Emmett Till Thesis

Segregation is defined as the enforced separation of different racial groups in a country, community, or establishment. That is what black people in America had to deal with for years. They never had had the same rights as whites. Black people were fed up with the way they were being treated. But one death would be the event that would start the black peoples march to freedom. The murder of fourteen year old, Emmett Till, started the Civil Rights Movement. Emmett Till was born on the twenty fifth of July, 1941. He would grow up with no brothers or sisters. His parents were Mamie and Louis Till. Emmett’s father would soon go World War II and would be executed by the U.S. army for war crimes. Emmett would go on to live with his mother. He grew up in the richer part of South Chicago. His mother worked 12 hours a day so he learned he learned many responsibilities at a young age. He attended an all black school, McCosh Grammar School. At the age of five, he was struck with polio. After recovering, he was left with a permanent stutter that would stay with him for the rest of his life.

One weekend, Moose Wright and Emmett’s two cousins, Wheeler Parker and traveled up to Chicago to go visit Emmett Till. Once Moose was ready to leave, Emmett begged to go with him. His mom gave in

The murder of Emmett outraged many blacks and sympathetic whites. The outcome of the trial also angered the same people because of the amount of evidence against Roy and Milam. But the most important event was the picture of Emmett taken by David Jackson. Mamie wanted to have an open casket at his funeral. She wanted this to “Let people see what they’ve done to my boy.” The photo was taken at the funeral and later published in Jet Magazine. The photo of Emmetts mutilated, decomposing, unrecognizable body caused the most outrage and was the main reason why the Civil Rights Movement