Courtney Butter
Mrs. Eidman
English III
19 April 2018
Emmett Till
The Civil Rights Movement took place during the 1950s and 1960s. The Civil War abolished slavery but discrimination was still a very serious issue. The main goal of the Civil Rights movement was to gain equality and have equal opportunity for all races. Emmett Till’s murder case sparked the Civil rights movement and made people realize how severe racial discrimination was.
In 1941, Emmett Louis Till was born in Chicago, Illinois. His parents were Mamie and Louis Till. When Till was a toddler, he overcame polio but was left with a stuttering issue. Till also want to segregated schools but during the great migration, Till and his family moved up north because there were more opportunities and a larger selection of jobs for African Americans (Squires). During this time there were Jim Crow laws that discriminated against African Americans in the South.
In August 1955, Mamie Till sent her son, Emmett Till, to Mississippi when he was 14 years old so he could visit some of his family. In Money, Mississippi, Till, his cousin, and a couple of their friends wants to a small store attended by Carolyn Bryant who was a white women. There are many different theories as to what Till did and said while leaving the store, but according to Till’s cousin, he whistled at Carol Bryant. “Whatever the case, Bryant believed Till had broken a cardinal rule of white supremacy: A black man was never allowed to show attraction to a white woman.” (Squires) During this time period African Americans had to be extra cautious around whites to not offend them.
After Carolyn had told her husband, Roy, what happened he and his friend, Mr. Milam, went to Till’s relative’s house and kidnapped Till (Squires). Bryant and Mr. Milam brutally beat Till and and shot him (“Emmett Till”). They then tied a 100 pound cotton gin fan around Till’s neck using barbed wire and threw him into the Tallahatchie River (“Till, Emmett Louis”). “A few days after Till was kidnapped, Till’s grotesquely disfigured body, with one eye dangling down his cheek, a smashed nose, a bullet hole through his ax-sliced head and a “choked-out” tongue, washed ashore in the Tallahatchie River” (Segall). Till’s mutilated body was shipped back home on September 2nd.
Mamie Till decided to have an open casket for the funeral so people could see the damage Bryant and Mr. Milam did to her son (“Emmett Till”). Some reports say that over 50,000 people attended Till’s funeral to view the body (“Emmett Till, a Young”). “The appalling images of Till’s body in the casket appeared in the pages of Jet magazine and the Chicago Defender newspaper, and his murder became a rallying point for the Civil Rights Movement.” (“Emmett Till”). Images of Till’s body at the viewing caused a major uproar in society especially for African Americans.
The trial for Till’s murder case began on September 19th in 1955. After roughly over an hour of deliberation, the jury, that was made up of all white men, agreed that Bryant and Mr. Milam were not guilty and would be free of all their charges (“Emmett Till”). The jury said they would have came to their decision much quicker if they had not went on a soda break. After the murders were found not guilty they sold their story to Look magazine explaining in detail exactly what happened but they were never brought to justice (Squires). However both men were shunned by many people after the trial and Bryant’s store ran out of business because African Americans stopped going there.
Till’s murder case inspired writers such as William Bradford Hue. His writings led to people opening their eyes and realizing the brutal treatment of the African Americans, especially in the South (“Emmett, Till, a Young’). Many artists created works after the turnout of the murder case. Such artists include; Bob Dylan, Gwendolyn Brooks, Toni Morrison, and James Baldwin. Television introduced the murder case decades later to a whole new generation (Squires). “Till’s lynching made people realize that even after the Brown V. Topeka Board of Education declared segregation in public schools unconstitutional, much more needed to be done to improve the status of African American and ensure their civil rights.” (Squires) Till’s original casket was donated to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and culture in Washington, D.C. and Till’s body was reburied in a new casket after the was reopened in 2004 (“Emmett Till”). Till’s murder case was a real eye opener and a true inspiration to many.
Although many people may believe that Emmett Till did not have a large influential role during the Civil Rights movement because he did not intentionally do anything to help the movement but without Emmett Till people would not have realized the harsh reality of the brutal treatment the African Americans were facing everyday. Some people believe that other people such as Martin Luther King Jr., who promoted non violent protests such as the March on Washington, had a much larger influence during the Civil Rights Movement because of his famous “I Had a Dream Speech” (“Martin Luther”). Others may think that Malcolm X was the most influential person because he laid the foundation for the Black Power movement and believed that African Americans should fight back and defend themselves for they want a change (“Malcolm X”). There are numerous activists that helped the Civil Rights movement in many different ways.
Without Emmett Till and his murder case, people would not have seen just how serious the issue of racial discrimination was. Till may not have given any famous speeches or came up with a new movement but his disfigured body grabbed attention to the whole world and made people see the difference between right and wrong. After the viewing of Till’s funeral, Newspapers printed editorials that harshly criticized the jury’s decision for the case. Tens of thousands of people sent letters to the White House and Congressmen expressing their thoughts about how outraged they were with the turnout of the case. Not to mention, the membership for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People increased dramatically after the trial as well because people realized something needed to be done (Squires)“Till’s murder symbolized for many African Americans the inherent racism and disparity of justice they continued to face in the aftermath of World War II” (“Till, Emmett Louis”). The murder of Emmett Till also inspired many other events in the Civil Rights Movement such as the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the event in which Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat.
The Civil Rights Movement was a success because of Emmett Till’s murder case. His murder inspired many other events during this movement as well as it inspired others to make a change. The images of Till’s brutally beaten body brought international attention to the serious discrimination issue through newspapers, magazines, letters, and communication among people. The murder of Till’s increased membership in organizations that played a major role in the Civil Rights Movement. Without Emmett Till the Civil Rights Movement would not have achieved its goal in gaining equal opportunities and rights for different races.