Emmett Till Flashcards
Life for Black Americans in the 1950s
Segregation everywhere
Even hospitals
Charles Drew, a doctor, died after being injured in a car crash because he was turned away from white hospital and the black one was too far
Washington DC was heavily segregated
Some states forbade marriage between black and white
In North, segregation was illegal, but still happened in reality
Black people lived in run down ghetto districts in the industrial cities, and went to inferior schools and got menial jobs
Where, when and background info
In Mississippi in south
Lots of black people lynched each year
Slightest suggestion of flirtation, relationship between black + white was seen as fundamentally wrong, people suffered violence for doing this
Emmett Till was 14 + from Chicago, wasn’t aware of the unwritten rules
August 1955, came to visit great uncle, Mose wright, who lived in Money
- Dare, shop, no respect
Was dared to start a convo with the white shop keeper woman
Unsure what was actually said, thought Till had said ‘Bye baby’ as he left the store
Woman told her husband, Roy Bryant (owner of the store) that she had been shown no respect
- A few days after, 2:30 AM, Milam + Bryant, murder, river
Several days after
Early in the morning
Bryant and Milam kidnapped Till from his great uncles farm
Brutally beaten, then tied to part of a cotton gin with barbed wire and deposited in Tallahatchie River
Body completely mutilated
Only identifiable by a ring with his initials on it, when body floated to surface
- Trial, Bryant and Milam arrested, KKK, NAACP, one hour
Milam + Bryant arrested and taken to court
Mose Wright, key witness, saw men take nephew away, got death threats from KKK
NAACP helped protect him and ensured trial got lots of publicity
Despite his testimony + other witnesses, it took the all white jury only one hour to come to a verdict, finding the men not guilty on the grounds that the body might not have been Till’s
- After the trial - sold their story-open casket funeral-
Bryant and Milam sold story +++months later for $4000
Journalist who interviewed them reported that Milam was angered by the fact that Till wasn’t frightened or sorry about what he said. he had also told them about his white girlfriend. From that moment he was going to die
- Brought home to Chicago
Mother held open casket funeral
Lots of photos circulated of his beaten and disfigured body in the news
Helped ppl who didn’t live in the s understand the inequality and brutality that some black Americans faced every day
Tills story made other black people and some white people get even more determined to create change in the south. Helped civil rights movement gain strength and momentum
