emmett till argumentative essay

Top of page

Collection Civil Rights History Project

The murder of emmett till.

The murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till in 1955 brought nationwide attention to the racial violence and injustice prevalent in Mississippi. While visiting his relatives in Mississippi, Till went to the Bryant store with his cousins, and may have whistled at Carolyn Bryant. Her husband, Roy Bryant, and brother-in-law, J.W. Milam, kidnapped and brutally murdered Till, dumping his body in the Tallahatchie River. The newspaper coverage and murder trial galvanized a generation of young African Americans to join the Civil Rights Movement out of fear that such an incident could happen to friends, family, or even themselves. Many interviewees in the Civil Rights History Project remember how this case deeply affected their lives.

Two of Emmett Till’s cousins, Wheeler Parker and Simeon Wright , witnessed Till’s kidnapping on the night of August 28, 1955 at the home of Moses Wright. They both describe their family’s background in Mississippi and Chicago, the incident at Bryant’s store, and the terror they felt when Bryant and Milan entered their home and took Till. Parker describes the funeral in Chicago, which drew thousands of people: “The solemn atmosphere there, you know, it’s just – it’s just unbelievable, I guess you could say. The air was filled with just, I guess, unbelief and how could it happen to a kid? People just felt helpless.”

Two journalists, Moses Newson and Simeon Booker , were assigned to cover the murder for the Tri-State Defender and JET , respectively. Booker attended the funeral with photographer David Jackson, who took the famous image of Till in the coffin. In this joint interview, Booker explains: “ JET’s circulation just took off when they ran the picture. They had to reprint, the first time they ever reprinted JET magazine. And there was a lot of interest in that case. And the entire black community was becoming aware of the need to do something about it.” The two journalists also covered the trial and were instrumental in helping to find some key witnesses. Bryant and Milam were acquitted, however, which outraged the African American community nationwide.

African American children and teenagers, particularly those in the South, were shocked by the photographs in JET and the outcome of the trial. Sisters Joyce and Dorie Ladner , who grew up in Mississippi, remember keeping a scrapbook of every article about Till and their fear that their brothers could be killed too. Dorie Ladner was inspired to learn more about the law after Bryant and Milam were acquitted: “That’s where the light bulb went off: Why aren’t they being punished? And that’s when I went on my quest to try to understand the whole legal system and equal rights and justice under the law.” Joyce Ladner discusses how she coined the term, “Emmett Till Generation,” which she uses to describe the African American baby boomers in the South who were inspired by Till’s murder to join a burgeoning movement of mass meetings, sit-ins, and marches to demand their equal treatment under the law.

Cleveland Sellers was 11 years old when he learned about Emmett Till through JET . He remembers, “I was devastated by the fact that Emmett could have been me or any other black kid around that same age. And so, I related to that very quickly. And we had discussions in our class about Emmett Till. I had a cover of the JET , took it to school. Some other students had the same thing. And so, we had rational discussions about it. And, you know, the question comes up: How do you address that? And I think, for us, it was projected out, that that would be our destiny to try to find remedies to a society that would allow that to happen, would condone that, and would actually free those who were responsible for that murder. And I think that that was a way in which we actually got away from revenge and hatred and those kinds of things. We talked about how we were going to use Emmett Till to build on, that we would rectify in our work and in our effort the dastardly tragedy that happened to Emmett Till.”

The Library of Congress holds many other online collection items related to Emmett Till, including photographs of him, his family, his funeral, and the murder trial; federal resolutions and bills including the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act of 2007; a press release issued by the NAACP the day after Till’s body was found; and a telegram from Paul Robeson expressing his outrage at the acquittal of Till’s murderers.

Eng 101 - Argumentative Essay - the Murder Trial of Emmett Till

Corneisha Carter

Mrs. Walters- Union Parish High School

English 101

December 8, 2015

The Murder Trial of Emmett Till

The death of fourteen year old Emmett Till triggered the American civil rights movement and led to a worldwide discussion. In the article, “The Emmett Till Murder Trial,” the author Douglas Linder states Emmett Till went to town with family members; he then asked a female Caucasian worker named Carolyn for some candy that was inside the counter. It is recorded that Till grabbed Carolyn’s hand and told her, “It’s okay; I’ve dated white women before.” Feeling offended, Carolyn went home and told her husband about the incident that occurred in the store. Her husband Roy Bryant and brother in law J.W. Milam decided to kidnap Emmett and teach him a lesson. Instead of just teaching him a harmless lesson, these two men kidnapped, beat, murdered, and dumped his lifeless body into the Tallahatchie River. His body was seen, feet sticking out of the water by a young man who was fishing. The body was identified as fourteen year old Emmett Till. His mother insisted on having an open casket funeral to show what the two men had done to her son. Over 50,000 people came to view the body of Till and were shocked and furious at what they seen. The trial for the murder of Emmett Till was invalid and his family did not get their justice due to the segregations of the court and the jury, the men who beat and murdered Emmett Till deserved to go to jail or face the death penalty for their actions.

With all the evidence pointing at the two brothers, their trial was underway. There was no doubt that Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam murdered Emmett Till. There was enough evidence given by witnesses and physical evidence to send both men to jail for the rest of their lives. There was one thing though; there was an all Caucasian jury. At the time African Americans were not registered voters and could not serve as a juror. Each of the jurors already had a “fixed opinion” on the case. During the jury selection, the county sheriff assisted the defense team, advising lawyers as to which the jurors would agree with the defense and also seem safe. The jury had already made their decision before the trial even started. One of the defense attorneys said, “After the jury was chosen, and first-year law student could have won this case” (Linder). The defense team attorney basically was saying after seeing this jury anybody could have won this case if they were white. No matter how much evidence was presented the two men would get away with murder. The mother of Emmett Till would not get the justice her and her family deserved or get to see her sons murderers put away.

During the trial, both Bryant and Milam admitted to taking Emmett from his uncles house, but claimed they let him go in Money, Mississippi. There was a surprise witness that places Bryant’s vehicle at the barn. Wille Reed testified that around 6:00 a.m., he had seen Bryant’s truck with four white men riding in the cab and three black men riding in the back of the truck. He told the courtroom, he seen an eighth person, a black boy (presumably Emmett) seated in the bed of the truck. He stated that minutes later he heard “hollering” and “whipping” coming from the barn. In the article “The trial of Roy Bryant and J.W. Wilam” by the American Express newsletter, He also said J. W. Milam had come out of the shed, donning a .45 pistol on his hip, and asked Reed whether he had heard anything. Reed told him no. In later interviews, Willis Reed identified the four men he saw entering the barn were Bryant, Milam, and two black men, including Levi “Too Tight” Collins. Even with this information given to the officers, nothing was done to get to the bottom of what really happened to Emmett. The testimony of Willis Reed was enough to charge Bryant and Milam with kidnapping charges. Milam and Bryant described Emmett as defiant, even during his pistol whipping in the barn. Another piece of evidence presenting during the case was according to the article, “The Emmett Till murder trial” by Douglas Linder, J.W. gave a confession to murdering Emmett Till. Milam clearly stated, “When a nigger gets close to mentioning sex with a white woman, he is tired of living. I’m likely to kill him. I stood there in that shed and listened to that nigger throw his poison at me, and I just made up my mind (Linder). This statement was another piece of evidence that proves Bryant and Milam murdered Till. The question that is still unanswered is why these men weren’t sentenced to death.

Another piece of evidence provided during the case, was from an FBI report given by a witness who saw Bryant and Milam at Milam’s store shortly after they murdered Emmett Till. As the witness noticed the blood dripping from the truck and pointed it out to J.W., he said he killed a deer. After being told it wasn’t deer season, the body was unveiled and Milam stated, “This Is what happens to smart niggers” (Linder).

In the article by Douglas Linder, the author states Sherriff Strider was a big friend to the defendants, he tried to help Bryant and Milam get out of jail by giving his own statement in the case. That he doubted the body pulled from the Tallahatchie River was that of Emmett Till. Strider told reporters "the body looked more like that of a grown man instead of a young boy" and had probably been in the river "four or five days"--too long to have been the body of Till, abducted just three days earlier. Strider expressed his opinion that Till "is still alive." The theory for a murder defense, with the now obvious support of the County's sheriff, had been laid (Linder).

Home — Essay Samples — Social Issues — Emmett Till — Analysis Of Bob Dilan’s Song The Death Of Emmett Till

Analysis of Bob Dilan’s Song The Death of Emmett till

Categories: Bob Dylan Emmett Till

About this sample

Words: 1391 |

Published: May 14, 2021

Words: 1391 | Pages: 3 | 7 min read

Introduction.

Cite this Essay

To export a reference to this article please select a referencing style below:

Let us write you an essay from scratch

450+ experts on 30 subjects ready to help
Custom essay delivered in as few as 3 hours

Get high-quality help

Prof. Kifaru

Verified writer

Expert in: Entertainment Social Issues

+ 120 experts online

By clicking “Check Writers’ Offers”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy . We’ll occasionally send you promo and account related email

No need to pay just yet!

Related Essays

3 pages / 1201 words

2 pages / 835 words

1 pages / 430 words

1 pages / 478 words

Remember! This is just a sample.

You can get your custom paper by one of our expert writers.

121 writers online

Still can’t find what you need?

Browse our vast selection of original essay samples, each expertly formatted and styled

Related Essays on Emmett Till

Emmett Till's profound impact on the Civil Rights Movement and the history of African American freedom cannot be overstated. His tragic story reverberates through time as a symbol of both the brutality of racial violence and the [...]

In a time in American history when inequality was the leader of our country and murder and violence were an everyday occurrence, Emmett Till was a fourteen year-old boy who was visiting Mississippi when he allegedly flirted [...]

The lynching of Emmett Till in the Mississippi Delta in 1955 is one of the most notorious hate crimes in American history, etching a gruesome chapter into the nation's memory. This essay explores the profound significance of [...]

At first President Wilson was not very responsive to the women's protest. At points he even seemed amused with it by tipping his hat and smiling. It was said that at one point Wilson even invited them in for coffee. At other [...]

To a large extent, the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1966-1956 can be considered the most important turning point for the development of African-American civil rights in the period 1865 to 1992. In order to regard a period as a [...]

I literally stumbled upon this protest by chance while I was home in Cincinnati on Thanksgiving break. I am glad I did, though, because it was, far and away, the most passionate protest I have ever seen. The day after the [...]

Get Your Personalized Essay in 3 Hours or Less!

We use cookies to personalyze your web-site experience. By continuing we’ll assume you board with our cookie policy .

Instructions Followed To The Letter
Deadlines Met At Every Stage
Unique And Plagiarism Free

Paired Texts
Related Media
Teacher Guide

For full functionality of this site it is necessary to enable JavaScript. Click here for instructions on how to enable JavaScript in your web browser.

CommonLit is a nonprofit that has everything teachers and schools need for top-notch literacy instruction: a full-year ELA curriculum, benchmark assessments, and formative data. Browse Content Who We Are About

Home / Essay Samples / Social Issues / Racism / Emmett Till

Emmett till Essay Examples

Comparison of the struggle movement black lives matter and the blue lives matter.

It has been almost five years since the fatal shooting of a man named Michael Brown. Five years since fire was kindled underneath the cauldron of the scorching basin to a call of justice extruding from the black community. The incident ended the life of...

The Murder of Emmett Till, Freedom Rides, and the March on Washington

The murder of Emmett Till was a brutal act that set off many other civil rights acts throughout America. For years following this great injustice, monumental movements towards ending segregation occurred. Emmett Till was a 14 year old boy who grew up in a working...

Emmett Till: the Murder that Changed America

For every citizen to have the same importance, privileges and prospects would mean to have equality. The lack thereof became the determination to obtain for black woman and men in the US, on a platform known as the Civil Rights Movement. Contrary to popular belief...

Review of the Book the Blood of Emmett till

One of the most notorious hate crimes in American history titles the prominent lynching of a young 14 year old boy in the Mississippi Delta of 1955. Emmett Till reportedly flirted with a white woman while purchasing candy at a grocery store. Soon after he...

The Deadly Disease of Racial Injustice

Racial terror and the horrendous lynchings of innocent African Americans are both two institutional tools that assist in the preservation of white supremacy. Lynching is the act of killing someone, mostly by hanging them for an alleged offense. Festus Claudius Mckay, a Jamaican writer, and...

Racism in American History: Emmett Till's Murder

American history is full of examples of extreme racism. Many times discrimination happens for no reason other than the color of a person's skin. An example of this obvious hatred is Emmett Till's murder that has shed light on the horrors of segregation and racism...

Segregation Between White and Black People

It is usually considered that humans perceive and understand the world through their senses. When having interactions with others, we interpret and form expectations of them. As humans, we initially judge people based on observations like their appearances, religion, where they were raised, education, and...

Trying to find an excellent essay sample but no results?

Don’t waste your time and get a professional writer to help!

About Emmett till

July 25, 1941 – August 28, 1955

samplius.com uses cookies to offer you the best service possible.By continuing we’ll assume you board with our cookie policy .--> -->