Emmett Till was a 14-year-old African American boy from Chicago. During the summer of 1955, Till was visiting family in Mississippi. On August 28, 1955, Emmett Till was murdered by Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam in Mississippi.

Till had allegedly sexually harassed Roy Bryant’s wife, Carolyn, at the Bryant’s grocery; Carolyn testified that Till had grabbed her hand forcefully and insisted that they go on a date. When she refused, Till chased her down the service counter and grabbed her by the waist stating that he had been with white women before and that she should not be afraid of him. Carolyn still refused and Till left the store. At this time, Carolyn went out to her car and retrieved a gun; Till whistled at her before running off with his friends.

Carolyn has since admitted to lying during her testimony; she states that Till was never aggressive with her. Carolyn also believes that although what Till did was frowned upon, he did not deserve to be beaten and murdered.

During the court case, Milam and Bryant stated that they had gone in the middle of the night to where Till was staying to retrieve him and bring him to the Bryant store for Carolyn to identify him. The two men claim to have let Till go at the store because Carolyn refused to identify him. In the end, the jury found the two men not guilty.

Jury members stated that they came to this decision because there was no proof that the body found was that of Emmett Till. Years later, several members of the jury were interviewed, and they said that the only reason they decided on not guilty was that a black boy had insulted a white woman and her family had every right to defend her. They did not doubt that Milam and Bryant had murdered Till or that the body found in the Tallahatchie River belonged to Till.

A year later, Milam and Bryant did an interview and said that they had lied on the stand. The two men recounted the events of that night and admitted to killing Till. They claim to have killed Till because he was not scared of them, which angered them.

Recently, an unserved arrest warrant for Carolyn Bryant was found. However, Mississippi grand jury declined to indict her. To this day, no one has been held responsible for the murder of Emmett Till

This information is from Timothy Tyson’s book “The Blood of Emmett Till” (2017)