The
Lynching of Emmett Till
Revisiting
a sad story in American history.
by
Theodore Christopher
Emmett Till: 1941-1955
What do you think when you hear that name? Most people, rightfully
so, think of one of the most brutal racially motivated crimes in American
history. It was nearly forty years ago when this terrible crime hit
people hardest in its brutality, during the last week of August 1955.
The fifties are remembered by many Americans as one of the greatest
decades in the nationís history. We had just emerged victorious
from World War II, and America had gained the worldís respect
as one of the two great superpowers. However, that decade had a very
dark side of unresolved racial violence, which some people do not
wish to remember but which must be explored so that those who care
about racial harmony, progress, and unity can understand the environment
that let this terrible crime happen. Even more importantly, remembering
Emmett Till’s death can help us understand the attitudes and
perspectives surrounding it and provide a reference point to discover
how those paths might have led to the views of today.
So what exactly happened on that dark Mississippi night in 1955, and
what led to this heinous crime? I doubt many would argue that this
was one of the most brutal and barbaric racial crimes in history.
Nevertheless, few people realize what a dividing event this crime
was at the time. Now that we are almost fifty years removed from the
fact, I think most people want to believe that everyone felt the same
way about this event when it took place in the backwoods of Mississippi.
Some in our current generation could probably not imagine that not
everybody would rally around Emmett Till’s mother with sympathy
or pursue the obvious paths that would lead to the fastest conviction
possible of the monsters who committed the deed. Unfortunately, this
was not the case, which is the reason for this revisit of history.
America was a completely different world during the 1950s with regard
to rights and equality for African Americans, especially in the Deep
South. It could be said that Americans in general had blinders on
when it came to crimes like these, which were happening on a regular
basis all over the South. There was no outcry about the injustices
or exploration of the motives of this unbridled violence. It was not
until the Emmett Till lynching that the nation, and even the world,
was finally shaken from its sleep about the true nature of the barbaric
injustice that was going on in the South at the time.
____________________________________
That decade had a very dark
side of unresolved racial violence.
____________________________________
As has been mentioned, the crime committed against Emmett Till had
a clear-cut victim and clear-cut perpetrator. Nonetheless, at the
time of the crime there were still those in Southern society who twisted
the event to make it sound different from what it so obviously was
to most people outside this region. There were of course always exceptions,
and I am not trying to say that every single Southerner was taken
in by the myth that somehow Emmett deserved this or that it wasn’t
as bad as people were making it out to be. Moreover, I am sure there
were White Northerners who had no sympathy for Emmett Till or his
family. However, I will only deal with the general thought outside
of these exceptions.
What were the myths surrounding this crime? What better way to expose
and attack the myths and learn more about the truth than reading the
book by Emmett Till’s own mother, who lived through this horrible
experience more closely than other human being could. Death of Innocence:
The Story of the Hate Crime That Changed America, written by Mamie
Till-Mobley and Christopher Benson, can help answer these questions.
Myth #1: Before Emmett Till, crimes such as these were very
rare in the South. Although segregation and Jim Crow laws still existed,
the anti-black violence common at the turn of the century had subsided
to virtual non-existence.
Truth: Lynching and murder were still frequent in the South, although
the outside world was not overly concerned about them. It is indeed
one of the more shameful tragedies in the United States’ history
that countless African-American men and women were murdered, lynched
and kidnapped at the hands of white racists all over the South in
the hundred years following the Civil War yet nothing much has ever
been done or said about it.
Myth #2: Before Emmett Till went down to Mississippi, his mother
did not adequately prepare him for the different world he would encounter
there. As she was sending him to visit relatives, she assumed that
everything would be fine and she didn’t have to talk to him about
what to expect or what not to do or say.
____________________________________
It
is indeed one of the more shameful tragedies in the United States’
history that countless African-American men and women were murdered,
lynched and kidnapped at the hands of white racists all over the South.
____________________________________
Truth: Emmett’s mother was fully aware of what Mississippi
society was like. She was born in that state and had her first run-in
with racism while she was a child visiting relatives. She also heard
cautionary tales from other people who had moved up North from Mississippi
to escape the same racism that was beating down people day in and
day out. In fact, when Emmett first mentioned taking this trip, her
first reaction was a blunt, “NO!” She finally gave in and
agreed to let him go, but not without giving him all kinds of warnings
and instructions on how to behave and what to do in certain situations.
She specifically warned him about white women and how he should avoid
direct eye contact with them. As she was thinking about all the things
she had to go over with him, she reflected on how she had never worried
about having this type of conversation with him before. In her own
words, “This was the first time I had ever really spoken to Emmett
about race.”
Myth #3: On the fateful night Emmett and his cousins visited
Bryant’s Store (owned by Carolyn Bryant, the woman he was lynched
for having looked at “the wrong way”), he had bragged that
he had a white girlfriend in Chicago. He even showed a picture to
them. They did not believe him, and to show them that he had the courage
to even talk to white girls they challenged him to talk to Carolyn
Bryant and ask her out on a date. Emmett boldly went back into the
store as they watched from outside. He bought a piece of gum and took
it up to Carolyn behind the counter. As she extended her hand to take
the gum, he grabbed her wrist. She tried to pull away, but he held
on, saying “Come on, baby; let’s go out on a date. Don’t
you know I have been with white girls before?” or something to
that effect. When he saw he was not getting anywhere, he left. He
and his cousins laughed about it outside, and when she came out to
go to her car, Emmett whistled at her for the final humiliation before
riding off.
Likely Truth (I say “likely truth” because no one will
ever know exactly what happened that night): Emmett never had
a white girlfriend. In fact, Emmett never had a girlfriend, period.
He did have a black girl he once dated back in Chicago, but she could
hardly be considered a girlfriend. However, many people brag about
having a high-status boyfriend or girlfriend when they actually don’t,
so could Emmett have been just pretending to have a white girlfriend
to impress his cousins? Yes, that is a possibility, but is it likely?
No. Emmett had been around black people all his life; all his friends
were black; his school was all-black; and he had no white family members
either. Therefore the chance of him wanting to impress his cousins
by claiming he had a white girlfriend was very slim.
____________________________________
Emmett never had a white girlfriend.
____________________________________
Emmett did go back into the store to buy bubble gum after some of
his cousins came back out. Did Emmett go back in after his cousins
came out because he wanted to be alone with Carolyn to ask her out
on a date? This is almost impossible, because he returned to buy something
he had forgotten. Skeptics will say that yes, he might have gone back
in to buy bubble gum but still planned to talk to Carolyn about a
date. Nevertheless, looking at his background and knowing that his
mother had warned him about how to act in the South leads one to believe
that the likelihood of Emmett propositioning Carolyn for a date in
a forceful manner is almost nil. One should also remember that his
cousin was standing in the doorway of the store. As this particular
cousin was much more familiar with customs and dangers in Mississippi
than Emmett would have been, if Emmett had “come on” to
Carolyn this cousin would have seen it and gotten him out of there
as quickly as possible.
So what did Emmett do that led to him being tortured and killed in
the first place? The only thing at this point is the famous “whistle.”
Interestingly enough, no one denies that Emmett whistled, not even
his cousins who were with him. The crucial question: was Emmett whistling
at Carolyn Bryant?
There is a bit of ironic probability here that cannot be avoided.
Emmett had a stuttering problem that had plagued him all through childhood.
His mother was sympathetic to his trouble pronouncing words and gave
him a technique to help him. She taught him to whistle when he got
stuck on a word! We now also know that one of the phrases he had trouble
with was “bubble gum.” It doesn’t take a rocket scientist
to put two and two together and conclude it was only a coincidence
that Carolyn happened to be walking by when he whistled. Of course
the prevailing view in the South at that time was that all black men
lusted after white women. So it is very likely that Carolyn believed
Emmett was whistling at her.
Myth #4: Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam were the only ones involved
in Emmett Till’s death.
Truth: Although Bryant and Milam were the main perpetrators,
there undoubtedly were others at the scene when Emmett was abducted,
tortured, and finally killed. Shockingly, two black men accompanied
Bryant and Milam. There is also a good chance that Carolyn Bryant
herself was in the truck when they first went to kidnap Emmett, as
Bryant and Milam didn’t know what Emmett looked like and wanted
to make sure they got the “right one.” Regarding the two
black men, we will never know their side of the story because they
were never found to be investigated. It is not out of the question
that these men might have been threatened somehow into participating
in the lynching of Emmett Till. If they had already committed crimes,
they were certainly at the mercy of the state of Mississippi, a state
that had already proved not to have any sympathy whatsoever for even
law-abiding black citizens, let alone criminals. Therefore it is not
unbelievable that they might have feared for their own lives or those
of their loved ones if they did not do what Bryant and Milam wanted
them to do.
____________________________________
The prevailing view in
the South at that time was
that all black men lusted after white women.
____________________________________
Myth #5: Immediately after the lynching death of Emmett Till
became known, whites in and around Mississippi finally stood up to
condemn crimes like this and sympathized with Till’s mother in
her son’s gruesome death.
Truth: Originally the state of Mississippi did not want to
send Emmett’s body back to his hometown of Chicago to be buried
there. Only after a deal was struck and agreements made was it sent
back in a sealed box. The box had the seal of the state of Mississippi
and was meant never to be opened, obviously to hide what the absolute
worst of their society was capable of. However, Emmett’s mother
Mamie insisted it would be opened one way or another because she wanted
to see with her own eyes what they did to her child and to positively
identify him for legal purposes.
When pictures of the Emmett Till’s remains began to be seen around
the world, whites in Mississippi were angry at the outrage that blacks,
Northern whites, and foreigners expressed in relation to this crime.
Many grew resentful at the criticism they were receiving from “outsiders.”
When it came time for the trial of Milam and Bryant, blacks in Mississippi
were nervous about being around whites, who were clearly angry and
resentful that the case was brought to trial in the first place. Sympathy
went so far in the other direction that Bryant and Milam were commonly
portrayed as the victims, even while the court was seeking its “impartial”
jury to help decide the case. According to Mamie Till, “there
was a report that as much as $10,000 was collected for the defense
fund in the couple of weeks leading up to the trial.”
Even if the ridiculous notion that Bryant and Milam had nothing to
do with Emmett Till’s death were true, one would think people
would at least have enough sympathy and compassion for the mother
to treat her with kindness and respect to ease the pain of her great
loss. However, the fact that this was completely lacking shows how
little blacks’ feelings, emotions, hurt, and even very lives
were worth in Mississippi at that time. Mamie Till had a faint hope
that despite all these things against her that maybe a shred of justice
would be served in this seemingly cut-and-dry case. At the end, though,
she knew what the verdict was going to be, along with everybody else
associated with the case.
In conclusion, I wrote this article with the purpose of not only discrediting
some of the myths about this case but also providing enlightened revelations
about things that the reader might never have known. We must understand
the fullness of history in order to truly learn from it. We must not
avert our eyes from the gruesome results of the work of evil in our
society, because ignoring it, or pretending that it didn’t happen
to soothe our own conscience, is exactly what that very evil needs
in order to continue. The state of Mississippi wanted to bury Emmett’s
remains and hide them just as it had done with countless other black
men and women who never were able to live out their lives the way
God had intended. Certainly Mississippi is not the only state to blame.
Things like Emmett Till’s lynching unfortunately took place all
over the South. The North and other parts of the country are not beyond
reproach either, because terrible racial crimes have occurred everywhere.
Lynchings, bombings, and general terrorism were standard forms of
terrorism Southern society used to keep black people down. Too many
were killed, lynched, or just plain driven forever from their homes
over things like engaging in political activity, calling for more
civil rights and integration, or just for looking at white women the
“wrong way.” We have to remember that these events occurred
and that once upon a time in our history a certain minority of people
lived a literal nightmare every day of their lives.
____________________________________
We
must understand the fullness of history
in order to truly learn from it.
____________________________________
The true tragedy in this whole story is not necessarily what happened
to Emmett Till, because Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam were filled with
so much hate that if there had been no Emmett, eventually there probably
would have been somebody else who would have come along to spark their
short fuse. The real tragedy is how people behaved after that, all
the hatred directed towards the true victims when people were only
searching for justice, and other issues of confession and reconciliation
that have been missing right up to this day. Mamie Till-Mobley died
a few years ago, and as she states herself in the book, there was
never any sincere formal apology from any high-ranking Mississippi
official. That is a tragedy. To my knowledge there was never to this
day a marker, plaque, statue, or anything honoring Emmett Till in
the state of Mississippi. That is a tragedy. To my knowledge there
is nothing in official quarters honoring or acknowledging with reverence
all the black people in the history of the state of Mississippi or
any of the other Southern states who were lynched, murdered, denied
their rights, or unjustly driven from their homes for all this time.
That is a tragedy. To this day Mississippi flies a state flag that
still has the Rebel battle flag incorporated in its design, a symbol
that is the virtual trademark of the Ku Klux Klan. A symbol that is
forever associated with the fight to keep slavery an institution and
expand it and later on a symbol to express defiance against desegregation.
This is not a symbol of reconciliation, unity, or forgiveness; this
is a reminder of who is in charge and who will never be. The fact
that this symbol is still warmly held as a sign of Southern pride
is a tragedy.
Yes, society overall and Mississippi in particular have surely changed
a great deal since then, and mainly for the better. I am confident
that if the same crime happened today there would be a different result
(the perpetrators would not be acquitted), but should we just be satisfied
with that general consensus and be content that all the work to perfect
this society has been done? I say no. We still need to remember history
with a seasoned analytical eye and be ever cautious of separating
myth from truth. There are many lessons we need to take from history
showing us how we can become more compassionate and caring. Furthermore,
we are all a part of this great human family, and we need to encourage
that kind of closeness no matter who the person is or what color their
skin. We need to continue to strive to build bridges to each other,
stop accentuating our differences and focus on our similarities. We
must keep in mind that nobody is or should be better than anyone else.
It is this very feeling of supremacy that drove Bryant and Milam to
assert their superiority and brutally kill Emmett Till. It is this
same superiority that prevented the jury from being able to connect
with a mother’s loss and bring justice to this horrible crime.
Every destination we enjoy in the present was achieved from some pathways
in our collective past, and sometimes we arrived at these places from
very ugly beginnings. We need to always remember those so we can appreciate
and keep working and striving toward the common good. Finally, we
also need to remember, because lack of memory is all that evil needs
in order to try and rear its ugly head once again.
Theodore Christopher Jr. is a new writer who has
contributed to Urban Mozaik and Interracial Voice. He was born in Flint,
Michigan. He comes from a diverse family and works for a library system
in mid-Michigan. He has a special interest in political and interracial
issues.
This
website: Copyright © 2004
Dream World Media, LLC. / Urban Mozaik Magazine. All rights reserved.
The opinions expressed in Urban Mozaik Magazine are not necessarily
those of Urban Mozaik Magazine and the publisher cannot be held responsible
for them. This website/publication, in whole or in part, may not be
reproduced without written permission from the publisher.
