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Emmet Till Research Paper

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Emmet Till For my research topic, I decided to focus on Emmet Till, whose murder was a catalyst for the Civil Rights Movement. Born in 1941 on the 25th of July, to working class parents in Chicago, Louis Till and Mamie Till. Emmett lived in Chicago with his mother, Mamie Till. Mamie was very protective of Emmett. Especially due to racial conflict in Chicago. Mamie was originally born in Mississippi. She wanted to leave the south because of the Jim Crow laws which caused segregation between Black and White people having separate facilities in all areas of life. Her family became part of the great migration north. She met Louis Till at age 18 and she gave birth to Emmett in 1941. After divorcing Louis, Mamie settled with her son in a middle-class …show more content…

On August 24, after a day working in the cotton fields, Emmett went to the grocery store with his cousins. According to witnesses, Emmett was dared to talk to Carolyn Bryant, wife of Roy Bryant, who was working in the shop that day. Witnesses say that Emmett whistled at Carolyn; however, some say he grabbed her hand or waist or flirted with her. It is not clear exactly what transpired in the grocery store; however, Carolyn left the store to get the gun in her pickup truck. Emmett and his cousins fled …show more content…

Moses Wright, Emmett Tills Great Uncle, was in the witness stand in front of an all-white jury and identified J.W. Milam and Roy Bryant and Emmett's kidnappers. This was the first time a black man stood against a white man in court due to widespread fear in the south of black people speaking against white people. Several black residents testified against Bryant and Milam. Carolyn Bryant testified as well. She described that a black man had assaulted her by touching her hand and whistling at her, but she never mentioned Emmett Till by name. Defence lawyers called the motive for the murder “illogical” although there were many similar cases of this happening in the south, with other members of the African American community being accused of sexual assault with little or no evidence to support it. The prosecution and defence lawyers both appealed to the white jurors who committed to racial hierarchy. Defence lawyer John Whitten accused civil rights activists of placing Emmett’s body in the Tallahatchie River to challenge the “Southern way of life.” District attorney Gerald Chatham claimed that Emmett deserved punishment for “insulting white womanhood.” But Bryant should have instead beat him with a razor

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