Research Paper On Emmett Till's Murder

Kaylen Simmons

Ms. Benson

US History Block 3

1 May 2015

Emmett Till's Murder

14-year-old Emmett Till went to visit his relatives in the South, something his relatives would regret some time later. Emmett Till was an African American male who lost his life due to racial violence and discrimination (Bio). Till’s murder and resulting trial outraged the African American community and contributed to the Civil Rights Movement.

Emmett Louis Till was the son of Louis and Mamie Till. He was born in Chicago, Illinois on July 25, 1941 (Boyd). His family and closest friends also knew him as Bobo. Till grew up in a middle class African American neighborhood in Chicago. Most of the businesses in his neighborhood were black family owned (Bio).
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Even though it hurt her to see her son's body like this, she wanted the world to see what they had done to her 14-year-old son, so his mother held an open casket funeral that was left out for five days to expose the world to the racism and the brutal nature of this crime (Bio). This was important to the Civil Rights Movement because Emmett Till was brutally mudered and his murders were found not guilty, this exposed the brutality of the Jim Crow system. Many people came to the church to see his body and felt terrible after seeing this inhumane crime (Bush).
 Predominantly African American magazines and newspapers published the heartbreaking images of the young black boy. The trial began on September 19, 1955 (Boyd). His murder began to upset the African American community. Black people were unable to participate in the jury during the time, so the men that kidnapped and murdered Till were found not guilty. Even though there was a lot of evidence, the men were still not held responsible for the kidnapping and murder of the teenager. Emmett's Uncle, Moses Wright, testified against Till's kidnappers and murderers; he showed lots of courage because he was risking his life by identifying his nephew's killers (Bio). A couple of months later, Bryant and Milian admitted that they committed the crime during a magazine interview for which they got paid. Since the Double Jeopardy laws was in place, the men could not be tried twice for the murder (Bio). The trial was unfair because there was only white men in the jury, the courts said they were unable to identify Till's body, but they found the body with his ring with the initials on it, in addition there was an eye witness, Till's uncle Moses Wright who testified against Milian and Roy.
 This murder played a big part in the African Civil Rights Movement (Osborne). A little black boy lost his life for speaking to a white woman. Till broke the rules by interacting