Trial Of Emmett Till Thesis

- “In an act of extraordinary bravery, Moses Wright took the stand and identified Bryant and Milam as Till's kidnappers and killers. At the time, it was almost unheard of for blacks to openly accuse whites in court, and by doing so Wright put his own life in grave danger.”

The following day, the Wrights reported the kidnapping of Emmett Till to the local sheriff, but the case was deemed of low priority. Back in Chicago, Mamie Till received the heart-shattering news of her son’s disappearance. She alerted the Chicago police of the abduction who in turn called the Mississippi sheriffs. On Sunday, Bryant and Milam were arrested and charged with the abduction of the Chicago youth, and then three days later, the body of

Roy Bryant and John Milam kidnapped and murdered Emmett Till in cold blood because he flirted with Bryant’s spouse 4 days earlier. The case being that Emmett Till was “brutally murdered for flirting with a white woman four days earlier” (“Aug 28, 1955: The Death of Emmett Till”) isn’t something you would hear much nowadays, but in 1955, it was unfortunately common. Curtis Jones watched Till flirt with Carolyn Bryant, the spouse of Rob Bryant. What started as a prank went terribly wrong. Not to mention that racism went into play, as Till, being a black kid trying to flirt with a white woman in the South, would never go freely.

Although many believe that racism and segregation have declined over the years, The Washington Post notes, in a 2016 analysis, that black Americans are 2.5 times as likely as white Americans to be shot and killed by police officers (Lowery). In the 1930s and 1950s, Tom Robinson, Emmett Till, and the nine Scottsboro boys were sentenced to death after facing an all-white jury for a crime they did not commit. In 1931, nine, young, unemployed, black men were falsely accused of raping two white women, Ruby Bates and Victoria Price. Their sentence to death after facing an all-white jury sparked rallies and parades, which successfully changed the unfair verdict of their trial. Similarly, a fourteen-year-old boy named Emmett Till was unjustly murdered after allegedly whistling at a white store owner, Carolyn Bryant. A few days later, he was found in a nearby river, and his mother arranged for a public funeral to expose the racial prejudice her son faced in Mississippi. The perpetrators were acquitted of all charges when tried in front of an all white jury. In the Scottsboro incident, the Murder of Emmett Till, and To Kill a Mockingbird, innocent men were victims of the society’s racial prejudice and convicted of crimes they did not commit.

There are several views of the murder of Emmett Till regarding the topic of whether or not he received justice. Emmett Till, a fourteen-year-old boy, was murdered purely based on racism, because he was killed for “wolf-whistling” at a white woman in August 1955. He was brutally murdered after being nearly beaten to death and having his eyes gouged out. When Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam, two people involved in Till’s manslaughter, were placed on trial for his murder, they were pronounced innocent and did not receive any punishment. After being tortured and savagely killed, no one was held responsible for Emmett Till’s death. Emmett Till did not receive justice after his death.

On September 19, 1955 Emmett’s murder had became an outrage. Because blacks and women were not allowed to serve jury duty, Bryant and Milam were judged in front of an all white male jury. At the end of the case the two white men were found innocent. This really made a lot of chaos. To add to the madness, a couple months later they admitted the crime to Look magazine for four thousand dollars.

In 1906, Ed Johnson was convicted after witnesses claimed he sexually assaulted white female by using a leather strap. Although Johnson provided numerous alibis about his part in the sexual assault, he was still convicted for the crime and sentenced to death by a jury of only white people. While in jail, Johnson was brutally murdered by a mob that broke in. Twenty-five years later, the Scottsboro Boys were convicted for gang rape of two white women while traveling on a train. Of the nine Scottsboro boys accused in this case, eight of them were sentenced to death. This conviction raised public awareness and was one factor that saw the birth of the Civil Rights Movement. Just a few years later, three African American men, Ed Brown, Arthur Ellington and Henry Shields were all beaten and tortured into confessing for the killing of a white farmer in Mississippi. This incident became the well known Supreme Court decision titled Brown v. Mississippi (Grimsley). These were just average African American men living average lives when suddenly they are accused of crimes they did not commit. Earl Smith and Angela J. Hattery says in their journal that “many of them were at least twenty six years old when incarcerated whereas, some were sent to prison while they were still in their late teens and early 20s.” Before they were incarcerated, many of them were still getting their education and building careers and relationships. While these men were accused of their crimes based on their race, there are other factors that play a role in a wrongful conviction.

By the time the trial commenced, on September 19, 1955, Emmett Till's murder had become a source of outrage and indignation throughout the country. Because blacks and women were barred from serving jury duty. Bryant and Milam were tried before and all white, all male jury. In an act of extraordinary bravery, Moses Wright took the stand and identified Bryant and Milam as Till's kidnappers and killers. At the time, it was almost unheard of for blacks to openly accuse white men and women in court, and by doing so, Wright put his own life in grave danger. Despite the overwhelming evidence of the defendant's’ guilt and widespread pleas for justice from outside Mississippi, on September 23, the panel of white male jurors acquitted Bryant and Milam of all charges. Their deliberations lasted a mere 67 minutes. Only a few months later, in January 1956, Bryant and Milam admitted to kidnapping and murdering Emmett Till. Protected by double jeopardy laws, they told the whole story about what happened and what they did to Emmett Louis Till. For admitting and telling the whole story for the magazine they both got paid 4,000

⏩ The case was took to trial but the men were never convicted on any charged.(The Brutal Lynching of Emmett Till)

Emmett Louis Till was an 14 year old African-American boy who was lynched in Money, Mississippi after reportedly flirting or whistling with a Carolyn Bryant ( white woman). Days After the incident Carolyn husband and his brother J. W. Milam went to Emmett's uncle's house and abducted him. They took him away and beat and mutilated him before shooting him and sinking his body in the Tallahatchie River. Three days later, Emmett’s body was discovered and retrieved from the river. Emmett’s mother Mamie Carthan decided to have an open casket and public funeral to bring awareness and attention not only on American racism and the barbarism of lynching but also on the limitations and vulnerabilities of American democracy. In September 1955, Bryant

The effect of Emmett's death on people was made personal for coloured people all over America. Tens of thousands of people showed up to view his body and many more to his funeral. After an African-American magazine released a photo of Emmett’s corpse, the mainstream media picked up on his story. It brought attention to the rights of the blacks in the Southern parts of the U.S. Less than two weeks after Emmett was laid to rest, Milam and Bryant went on trial in Sumner, Mississippi for his murder. There were many witnesses who positively identified the defendants as Emmett’s killers. On September 23, the jury of all white deliberated for less than an hour before giving a verdict of “not guilty,” saying that they believed the state had failed

Till arrived in Mississippi on August 20 and was taken to his great uncle’s house by one of his cousins.” A few days after arriving in Mississippi, Emmett and his cousins drove into town to Bryant’s Store to get a snack.When they exited the store Till whistled at the young woman that worked behind the counter. They fled in fear knowing he violated a unspoken rule.”(Wright, 51 and “Emmett Till”,2) A few days later they went into Greenwood forgetting about the incident and arrived home after midnight.( Wright,57) Later that night Roy Bryant and his half brother J.W. Milam took Emmett from his uncle’s home at

On August 28, 1955, Bryant and his half brother took Emmett and murdered him(3). Four days after he arrived, Emmett was kidnapped by Bryant and J.W. Millam. They traveled to the river, beat him, gouged out his eye, shot him in the head, tied a cotton-gin fan to his neck, and dumped his body in the river. Emmett Till, a black teenager who was murdered, caused an early impetus to the American civil

These trials make me upset, but at the same time they make me angry. Emmett Till was only fourteen years old, and I can’t believe that Milam and Bryant tortured a child. The thing that makes me more upset that Bryant didn’t even ask his wife if she had any evidence, that proved Emmett Till flirted with her. He could’ve asked her, but I guess he knew he wasn’t going to get punished. Since Bryant and Milam were white, they couldn’t go to the jail because they were accused by blacks. People used technology to make memes comparing Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown to Emmett Till because they were going against the whites. These three were African Americans and their murderers not found guilty. After these types of incidents, it clearly explains

In 1955 Emmett planned to visit family in Money, Mississippi (“The death of”, n.d.). The trip was scheduled for August 20th and Emmett was going to stay with his great uncle Moses Wright (“The death of”, n.d.). As J. Williams writes in a book about Emmett’s life, the day before Emmett left for his trip Mamie Till, Emmett’s mother, gave him the ring from his father, inscribed with his father’s initials, L.T. (1987). After a day long train ride Emmett arrived in Mississippi and joined his great uncle and friends to begin his visit to the south. A few days after his arrival, Emmett went with friends to a local grocery store where they spent time relaxing after picking cotton during the day. To the disbelief of his friends, Emmett bragged that his girlfriend at home was a white girl. Emmett was a comical young man and a rambunctious teenager, who when dared