Ebook: In remembrance of Emmett Till: regional stories and media responses to the Black freedom struggle
Author: Mace Darryl, Till Emmett
- Tags: African Americans--Civil rights, African Americans--Civil rights--Southern States--History--20th century, Journalism--Political aspects, Journalism--Political aspects--Mississippi--History--20th century, Lynching--Press coverage--Mississippi, Mass media--Political aspects, Mass media--Political aspects--Mississippi--History--20th century, Memorials--Political aspects--Mississippi--History--20th century, Public opinion, Public opinion--United States--History--20th century, Race relations, Racism--Public opi
- Year: 2014
- Publisher: The University Press of Kentucky
- City: Mississippi;Sumner;Southern States;United States
- Language: English
- epub
On August 28, 1955, fourteen-year-old Chicago native Emmett Till was brutally beaten to death for allegedly flirting with a white woman at a grocery store in Money, Mississippi. Roy Bryant and J. W. Milam were acquitted of murdering Till and dumping his body in the Tallahatchie River, and later that year, an all-white grand jury chose not to indict the men on kidnapping charges. A few months later, Bryant and Milam admitted to the crime in an interview with the national media. They were never convicted.
Although Till's body was mutilated, his mother ordered that his casket remain open during the funeral service so that the country could observe the results of racially motivated violence in the Deep South. Media attention focused on the lynching fanned the flames of regional tension and impelled many individuals — including Rosa Parks — to become vocal activists for racial equality.
In this innovative study, Darryl Mace explores media coverage of Till's...