TODAYS BLACK HISTORY FACT: In August 1955, fourteen-year-old Chicagoan Emmett Till visited relatives in Mississippi. At Bryants Grocery and Meat Market, a store owned by a white couple, Roy and Carolyn Bryant, Till is said to have whistled at Mrs. Bryant. Several days later, on Aug. 28, Till was kidnapped, brutally beaten, shot, and dumped in the Tallahatchie River, his mutilated corpse barely identifiable. Roy Bryant and his half-brother, J. W. Milam, were arrested for the murder. The all-white jury in Sumner, Mississippi, took just over an hour to reach their verdict to acquit them. One juror said that they took a soda-pop break during the deliberations to stretch them out and make it look good. With double-jeopardy protecting them from being retried, the two later boasted about the murder in a Look magazine interview. Although it was long believed that Bryant and Milam acted alone (both are now deceased), new evidence—much of it provided by a recent documentary about the case by Keith Beauchamp—indicates that numerous other individuals may have been involved—and several of those implicated are still alive. In May 2004, the Justice Department, calling the 1955 prosecution a grotesque miscarriage of justice, reopened the murder investigation. In June 2005, the FBI exhumed Tills body and had an autopsy performed. Beauchamp commented, I truly believe theres forensic evidence that could possibly link others who were involved. Im hoping it will bring justice for the family and bring them closure.
Posted on: Mon, 10 Feb 2014 13:31:09 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015