The Face of Emmett Till

To sum up my research blog, I wanted to post about how photography helped capture the horrific aftermath of what happend to Emmett Till. The first photo was taken at his open casket funeral, and the second is a reference photo of what he looked like before the murder. This evidence was the only solid proof of the extent of what Milan and Bryant did to Bobo Till, and when it was published in Jet Magazine it sent America into a frenzy. This was one of the main turning points in support for the murderers, presumably from the reality of the truth setting in. White Americans, especially ones around Till's age seemed to be affected much more than the older populations. "You know, I remember in interviewing people in the course of doing [Eyes on the Prize] that it was not only young black people who spoke about Till, but young white people as well, who had the idea that this is someone our age, you know, a pre-teen really, or young teen, and if you can see that happening to a young black child down in Mississippi, it's not only black kids who say, "Well, it's not that I can't be the teacher or nurse, but if they kill people, this is serious," and that young white people also said, "If they're killing people, it's not just a matter of some folks don't like colored people, this is horrible, and this can't be allowed to go on. I've got to do something about this." All of this turn around in support was brought forth by Emmett's mother in her solid stance on having an open casket funeral; "Two months ago, I had a nice apartment in Chicago. I had a good job. I had a son. When something happened to the Negroes in the South I said, 'That's their business, not mine.' Now I know how wrong I was. The murder of my son has shown me that what happens to any of us, anywhere in the world, had better be the business of us all." A picture is worth a thousand words, but this picture has changed views and had people of all colors of skin questioning the rationale of their government ruling system. I wonder if this would change if this open casket photo wasn't published, if the media had that censorship control, it would be possible that the waves of change may not have come as soon as they did for equality in the United States. I am convinced that the murder of Emmett 'Bobo' Till was a huge head turner in terms of the human equality issues that were so evident then. A mere stepping stone on the path to equal rights for all. 

Tex, Big. "The Face of Emmett Till (Updated)." Daily Kos. N.p., 14 May 2009. Web. 4 Mar. 2014. <http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/05/14/731205/-The-Face-of-Emmett-Till-UPDATED

What Happened to Emmett Till's Killers?

After Look Magazine published an unapologetic interview with Emmett Till's murderers, William Bradford Huie wanted to update the public on how these peoples lives were going roughly a year following the killing. He starts by pointing out the fact that many people who were in support of Milan and Bryant whilst the court ruling was taking place have since changed their minds, or have doubts about their previous feelings towards the murder. "Milam and Bryant had admitted the abduction to arresting officers, denied the slaying; the prosecution had no witnesses to a murder; the defendants did not testify at the trial; and the jury found them not guilty...In this category were the defense lawyers, who, concededly [sic.], are honorable men. Only one of the five, in preparing the defense, dared ask Milam if he had, in fact, killed the young Negro. Milam cleared his throat to speak, but the lawyer, on second thought, stopped him." They did everything they could to keep the slate clean for the court case, but once they received the freeing words 'not guilty' they changed their story to make it an accidental killing. I find it unbelievable that the judge didn't ask flat out if these men had killed Emmett Till, so much of this case is corrupt, and that is why it had such an impact on the people of color as well as the media for being unable to really write out what is true, when the truth is being wrapped in lies in every form it is presented to the public. A way the African American communities stood up for their right to the truth, they boycotted all of the small stores that Milan and Bryant owned, and since that was their main market, within the year of the murder, these stores were shut down or sold. Though Milam isn't sorry for his acts of self defense and would do it again, he has been faced with a lot of hardships that surround his negative impulses. Many African Americans wouldn't work for him to pick cotton, which made both of his businesses suffer because he had to employ white people for a higher pay. Both men suffered a great deal of financial trouble, not to mention social troubles as well. The stigma around these murderers grew as time went on, making their lives more tough as the days went on. "So Milam is confused. He understands why the Negroes have turned on him, but he feels that the whites still approve what he did. Why, then, should they be less co-operative than when they were patting him on the back, contributing money to him and calling him a 'fine, red-blooded American?'" "Milam and Bryant will not be tried again; but as landless white men in the Mississippi Delta, and bearing the mark of Cain, they will come to regard the dark morning of August 28, 1955, as the most unfortunate of their lives." I really appreciated this article for bringing light on the fact that these men didn't get off completely from their wrong-doing. They were socially reprimanded, and by people of their own color, which was the most victorious for myself whilst reading. It is never discussed when talking of the murder and I feel like it is vital information that the media spreading the interviews of how they did kill Emmett Till but were still found not guilty rocked the community as a whole and had everyone against these men in one way or another, bringing them together. 

Bradford Huie, William. "What Happened to the Emmett Till Killers?." Look . 22. (1957): 63-66. Print. <http://www.emmetttillmurder.com/Look 1957.htm>.

AMERICA’S CIVIL RIGHTS REVOLUTION: THREE DOCUMENTARIES ABOUT EMMETT TILL’S MURDER IN MISSISSIPPI (1955) Terry Wagner

This section of a film book speaks about three documentaries about Emmett Till's murder, much like the title states. It starts by talking about a recent reinvestigation of the murder and autopsy done by FBI and government officials to double check some of the 'legends' that were discussed in two films produced about Till's murder. "For details about the abduction, beating, and murder of Till, journalists and
scholars have long relied on the confession of Milam and Bryant. Although William Bradford Huie’s ‘The shocking story of an approved killing,’ published in Look magazine in 1956, contradicted testimony of three witnesses at the murder trial, the confession was such a sensational account, and so widely read, that the killers’ version of events has been treated as definitive." Though the adoption of the Milam/Bryant confession was odd at the time, especially because the killers had lied not only about releasing Till but the timeline of events as they told it was almost impossible to make sense of, but it kept themselves safe, as well as white people 'safe' in the eyes of the colored population. The recent FBI investigative reports have proven the killer's testimony an undependable source. Eye witness accounts that previously would have proven them false but were overlooked do to racism that roared through our nation, proved that the murderers lied, but because newspapers where dominated by the white perspective, that's not what was considered true, or published until Jet Magazine's photos from the open casket funeral. "Footage of Emmett’s mother, Mamie Till, also emphasizes the strength of a woman who insisted that her son’s mutilated body be displayed in an open casket during his funeral and who traveled to Mississippi in order to observe the trial, despite death threats. As the narrator intones, ‘A few black people stood up to the system..."I felt this was a powerful example of the African American population, doing what they could at the time to show that this wasn't okay in any stretch of the imagination. It was one of the only ways, since anything that had to do with a colored perspective at the time was shut out of reports and courtrooms. "In a sound bite that still has the power to shock students, the heavyset Sheriff H. C. Strider provides his assessment of the lesson of Emmett Till:
‘We never have any trouble until some of our Southern niggers go up north, and the NAACP talks to them, and they come back home." What's even more shocking is the congratulatory manner in which Milan and Bryant were treated. The entry goes on to talk critically about the movies themselves, but I believe that it still made strong points of how African American were represented, or underrepresented in the media at this time, and also how the fight for equality began way before Rosa Parks didn't move from her seat on a bus. The colored community papers went to great length to report as much information as they could get, much of it coming after other publications and responses to what is being falsely stated about Emmett Till's murder.

Wagner, Terry. "America's Civil Rights Revolution: Three Documentaries About Emmett Till'sMurder in Mississippi (1955)." Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television. 30.2 (2010): 187-201. Print. <http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01439681003779093

A view from a friend...

In the article To be a 'Negro' Newsman- Reporting on The Emmett Till Murder Trial, we get a perspective of someone who was traveling with Till from Chicago, and was there when his murderers took him from the farmhouse they were staying. Simeon Booker's article, which was later published in Jet Magazine, was a testimony to the tough atmosphere of the courtroom and being African American reporting on a case that has such weight to their community and the importance of using media to report the truth so that everyone can know the details of this awful case. 'Said our guests: "The trial won't last two days. The State doesn't even know where this boy was killed. They have no murder weapon. They have hardly circumstantial evidence of a killing." Frustration builds while the white reporters do as much as they can to get the reporters of color out of the room to maintain a 'white' lens on the case, to avoid stirring up the African American population. "There was a vast wall between the races. There were the barriers of mistrust and lack of confidence." This article struck me because it wasn't solely about Emmett Till's murder, it was based on the actual experience of being in the court room as a colored reporter at the time and even with that title, still not being treated equally in society to report for their own community. "Thus, these newsmen became the only whites who actually knew of the
behind-the-scenes activity, and since they were involved they modestly have refrained from disclosing their roles in later stories."By squeezing out colored reporters, it was an attempt to sway the population to view the case with a white lens, keeping false dignity for those involved, when in the end, this brought more hate to the white population for not telling the story truthfully. I felt it was important to have at least one account reporting the life of a reporter of color at this time, because it rings true to the unjust society that the U.S. was in history, and can map why we manipulate the media in the present.

Booker, Simeon. "To Be a 'Negro' Newsman--Reporting on the Emmett Till Murder Trial." Newman Reports. 65.3 (2011): 26-27. Web. 4 Mar. 2014. <http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=44b6cac0-1377-43d6-857a-4c7323d490f3@sessionmgr4005&vid=4&hid=4209>.

THE WOLF-WHISTLE MURDER: A NEGRO "CHILD" OR "BOY" WHISTLED AT HER AND THEY KILLED HIM:

From the PBS produced movie, The Murder of Emmett Till, they have made a resource website with extra materials for in and out of classrooms. On this page, Killer's Confession. We got a spelled out version of what was said in Look Magazine with some added information for the sake of content and extra information so we, the later generations, can understand the context surrounding the murder itself.
I think the most interesting thing about this interview was that the killer's was the fact that Emmett was transported in the bed of a pick up truck and never jumped out even though he wasn't tied down for the sole reason that he didn't think these boys had the guts to kill him. The murderers claim that they were never planning on killing Bobo Till, they just wanted to scare him and push him around a bit. Milam: "We were never able to scare him. They had just filled him so full of poison that he was hopeless."After rounds of painfully torturing of Emmett, the two were not please with the little reaction they were receiving.

Milam: "Well, what else could we do? He was hopeless. I'm no bully; I never hurt a nigger in my life. I like niggers -- in their place -- I know how to work 'em. But I just decided it was time a few people got put on notice. As long as I live and can do anything about it, niggers are gonna stay in their place. Niggers ain't gonna vote where I live. If they did, they'd control the government. They ain't gonna go to school with my kids. And when a nigger gets close to mentioning sex with a white woman, he's tired o' livin'. I'm likely to kill him. Me and my folks fought for this country, and we got some rights. I stood there in that shed and listened to that nigger throw poison at me, and I just made up my mind. 'Chicago boy,' I said, 'I'm tired of 'em sending your kind down here to stir up trouble. Goddam you, I'm going to make an example of you -- just so everybody can know how me and my folks stand.'"

I found this as well as the description of how the rest of the murder was followed through a bit out of the normal scope of media for this time, and the media got a lot of backlash from the public, saying it was too raw, though I understand why they thought it was important. It is showing the public exactly what it happening beyond the scope of average racist crimes and that equality is a true end all remedy.

"American Experience." The Murder of Emmett till. PBS. Virginia, Arlington. 1996. Address. <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/till/sfeature/sf_look_confession.html