Why Is Emmett Till Still Remembered Today

American history is full of power. The struggle to get power, to keep power, or to take it away. America is a great country, though it has gone through dark times. One example of this would be the story of Emmett Till. Emmett Till was just a young boy who was murdered because of hatred. Emmett Till was an african-american fourteen-year-old boy who was lynched in 1955 during a trip to visit family in Mississippi. In the world today we need to be able to connect to the past with our present. We need to remember Emmett Till and his tragic death as a reminder that even the youngest can be victims of hate. The murder of Emmett Till was a terrible event the showed the climate of the 1950s south and it still remembered today.

Emmett Till was born

Emmett never knew his father, Louise Till, he’d died in World War 2 when Emmett was four-years-old. Mamie Till Bradley remarried to “Pink” Bradley and they moved back to Chicago to live with Mamie Till’s grandmother. “Pink” Bradley and Mamie Till divorced in 1952 and “Pink” moved back to Detroit by himself. Mamie Till began to work as a civilian clerk for the U.S Air Force. Emmett Till was a sickly child according to his mother; when Emmett was very young he contracted polio and a speech defect that caused him to stutter (Crowe 37-39). Emmett was an only child and did his best to take care of his mother so she wouldn’t become too stressed or tired. Emmett Till told his mother when he was just twelve-years-old, “Mama if you can go to work and make the money, I can take care of the home.’ From that day on he took over most of the household chores,

They demanded to see Emmett. Mose Wright, Emmetts uncle knew of the political climate in Mississippi. Mose let Roy and J.W take Emmett without too much of a fuss based on the hope that they would return Emmett in the morning (Crowe 14-16, 58, 60). They kidnapped Emmett and he was never seen alive again. Roy Bryant and J.W Milam drove to a plantation and took Emmett into a shed. Emmett was held captive and brutally beaten for hours. Emmetts injuries showed intense cruelty with the intent to cause pain and suffering. Emmetts left ear was missing, he’d been castrated, his teeth knocked out, drill holes on his body and head, skin pierced with an awl, a side of his face caved in, his wrists were broken along with other bones, these are not even the full extent of his injuries. Emmett officially died from a bullet to the head that gouged out his left eye. Emmett was found four days later floating naked in the Tallahatchie River with barbed wire around his neck and tied to a 75-pound cotton gin metal fan. Emmett was so disfigured that the only way his body was identified was by the ring that his mother had given him prior to the