Your Name: Diana Text: “2004: The Murder of Emmet Till” 60

Date: 25.10.20 Minutes

Class:

Essential Questions:
What happened in the story of Emmet Till?
Why is this an important allusion in The Hate U Give?

Big Ideas, Main Topics, Important Dates, Specifics, Details, Quotations, Thoughts
Important Names, Questions About the Topics, Ideas, Questions on the Left

Emmet Till - From Chicago visiting relatives in

Mississippi
- He was 14 when he was kidnapped,
tortured, and killed
- Fan attached to his neck with barbed
wire as he was drowned
- Detached eye
- Ear cut off
- Shot in the head
- Nose had been chopped
- Teeth knocked out, only 2 left

Roy Bryant - Husband of Carol Bryant

J.W Milam - Responsible for killing Emmet
- Kidnapped Emmet
- Milam threatened uncle about telling
anyone
- Milam threatened Willie to kill him if
he told anyone what he heard in the
barn
- Had double jeopardy protection so
they can’t be put to trial again
- 4 months after trial them admitted to
the torture and murder of Emmet Till

Carol Bryant - Wife of Roy Bryant

- Believed to be in the truck the night
Emmet Till was abducted from his
house
- Identified Emmet Till that night
- Doesn’t want to talk about Emmet Till

Bryant’s meat market and grocery store - Emmet Till whistled at Carol Bryant as
he was leaving the store

Simeon Wright - Emmet Till’s cousin

- 12 years old when he and Emmet went
to the store
- Witnessed Emmet getting kidnapped
2:30 am at the home of Mose Wright (Emmet - In the middle of the night Roy Bryant
Till’s uncle) and J.W Milam found Emmet there

Aunt of Emmet - Offered money to the two white men

instead of taking Emmet but they
refused

August 31, 1955 - 3 days after Emmet Till’s abduction he

was found in the Tallahatchie river

Sheriff Clarence Strider - Tried to have Emmet Till’s body

buried quickly in a small cemetery in
Mississippi, keeping him hidden form
the outside world

Mamie Till - Mother of Emmet

- Got her son back to Chicago for a
proper burial
- Determined to never let anyone forget
the brutal way he son was killed
- Wanted to make sure that everyone
knew that not only black men were in
danger bt also black children
- In 1955, she sent a telegraph to the
president urging for justice

Emmet Till’s funeral - Open casket

- Over 50,000 black people attended
- Ignited protests and civil disobedience

Trial of Roy Briant and J.W. Milam
- Held the same day of Emmet’s burial
- Charges of kidnapping and murder
- All white jury
- Took the jury 1 hour and 7 minutes to
proclaim Roy and Milam as innocent

Mose Wright - Main witness in the trial

- Pointed a finger at the two men and
identified them as the ones who came
into his home and abducted the 14
year old boy

Willie Reed - 18 year old

- Another witness
- On the morning after Emmet Till was
abducted he say Emmet on a truck
with 6 people (the two white men, two
other white men, and two black)
- Saw the same truck parked in front of
a barn and heard screams of Emmet
Till
Keith Bauchamp - Devoted life to uncover the truth
about what happened to Emmet Till
- Discovered 5 of the people involved in
the murder of Emmet Till are still
alive
- Helped reopen the case of Emmet Till

Henry Lee Loggins - Working for Milam at the time of the

murder
- Wtineses claim the saw him on the
truck with the boy
- Believed to have held the boy down
while he was tortured
- Believed to have attached to fan to
Emmet’s neck before throwing him in
the river
- Denied all allegations

Text: “New Revelations in 1955 Lynching of 14 year old Emmet Till” CBSN

Accusations of physical assault - It was said that Emmet had grabbed

Carol Bryant by the waist and he
wouldn’t let her go
- It was said Emmet asked Carol to date
- Carol Briant denies accusations and
says none of that is correct

Emmet Till - From Chicago

- 14 years old
- Dragged out of the house 8
- Beaten beyond recognition
- Eyes gouged out
- Stabbed
- Ear was cut off
- Witness heard his scream
- They jumped up and down on his
bone to break it

Mamie Till - Wanted people to see Emmet as a

human being not as a victim of a
horrible crime
- Told Emmet about southern racial
etiquette
- Told him how to act

Memoir about Emmet - Made by Emmet

- People get to know Emmet better
- Shows how sweet Emmet was

Abduction of Emmet Till - The white men come on the middle of

the night (Carol’s husband and a few
 other men)
- Men carrying the smell of whiskey,
with flashlights and pistols
- Drag Emmet out of the house
- Terror, fear and sadness around the
house

Carol Bryant - During interview she showed remorse

and pain
- Damaged by what she has done
- Often thought of Mamie and what
pain she had caused her

Jury - 9 of the 12 jurors knew the whote men

were guilty but

Sheriff Strider - Questioned Maime if that was her real

son
- Thought Maime was lying since the
body was so badly decomposed
- Asked her how she knew the body was
black or white
- Said that was a random body put in
the river to make it look like it was
Emmet
- Believed Emmet was somewhere in
Chicago living his life

Emmet Till’s case - People the same age as Emmet Till

called themselves the Emmet Till
generation
- This case changed the course of
American history
- This case created a movement
- Showed that the social system rested
upon violence

Summary (brief account of the main points), Reflection, Larger Significance (So what?), Key
Takeaways, Connections to Other Texts or Life:

Emmet Till was only 14 years old when a small and innocent whistle turned into abduction,
torture, and murder. The brutal murder of Emmet Till caused a lot of grief in his family.
Although the people responsible for the young boy’s murder were never held accountable for
their actions, this case ignited protests and civil disobedience, and even caused a young boy to
devote his life to finding the full and real story of Emmet Till.

When they were explaining how the only thing Emmet did was whistle at Carol who was 21 I
was shocked at the consequences the boy suffered. I was so surprised that it was taken so
seriously. Furthermore, I was very amazed by the fact that black people took part in the
torture of Emmet. Although they wre probably forced and threatened, they still made the
decision to watch and help with the torture of one of their own people, who was also a very
young boy. I also can’t believe that the white jury pronounced the two white men as innocent
even though I'm sure he knew they were guilty. Sure, racism was very severe back in the day,
but like the black men, the jury and the judge had a decision to make, a decision that could
have had an impact not only on the two white men, but the family of Emmet. When Mamie
spoke about seeing her son I could see the pain she was forced to go through. It was clear to
the audience that seeing her son deformed and with so many finds scarred her for life.

I think the purpose of this video is not only to tell the story of Emmet Till, but to show people
how this is still happening today. It shows people that racism isn’t something that exists for a
certain period of time and then disappears. Even today, we can see the brutality against not
only black men and children, like it was back in the days, but also black women. The audience
can make many connections with cases of torture and deaths today with Emmet Till’s case.
Although racism isn’t as severe as it was before, it still exists, and this video shows us that we
have to acknowledge it and find ways to stop it.

This is an important allusion in The Hatu U Give because it is an example of brutality caused
by racism. Khalil’s death is supposed to relate to the murder of Emmet Till, even thought it
wasn’t so brutal and horrific, and show that racism has not stopped throughout the years.
Furthermore, it was very important that Emmet Till was mentioned in the book when Hailey
unfollowed Starr after she reposted a picture of him since it shows that some white people
don’t want to accept the fact that there is racism in the world. It shows that white people are
the cause of racism and are the main group of people that practice it and they still don’t want
to accept the fact that they are the cause of most of the brutal murders of black people.