19.1.8

The Murder of Emmett Till

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The Murder of Emmett Till 1955

Emmett’s murder fuelled the growth of the Civil Rights movement by showing how outrage and media coverage could gain support.

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Emmett Till

  • Emmett Till was a 14-year-old black boy from Chicago in the North.
  • In 1955 he was visiting family in Mississippi.
  • He was dared by local boys to go into Roy Bryant’s shop and talk to Bryant’s wife Carolyn.
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A dare

  • According to some accounts, Emmett wolf-whistled at Carolyn, but she claimed he grabbed her and made inappropriate suggestions.
    • Exactly what happened in the store is disputed to this day.
  • When her husband heard the story the next day, he and his half-brother went to Emmett’s uncle’s house and kidnapped him.
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Emmett's murder

  • They beat him, shot him and threw his body in the river with a heavy weight around his neck, attached with barbed wire.
  • His body was not found until three days later.
  • Emmett’s mother took his body back to Chicago and had an open casket funeral, so everyone could see what had happened.
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Outrage in the North

  • The murder of a black boy was not unusual in Mississippi, but caused outrage in the North, from both black and white people.
  • Roy Bryant and his half-brother were cleared of the murder by a court in Mississippi, despite later admitting their guilt in a magazine article that they were paid $3500 for.
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‘M is for Mississippi and Murder’

  • Emmett’s murder fuelled the growth of the Civil Rights movement by showing how outrage and media coverage of injustice could gain support.
  • The NAACP even produced a leaflet called ‘M is for Mississippi and Murder’.

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1The Medieval World: 450-1450 AD

1.1Anglo-Saxon England

1.2The Contest for the English Throne

1.3Conquering the Holy Land, 10-96-1396 AD

1.4King John

1.5The Magna Carta & Parliament

1.6The Black Death

2Worldviews

3The Empire of Mali

4The Renaissance & Reformations, 1500-1598 AD

5The British Empire, 1583-1960 AD

6The Peasants' Revolt

7Religion in the Middle Ages

8Slavery, 1619-1833 AD

9The English Civil War, 1642-1660

10The Industrial Revolution, 1750-1840

11US Independence, 1775-1783

12The French Revolution, 1789-1815

13The British Empire, 1857–1930

14Suffrage

15World War 1, 1914-1918

16The Inter-War Years, 1919-1939

17World War 2, 1939-1945

18The Cold War, 1947-1962

19Civil Rights in the USA, 1954-1975

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