In 1955, an American Lady, Carolyn Bryant falsely accused a teenager, Emmet Till of putting his hand across her neck and making advances at her, OYOGist.com reports.
Read the story of how a young black boy was brutally murdered in Money, Mississippi by racist white men from Quora on OYOGist.com below:
Who do you feel sorry for, and why do you feel sorry for them?
I feel sorry for this woman.
Mrs. Mamie Till.
She faced so many tragedies in her life without any justice being served. Her husband was hanged on July 2, 1945. There was little explanation provided as to why he was executed.
They had one child together. His name was Emmet Till.
Emmett went to visit his uncle and cousins in Money Mississippi in August of 1955. Mamie warned her son on social etiquette in the south. As a young black man, there were some things that were totally forbidden in the south in that era. Some of those things are: (1) not saying yes ma’am or yes sir to a white person, even if they are your age or younger. (2) If a white person is walking in your path, you are to move out of the way. (3) Do not enter a segregated place.
Emmett was raised in Chicago. He was not accustomed to the harsh racism that was very strong in the southern states.
One fateful day when he was on vacation in Money he whistled at a white woman when he bought some candy. His cousins were afraid and they fled to a car and hid. He didn’t want his uncle (Mose Wright) to find out because he was afraid that he will be sent back to Chicago.
That turned out to be a fatal decision.
A few nights later around 2:00 AM, two men came to Mose Wright’s house. Roy Bryant and J.W Milam were the men who wanted to teach Emmett a “lesson” in southern etiquette. Armed with a pistol and flashlight he ordered Emmett to get dressed.
They took Emmett to a barn and beat him to death. They broken the entire left side of his face. Chopped his nose with an axe, cut off his left ear, knocked one of his eyes out and shot him. They tied a 75 lb cotton gin fan around his neck with some barbed wire and threw him in a river.
His poor mother was later alerted of the news that her son was kidnapped and killed.
Imagine having to see your child’s decaying mutilated body. Imagine the stench and horror that Mamie had to deal with.
Emmett’s brutally beaten body as his grief stricken mother looks on.
She made the hardest decision to leave his casket open so that the world could see what was done to her boy.
Emmett’s funeral in Chicago. (1955)
Emmett’s corpse
When she went to trial for the two men accused of the murder, she was treated like the criminal. The defense attorney said that she lied about her son’s death in order to collect his .10 cent life insurance policy. Whenever she was entering the court, there were children pointing cap guns at her yelling “bang bang bang” while their parents cheered.
The defense also claimed that Emmett tied the barbed wire around his own neck and tried to swim with the fan attached to it.
The verdict was “not guilty” after the jury deliberated for an hour. The only reason why it lasted an hour was because they drank soda pop and wanted to make it appear that they took a while to come to a conclusion.
Mamie never saw justice for her son’s death.
The killers later admitted to killing Emmett in a magazine interview (Look magazine).
She died in 2003. The woman who accused him for whistling is still alive today. Carolyn Bryant was the woman who exaggerated her story in court claiming that Emmett put his arms around her and making advances at her. This 14-year-old boy died because of racism and lies. I feel so bad that Emmett’s mother had to endure the pain and sorrow of burying her child and being treated like a criminal in court.
This story was culled from Quora and written by Darian Jackson.
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