Emmitt Till Summary

955 was only the beginning of the civil rights movement. Schools had just be desegregated due to Brown V.S The Board of Education, the lynching’s of colored people had almost been unheard-of at that point in most states, and things were very slowly starting to get better for people of color. However, in places like the south these new social standard were very had to accept and white people would do nearly anything to keep schools segregated and keep the Jim Crow Law in place, a law that says “separate but equal.” Journalist William Bradford Hue, magazine article, The Shocking Story of Approved Killing in Mississippi confirms Roy Bryant brutally killed 14-year-old Emmitt Till, because he whistled towards his wife. William Bradford exposed the

He dropped” Instead of using the word “Nigger” the same word Milam and Bryant had called him the author chose to say “Youth.” By using Youth instead of “Nigger” the author was trying to paint a picture of an innocent kid, not a skin color or a race, just a kid. Bradford was trying to create a layer of sympathy throughout his audience by reminding everyone that he was just an innocent kid. Bradford created a tone of sympathy for Emmitt Till, by calling him Bobo and not Emmitt. While the speaker was explaining the death of Bobo he stated how Milam and Bryant had rolled him into 20 feet of water and burned all his clothes and shoes. The narrator voiced “Seventy-two hours later – eight miles downstream – boys were fishing. They saw feet sticking out of the water. Bobo.” The author describes a lifeless corpse in the water next to a single word sentence stating “Bobo.” He uses the name Bobo to when describing the murder victim to bring you back to the thought of a child that is so full of life and has sassy personality. The author used a name with so much meaning to it next to a sentence of a lifeless corpse to create an effect of sympathy for his

By calling him “Youth” and “Bobo” the speaker didn’t want people to focus on his skin color, but rather that he was just a kid. The authors most important thing he did in his article was the tittle “The Shocking Story of Approved Murder in Mississippi”. The author was asking for his audience to take action against the approval of Bobo’s murder. Bradford succeeded in his attempts for people to sympathize for Bobo and want justice for his murder. He had exposed the truth about Mississippi, by showing people that lynching’s still happened and that there needs to be a change. Emmitt Tills murder was the beginning of the Civil Rights movement, his murder opened the eyes of the people of America and made people realize things needed to change. Although the Civil Rights movement happened very slowly, the murder of Bobo was the spark that everyone needed to take action against segregation in America. Bobos murder is the reason today there’s no such thing as “separate but equal” his murder started the movement that made everyone together and