Class on Apple Podcasts, 86 00:04:35,800 --> 00:04:40,560 Speaker 2: Google podcast and wherever else you get podcasts. Tomorrow we 87 00:04:40,600 --> 00:04:49,240 Speaker 2: will have a landmark moment in the movement for gay rights. 88 00:04:50,520 --> 00:04:54,960 Speaker 2: This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. 89 00:04:56,040 --> 00:04:59,240 Speaker 3: Welcome to This Day in History Class, where History waits 90 00:04:59,360 --> 00:05:12,400 Speaker 3: for no One. The day was August twenty eighth, eighteen 91 00:05:12,520 --> 00:05:18,839 Speaker 3: fifty nine. Astronomers began noticing sun spot clusters and auroras 92 00:05:18,880 --> 00:05:24,080 Speaker 3: began appearing in the sky electric currents charged through telegraph 93 00:05:24,160 --> 00:05:28,799 Speaker 3: systems around the world. Sun spots are darker, cooler, spots 94 00:05:28,839 --> 00:05:31,839 Speaker 3: that appear on the Sun's surface that are caused by 95 00:05:31,839 --> 00:05:37,240 Speaker 3: interactions with the Sun's magnetic field. Solar flares and coronal 96 00:05:37,360 --> 00:05:41,960 Speaker 3: mass ejections usually originate from the magnetically active areas around 97 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:46,360 Speaker 3: sun spots. A coronal mass ejection happens when a cloud 98 00:05:46,400 --> 00:05:50,720 Speaker 3: of energetic and highly magnetized plaza is ejected from the Sun, 99 00:05:51,320 --> 00:05:56,640 Speaker 3: which can cause radio and magnetic disturbances on Earth. Coronal 100 00:05:56,680 --> 00:06:00,920 Speaker 3: mass ejections that struck Earth's magnetosphere to one of the 101 00:06:01,040 --> 00:06:06,520 Speaker 3: largest geomagnetic storms on record. On September first, amateur astronomer 102 00:06:06,600 --> 00:06:10,159 Speaker 3: Richard Carrington went into his private observatory on his estate 103 00:06:10,240 --> 00:06:13,839 Speaker 3: outside of London. He turned his telescope toward the Sun 104 00:06:14,240 --> 00:06:17,240 Speaker 3: and noticed a group of sun spots, and he drew 105 00:06:17,240 --> 00:06:21,360 Speaker 3: a picture of the sunspots. At eleven eighteen in the morning, 106 00:06:21,720 --> 00:06:24,640 Speaker 3: he saw a white light flash at two places in 107 00:06:24,680 --> 00:06:28,000 Speaker 3: the sunspot group. He later wrote this in a paper 108 00:06:28,160 --> 00:06:31,960 Speaker 3: published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 109 00:06:32,680 --> 00:06:35,880 Speaker 3: My first impression was that by some chance, a ray 110 00:06:35,920 --> 00:06:39,159 Speaker 3: of light had penetrated a hole in the screen attached 111 00:06:39,200 --> 00:06:42,200 Speaker 3: to the object glass by which the general image is 112 00:06:42,240 --> 00:06:45,880 Speaker 3: thrown into shade for the brilliant sea was fully equal 113 00:06:45,920 --> 00:06:50,640 Speaker 3: to that of direct sunlight. That same day, amateur astronomer 114 00:06:50,760 --> 00:06:54,480 Speaker 3: Richard Hodgson also observed a large sunspot group in white 115 00:06:54,520 --> 00:06:59,159 Speaker 3: light flare. The sun activity faded away after a few minutes, 116 00:06:59,600 --> 00:07:03,960 Speaker 3: but about seventeen hours after Carrington observed the flash, auroras 117 00:07:04,040 --> 00:07:07,080 Speaker 3: lit up the sky around the world as far south 118 00:07:07,160 --> 00:07:11,120 Speaker 3: as Panama. People woke up late at night thinking the 119 00:07:11,160 --> 00:07:15,000 Speaker 3: sun had risen. The sky looked blood red. In some places, 120 00:07:16,160 --> 00:07:20,160 Speaker 3: telegraph systems failed, and there were reports that sparks from 121 00:07:20,200 --> 00:07:25,880 Speaker 3: telegraph machines shocked operators and set papers on fire. Telegraph 122 00:07:25,880 --> 00:07:31,040 Speaker 3: polls and receiving stations also reportedly caught on fire. Some 123 00:07:31,280 --> 00:07:34,920 Speaker 3: operators found that they could transmit messages without battery power, 124 00:07:35,320 --> 00:07:40,239 Speaker 3: only using a rural current. The auroral displays that appeared 125 00:07:40,280 --> 00:07:44,080 Speaker 3: on September second and third happened only several months from 126 00:07:44,120 --> 00:07:47,640 Speaker 3: the peak of the sunspot cycle. The number of sunspots 127 00:07:47,680 --> 00:07:51,560 Speaker 3: and other signs of solar magnetic activity fluctuated over an 128 00:07:51,640 --> 00:07:56,280 Speaker 3: eleven year cycle. At the time, scientists did not understand 129 00:07:56,280 --> 00:07:59,800 Speaker 3: how auroras work. Some guessed that the auroras were caused 130 00:07:59,800 --> 00:08:04,600 Speaker 3: by falling debris from active volcanoes or by reflections from icebergs, 131 00:08:05,440 --> 00:08:07,920 Speaker 3: but many thought that the displays were a sign of 132 00:08:07,960 --> 00:08:11,120 Speaker 3: a disaster that was about to happen, or a message 133 00:08:11,160 --> 00:08:15,440 Speaker 3: from God, even though Carrington advised against linking the flare 134 00:08:15,520 --> 00:08:17,800 Speaker 3: he had seen to the events that followed. 135 00:08:18,920 --> 00:08:20,640 Speaker 2: But since then it has been. 136 00:08:20,480 --> 00:08:23,800 Speaker 3: Determined that auroral displays are the result of solar winds 137 00:08:24,040 --> 00:08:28,760 Speaker 3: that caused disturbances in the magnetosphere. The geomagnetic storm that 138 00:08:28,840 --> 00:08:32,080 Speaker 3: occurred in eighteen fifty nine, also known as the Carrington 139 00:08:32,160 --> 00:08:36,520 Speaker 3: event today, was one of the biggest solar storms ever recorded. 140 00:08:37,080 --> 00:08:40,240 Speaker 3: The Sun had sent off two coronal mass ejections that 141 00:08:40,320 --> 00:08:44,440 Speaker 3: reached Earth. Based on ice core samples, it was the 142 00:08:44,480 --> 00:08:49,040 Speaker 3: biggest solar storm in the last five hundred years. It 143 00:08:49,080 --> 00:08:52,600 Speaker 3: has been estimated that the solar storm costs the global 144 00:08:52,640 --> 00:08:57,120 Speaker 3: telegraph system around three hundred thousand dollars, plus other costs 145 00:08:57,160 --> 00:09:03,280 Speaker 3: related to businesses, stock markets, and individual families. Usually, these 146 00:09:03,440 --> 00:09:07,160 Speaker 3: solar storms do not hit Earth, but if a geomagnetic 147 00:09:07,200 --> 00:09:11,360 Speaker 3: storm like the eighteen fifty nine one happened today, damages 148 00:09:11,400 --> 00:09:14,760 Speaker 3: would be more extensive and costs would be a lot higher. 149 00:09:15,800 --> 00:09:19,920 Speaker 3: Similar but less severe geomagnetic storms have hit Earth since 150 00:09:19,960 --> 00:09:24,320 Speaker 3: the eighteen fifty nine event. I'm Eves Jefcode and hopefully 151 00:09:24,360 --> 00:09:26,960 Speaker 3: you know a little more about history today than you 152 00:09:27,000 --> 00:09:32,360 Speaker 3: did yesterday. Get more Notes from History on Twitter, Instagram, 153 00:09:32,400 --> 00:09:38,640 Speaker 3: and Facebook at TDIHC podcast. We'll be back with more 154 00:09:38,679 --> 00:09:39,559 Speaker 3: history tomorrow. 155 00:09:44,360 --> 00:09:48,120 Speaker 2: For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 156 00:09:48,160 --> 00:09:49,920 Speaker 2: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.