1. Emmett Till
By Paige, Gareth, Nate and Roman

2. Background
• Born July 25, 1941 in Chicago
• Lived in Chicago for his entire life
• Mother Mamie Carthan Till
• Emmett was nice, humorous, innocent

3. The Story
• He went to Mississippi to visit family
• Showed a picture of white girl to some boys
• They challenge him to make a remark to a white
woman inside Bryant’s store
• Emmett was from the North where racism was less
severe, so he didn’t object
• He went in and supposedly whistled at the store
owners wife

4. Emmett Till Inspired
Short Film
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNi8rX-ExOo

5. The Lynching
• Roy Bryant and J.W Milan take
him from Mose Wright’s house in
the middle of the night and take
him to a shed
• After hours of being tortured they shoot him and
tie a 74 pound cotton gin fan around his neck
• They throw him in the Tallahatchie river

6. The After Effect
• Emmett is found in the river by two fishermen
• He was identified by his father’s ring that he was
wearing
• Bryant and Milan go to court but are acquitted by
an all white jury
• Later they tell their story to a magazine reporter
• Mamie Till: “The black people were afraid to talk
about it because they knew that if they opened
their big mouths, they would disappear as well.”

7. Song of Solomon
Reference
• Toni Morrison references Emmett Till in Song of
Solomon to show the monstrosity of white people
in the South
• Guitar: “So he whistled! So what!” Guitar was
steaming. “He supposed to die for that?”