At about 2.30 am on 28th August 1955, a fourteen-year-old boy named Emmett Till was kidnapped at gunpoint from his great-uncle’s house in Money, Mississippi. His kidnappers then drove to a disused plantation shed in neighboring Sunflower County, where they brutally beat the teenager, gouging out one eye. A witness heard Till’s screams for hours until his tormenters finally shot him in the head with a .45-caliber pistol. They then tied a seventy-five-pound cotton gin fan around his neck with barbed wire in an unsuccessful attempt to weigh down Till’s body before they dumped him into the Tallahatchie River. A white teenage boy discovered the tortured, swollen, and decomposing body three days later. The fourteen-year-old had been so badly beaten and mutilated that he could only be identified by his father’s ring that he wore. This brutal murder of a teenager – and the antecedent and subsequent events – would be instrumental in launching the civil rights movement.
Emmett Louis “Bobo” Till was from Chicago and had been raised by his mother, his parents having separated in 1942. On August 20th, Till’s mother, Mamie Till Bradley, who worked in the Chicago branch of the Air Force Procurement Office, sent Emmett and his cousin, Curtis Jones, to Mississippi on vacation to stay with their uncle, Moses Wright. Mamie warned her impulsive son about the difference between segregation in the North and South, and advised him not to speak to white people.
In 1955, only fifty-five residents lived in Money, Mississippi, a cotton gin town with a gas station and three stores. On the evening of August 24th, Till and several of his cousins drove to Bryant’s Grocery and Meat Market, a small shop owned by Roy and Carolyn Bryant that served the local poor black sharecroppers. Till had boasted to his cousins about life in the North, and claimed to have a white girlfriend. When the Mississippi youths dared Till to go into the grocery store and flirt with Carolyn Bryant, an attractive twenty-one-year-old mother of two, Till took the dare. Carolyn Bryant would later testify that Till said, “Bye baby,” “What’s the matter baby? Can’t you take it?” “You needn’t be afraid of me,” and “I’ve been with white women before”; other witnesses say that Till merely “wolf whistled” as he was leaving the store. Whatever the truth, his actions were clearly shocking; Till was warned by an old man playing checkers outside the store to leave the area immediately. When Carolyn Bryant came outside to get a gun from her brother-in-law’s car, Till and his cousins fled the scene.
News of the northern teenager’s impudence quickly spread throughout the black community. Till, realising the seriousness of his actions, wanted to go back to Chicago but the Wright family reasoned that if he stayed away from Bryant’s store he would be safe. Three days later, however, Carolyn Bryant’s husband, Roy, who had been in Texas on a trucking job, returned home and discovered what had happened in his absence.
In the early hours of the morning of 28th August, Bryant and his half-brother J.W. Milam drove to Wright’s cabin and demanded to see the boy from Chicago. Wright and his wife, Elizabeth, offered to pay money for any offense caused and pleaded with the two men for mercy. Bryant and Milam ignored the pleas and ordered Till into the back of their pickup truck. After warning Wright not to cause any trouble, they then drove off to mete out their revenge.
Sheriff George Smith was informed the next morning that Till was missing. The sheriff questioned Milam and Bryant, who both admitted abducting the adolescent, but insisted that they had released him unharmed that same night. They were arrested and charged with kidnapping, which was then changed to murder when the body was found.
After her murdered son was returned to her in Chicago, in her grief and rage, Mamie Till Bradley made the decision to “let the people see what they have done to my boy,” and displayed the savagely brutalised and disfigured body in an open casket – resulting in national attention to the crime and its underlying grotesqueries. During the four days of the viewing at the Rainer Funeral Home in Chicago, thousands of northerners saw Till’s body and could no longer ignore the truth and horror of lynching. A horrific photograph of Till was published in the national press – but while it inflamed northerners, it also served to rally southerners. Until the publication of the photograph, sympathy in the south for the defendants had been non-existent and no lawyers would take the case. But as soon as Till’s murder became a national event, five prominent Mississippi attorneys suddenly came forward to defend Bryant and Milam.
The trial lasted only five days; jury deliberations took just sixty-seven minutes – one juror said they took a break to stretch the time to over an hour – and, on September 23rd 1955, an all-white, all-male jury of twelve acquitted Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam, who celebrated their whitewashed freedom on the courtroom steps. In a 1956 article for Look magazine, J.W. Milam admitted that he and his half-brother had killed Till.
The hasty acquittal and miscarriage of justice outraged people throughout the United States and Europe. Protest rallies and lectures were staged worldwide, drawing attention to the plight of black Americans. Most significantly, future civil rights activists and leaders cite the Till murder as their consciousness-raising moment. In the wake of the tragedy, the civil rights movement would begin to mobilise.
Mnamo tarehe 28 Agosti mwaka 1955, kijana wa miaka 14 aliyeitwa Emmett Till, alitekwa nyara na bunduki kutoka kwa nyumba ya mjomba wake mkubwa huko Money, Mississippi. Kisha wakimbizi hao wakamchukua na kumpeleka kwenye shamba lililokuwa limeachwa katika Kaunti ya Sunflower, ambako walimpiga na kumnyonga kijana huyo, na kumnyonga jicho. Shahidi mmoja alisikia Till akipiga kelele kwa muda wa saa kadhaa mpaka hatimaye walipompiga risasi kichwani kwa bunduki ya kalibu 45. Kisha wakamfunga shaba ya pauni 75 kwenye shingo yake kwa waya wa miiba katika jaribio lisilofanikiwa la kumzidisha mwili wa Till kabla ya kumtupa katika Mto Tallahatchie. Mvulana mweupe mwenye umri wa miaka kumi na miwili aligundua mwili huo uliokuwa umeteseka, umevimba, na kuharibika siku tatu baadaye. Mvulana huyo mwenye umri wa miaka 14 alikuwa amepigwa vibaya sana na kuharibiwa hivi kwamba angeweza kutambuliwa tu kwa pete ya baba yake aliyokuwa amevaa. Mauaji hayo ya kikatili ya kijana mmoja <unk> na matukio yaliyotangulia na yaliyofuata <unk> yangekuwa muhimu katika kuanzisha harakati za haki za kiraia. Emmett Louis Bobo Till alikuwa kutoka Chicago na alikuwa amelelewa na mama yake, wazazi wake walipotengana mnamo 1942. Mama yake, Mamie Till Bradley, ambaye alifanya kazi katika ofisi ya Chicago ya Air Force Procurement Office, alimtuma Emmett na binamu yake, Curtis Jones, kwenda Mississippi kwa likizo kukaa na mjomba wao, Moses Wright. Mamie alimwonya mwanawe huyo kuhusu tofauti kati ya ubaguzi wa rangi katika Kaskazini na Kusini, na kumshauri asizungumze na wazungu. Mwaka 1955 kulikuwa na wakazi 55 tu katika mji wa Money, Mississippi, uliokuwa na kituo cha mafuta na maduka matatu. Jioni ya Agosti 24, Till na binamu zake kadhaa waliendesha gari kwenda kwenye soko la chakula na nyama la Bryant, duka dogo lililomilikiwa na Roy na Carolyn Bryant ambalo liliwahudumia wakulima maskini wa rangi nyeusi wa eneo hilo. Till alikuwa amejieleza kwa binamu zake kuhusu maisha Kaskazini, na alidai kuwa na mpenzi mweupe. Wakati vijana wa Mississippi walipomhimiza Till aende kwenye duka la vyakula na kumchezea Carolyn Bryant, mwanamke mwenye kuvutia mwenye umri wa miaka ishirini na moja na mama wa watoto wawili, Till alichukua changamoto hiyo. Baadaye Carolyn Bryant alitoa ushahidi kwamba Till alisema, "Goodbye baby, what's the matter baby?" "Huna haja ya kuogopa mimi", na "Nimekuwa na wanawake weupe kabla ya"; mashahidi wengine wanasema kwamba Till tu "mbwa mwitu whistled" kama alikuwa kuondoka duka. Hata hivyo, Till alishtushwa na mzee mmoja aliyekuwa akicheza mchezo wa checkers nje ya duka hilo na kumwonya aondoke eneo hilo mara moja. Carolyn Bryant alipotoka nje kuchukua bunduki kutoka kwenye gari la ndugu-mkwe wake, Till na binamu zake walikimbia eneo hilo. Habari za ujasiri wa kijana huyo wa kaskazini zilienea upesi katika jumuiya yote ya watu weusi. Till, akitambua uzito wa matendo yake, alitaka kurudi Chicago lakini familia ya Wright ilidhani kwamba ikiwa angekaa mbali na duka la Bryant angekuwa salama. Hata hivyo, siku tatu baadaye, mume wa Carolyn Bryant, Roy, aliyekuwa Texas kwa ajili ya kazi ya kubeba malori, alirudi nyumbani na kugundua kilichotokea wakati wa kutokuwepo kwake. Katika saa za mapema za asubuhi ya Agosti 28, Bryant na ndugu yake wa kambo JW Milam aliendesha gari hadi kwenye kibanda cha Wright na kudai kumwona mvulana huyo kutoka Chicago. Wright na mkewe Elizabeth, walijitolea kulipa pesa kwa kosa lolote lililosababishwa na kuomba rehema kwa wanaume hao wawili. Bryant na Milam walipuuza maombi hayo na kumwamuru Till aingie nyuma ya lori lao. Baada ya kumwonya Wright asisababishie matatizo yoyote, kisha wakaondoka ili kulipiza kisasi. Sheriff George Smith aliripotiwa asubuhi iliyofuata kwamba Till alikuwa amepotea. Sherifu aliwahoji Milam na Bryant, ambao wote wawili walikiri kumteka nyara kijana huyo, lakini walisisitiza kwamba walikuwa wamemwachilia bila kujeruhiwa usiku huo huo. Walifungwa na kushtakiwa kwa utekaji nyara, ambao ulibadilishwa kuwa mauaji wakati mwili ulipopatikana. Baada ya mwanawe aliyeuawa kumrudishwa kwake huko Chicago, Mamie Till Bradley, katika huzuni na hasira yake, alifanya uamuzi wa kuwaacha watu waone kile walichofanya kwa mvulana wangu, na kuonyesha mwili uliopigwa vibaya na kuharibika katika sanduku la wazi, na kusababisha umakini wa kitaifa kwa uhalifu huo na mambo yake ya kushangaza. Wakati wa siku nne za kutazama katika Rainer Funeral Home huko Chicago, maelfu ya watu wa kaskazini waliona mwili wa Till na hawakuweza tena kupuuza ukweli na hofu ya kuuawa kwa lynching. Picha ya kutisha ya Till ilichapishwa katika vyombo vya habari vya kitaifa <unk> lakini wakati ilichomesha watu wa kaskazini, pia ilitumika kuunganisha watu wa kusini. Hadi kuchapishwa kwa picha hiyo, watu wa kusini hawakuwa na huruma kwa washtakiwa na hakuna mwanasheria aliyetaka kuchukua kesi hiyo. Lakini mara tu mauaji ya Till yalipowa tukio la kitaifa, wanasheria watano mashuhuri wa Mississippi ghafla walijitokeza kuwatetea Bryant na Milam. Majaribio hayo yalichukua siku tano tu; majadiliano ya baraza la mahakama yalichukua dakika 67 tu - jaji mmoja alisema walichukua mapumziko ili kupanua muda hadi zaidi ya saa moja - na Septemba 23, 1955, baraza la mahakama la wanaume wazungu wote wa kumi na wawili waliwaondolea Roy Bryant na JW. Milam, ambao waliadhimisha uhuru wao uliotiwa rangi nyeupe kwenye ngazi za chumba cha mahakama. Katika makala ya mwaka wa 1956 katika gazeti la Lookout, J. W. Milam alikiri kwamba yeye na ndugu yake wa kambo walikuwa wameua Till. Hukumu ya kuachiliwa huru kwa haraka na kosa la haki liliwakasirisha watu kotekote Marekani na Ulaya. Maandamano ya maandamano na hotuba zilifanywa ulimwenguni pote, zikikazia fikira hali mbaya ya Wamarekani weusi. Zaidi ya yote, wanaharakati wa haki za kiraia wa baadaye na viongozi wanataja mauaji ya Till kama wakati wao wa kuongeza ufahamu. Baada ya msiba huo, harakati za haki za kiraia zilianza kuhamishwa.