Papers On Emmett Till

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Disclosed here is the true account of the slaying in Mississippi of a Negro youth named Emmett Till. Last September in Sumner, Miss., a petit jury found the youth's admitted abductors not guilty of murder. In November, in Greenwood, a grand jury declined to indict them for kidnapping. Of the murder trial, the Memphis Commercial Appeal said: "Evidence necessary for convicting on a murder charge was lacking." But with truth absent, hypocrisy and myth have flourished. Now, hypocrisy can be exposed; myth dispelled. Here are the facts. Carolyn Holloway Bryant is 21, five feet tall, weighs 103 pounds. An Irish girl, with black hair and black eyes, she is a small farmer's daughter who, at 17, quit high school at Indianola, Miss., to marry a soldier, …show more content…

They included sons, grandsons and a nephew of Moses (Preacher) Wright, 64, a 'cropper. They were between 13 and 19 years old. Four were natives of the Delta and others, including the nephew, Emmett (Bobo) Till, were visiting from the Chicago area. Bobo Till was 14 years old: born on July 25, 1941. He was stocky, muscular, weighing about 160, and five feet four or five. Preacher later testified, "He looked like a man." Bobo's party joined a dozen other young Negroes, including two other girls, in front of the store. Bryant had built checkerboards there. Some were playing checkers, others were wrestling and "kiddin' about girls." Bobo bragged about his white girl [back in Chicago]. He showed the boys a picture of a white girl in his wallet, and to their jeers of disbelief, he boasted of success with her. "There's a pretty little white woman in the store. Since you know how to handle white girls, let's see you go in and get a date with her?" "You ain't chicken, are yuh, Bo?" another youth taunted him. Bobo had to fire or fall back. He entered the store, alone, stopped at the candy case. Carolyn was behind the counter, Bobo in front. He asked for two cents' worth of …show more content…

I'm likely to kill him. Me and my folks fought for this country, and we got some rights. I stood there in that shed and listened to that nigger throw that poison at me, and I just made up my mind. 'Chicago boy,' I said, 'I'm tired of 'em sending your kind down here to stir up trouble. Goddam you, I'm going to make an example of you - just so everybody can know how me and my folks stand.'" So Big Milam decided to act. He needed a weight. He tried to think of where he could get an anvil. Then he remembered a gin which had installed new equipment. ***** Milam: "When we got to that gin, it was daylight, and I was worried for the first time. Somebody might see us and accuse us of stealing the fan." Bryant and Big Milam stood aside while Bobo loaded the fan. Weight: 74 pounds. The youth still thought they were bluffing. ***** Big Milam ordered Bobo to pick up the fan. He staggered under its weight... carried it to the river bank. They stood silently... just hating one another. Milam: "Take off your clothes." Slowly, Bobo pulled off his shoes, his socks. He stood up, unbuttoned his shirt, dropped his pants, his shorts. He stood there naked. That big .45 jumped in Big Milam's hand.