104-545: Mound Bayou is a city in Bolivar County , Mississippi , United States. The population was 1,533 at the 2010 census , down from 2,102 in 2000. It was founded as an independent black community in 1887 by former slaves led by Isaiah Montgomery . Mound Bayou Historic District is listed on the National Register of Historic Places . Mound Bayou has a 96.8% African-American majority population in 2020, one of
208-691: A 1915 report in the Cincinnati Labor Advocate , Mound Bayou's school was attended by more than 300 students who were forced to make use of equipment held to be "inadequate for 50 pupils". Teachers at the school were "poorly paid" and the school year limited to only five months. St. Gabriel Mission School in Mound Bayou was of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Jackson (formerly Roman Catholic Diocese of Natchez and Roman Catholic Diocese of Jackson-Natchez). It opened as
312-616: A 70-pound (32 kg) fan—the only time they admitted to being worried, thinking that by this time in early daylight they would be spotted and accused of stealing—and drove for several miles along the river looking for a place to dispose of Till. They shot him by the river and weighted his body with the fan. Mose Wright stayed on his front porch for 20 minutes waiting for Till to return. He did not go back to bed. Wright and another man went into Money, got gasoline, and drove around trying to find Till. Unsuccessful, they returned home by 8:00 a.m. After hearing from Wright that he would not call
416-714: A K-8 school on September 7, 1954. The high school opened in 1958. In 1961 the high school closed. Its non-preschool grades ended in 1994 when it was converted into a preschool. The preschool closed in 2001. On July 1, 2014, the North Bolivar School District consolidated with the Mound Bayou Public School District to form the North Bolivar Consolidated School District. John F. Kennedy Memorial High School in Mound Bayou, formerly
520-508: A Sumner law firm offered their services pro bono . Their supporters placed collection jars in stores and other public places in the Delta, eventually gathering $ 10,000 for the defense (about $ 114,500 in 2023). The trial was held in the county courthouse in Sumner, the western seat of Tallahatchie County, because Till's body was found in this area. Sumner had one boarding house; the small town
624-641: A U.S. Supreme Court ruling that segregated buses were unconstitutional. According to historians, events surrounding Till's life and death continue to resonate. An Emmett Till Memorial Commission was established in the early 21st century. The county courthouse in Sumner was restored and includes the Emmett Till Interpretive Center. 51 sites in the Mississippi Delta are memorialized as associated with Till. The Emmett Till Antilynching Act , an American law which makes lynching
728-592: A black school was founded by the American Missionary Association . African Americans throughout the United States celebrated the Mound Bayou example. In 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt ordered his train to make a special stop in the town. From the platform, he proclaimed that he was witnessing “an object lesson full of hope for the colored people and therefore full of hope for the white people, too.” Four years later, Washington, in
832-467: A black teenager walking along a road. Bryant ordered Washington to seize the boy, put him in the back of a pickup truck, and took him to be identified by a companion of Carolyn's who had witnessed the episode with Till. Friends or parents vouched for the boy in Bryant's store, and Carolyn's companion denied that the boy Bryant and Washington seized was the one who had accosted her. Somehow, Bryant learned that
936-487: A fan blade fastened around his neck with barbed wire. Till was nude, but wearing a silver ring with the initials "L. T." and "May 25, 1943" carved in it. His face was unrecognizable due to trauma and having been submerged in water. Mose Wright was called to the river to identify Till. The silver ring that Till was wearing was removed, returned to Wright, and passed on to the district attorney as evidence. Although lynchings and racially motivated murders had occurred throughout
1040-516: A federal hate crime , was signed into law on March 29, 2022, by President Joe Biden . Emmett Till was born to Mamie and Louis Till on July 25, 1941, in Chicago. Emmett's mother, Mamie, was born in the small Delta town of Webb, Mississippi . The Delta region encompasses the large, multi-county area of northwestern Mississippi in the watershed of the Yazoo and Mississippi rivers. When Carthan
1144-439: A large lot and surrounded by Howard's armed guards, it resembled a compound. The day before the start of the trial, a young black man named Frank Young arrived to tell Howard he knew of two witnesses to the crime. Levi "Too Tight" Collins and Henry Lee Loggins were black employees of Leslie Milam, J. W.'s brother, in whose shed Till was beaten. Collins and Loggins were spotted with J. W. Milam, Bryant, and Till. The prosecution team
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#17327868538491248-402: A laugh out of us or something," adding, "He was always joking around, and it was hard to tell when he was serious." Wright stated that following the whistle, he became immediately alarmed. "Well, it scared us half to death," Wright recalled. "You know, we were almost in shock. We couldn't get out of there fast enough, because we had never heard of anything like that before. A black boy whistling at
1352-522: A local businessman, surgeon, and civil rights proponent and one of the wealthiest black people in the state, warned of a "second civil war" if "slaughtering of Negroes" were allowed. Following Roy Wilkins' comments, white opinion began to shift. According to historian Stephen J. Whitfield , a specific brand of xenophobia in the South was particularly strong in Mississippi. Whites were urged to reject
1456-459: A reporter that she would seek legal aid to help law enforcement find her son's killers and that the State of Mississippi should share the financial responsibility. She was misquoted; it was reported as "Mississippi is going to pay for this." The A. A. Rayner Funeral Home in Chicago received Till's body. Upon arrival, Bradley insisted on viewing it to make a positive identification, later stating that
1560-503: A significant local civil rights movement, and remains a mostly black area today. According to the U.S. Census Bureau , the county has a total area of 906 square miles (2,350 km ), of which 877 square miles (2,270 km ) is land and 29 square miles (75 km ) (3.2%) is water. It is the second-largest county in Mississippi by land area and fourth-largest by total area. As of the 2020 United States Census , there were 30,985 people, 12,114 households, and 7,719 families residing in
1664-575: A speech to a crowd of thousands, hailed Mound Bayou as a “place where a Negro may get inspiration by seeing what other members of his race have accomplished...[and] where he has an opportunity to learn some of the fundamental duties and responsibilities of social and civic life.” By 1900 two-thirds of the owners of land in the bottomlands were black farmers. With the loss of political power due to state disenfranchisement , high debt and continuing agricultural problems, most of them lost their land and by 1920 were landless sharecroppers . As cotton prices fell,
1768-534: A white couple, 24-year-old Roy Bryant and his 21-year-old wife Carolyn. The facts of what took place in the store are still disputed. Journalist William Bradford Huie reported that Till showed the youths outside the store a photograph of a white girl in his wallet, and bragged that she was his girlfriend. Till's cousin Curtis Jones said the photograph was of an integrated class at the school Till attended in Chicago. According to Huie and Jones, one or more of
1872-546: A white woman? In Mississippi? No." Wright stated "The Ku Klux Klan and night riders were part of our daily lives". Following his disappearance, a newspaper account stated that Till sometimes whistled to alleviate his stuttering. His speech was sometimes unclear; Mamie said he had particular difficulty with pronouncing "b" sounds, and he may have whistled to overcome problems asking for bubble gum. She said that, to help with his articulation, Mamie taught Till how to whistle softly to himself before pronouncing his words. During
1976-574: Is a crowning achievement in the struggle for self-determination and economic empowerment. U.S. Routes 61 and 278 bypass Mound Bayou to the west and lead south 9 miles (14 km) to Cleveland , the largest city in Bolivar County, and north 27 miles (43 km) to Clarksdale . According to the United States Census Bureau , the city of Mound Bayou has a total area of 0.9 square miles (2.3 km), all land. As of
2080-623: Is in Moorhead in Sunflower County . School districts: Former school districts: The five school districts other than the Cleveland School District, were, in 2012, among the 20 smallest of the 152 school districts in the State of Mississippi. In the State of Mississippi, Bolivar County was the only county that had six school districts. Consolidation was urged to save money and facilitate cooperation. In 2012
2184-484: Is named in honor of Simón Bolívar , early 19th-century leader of the liberation of several South American territories from Spain . The Cleveland, Mississippi, Micropolitan Statistical Area includes all of Bolivar County. It is located in the Mississippi Delta , or Yazoo Basin, of Mississippi. This area was first developed for cotton plantations. Large industrial-scale agricultural operations have reduced
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#17327868538492288-406: Is quoted by Tyson as saying, "Nothing that boy did could ever justify what happened to him." However, the tape recordings that Tyson made of the interviews with Bryant do not contain Bryant saying this. In addition, Bryant's daughter-in-law, who was present during Tyson's interviews, says that Bryant never said it. Decades later, Simeon Wright also challenged the account given by Carolyn Bryant at
2392-440: The 2020 United States Census , there were 1,534 people, 641 households, and 376 families residing in the city. As of the 2010 United States Census , there were 1,533 people living in the city. The racial makeup of the city was 98.0% Black, 0.9% White, 0.1% Asian and 0.1% from two or more races. 0.9% were Hispanic or Latino of any race. As of the census of 2000, there were 2,102 people, 687 households, and 504 families living in
2496-649: The Mississippi Senate Education Committee passed a bill asking the State of Mississippi to consolidate the six school districts in Bolivar County to three or two. The Mississippi Senate passed the bill 37–11. As recently as the 1960s the school board of Bolivar County censored what black children were allowed to learn, and mandated that "Neither foreign languages nor civics shall be taught in Negro schools. Nor shall American history from 1860 to 1875 be taught.” The Bolivar Commercial
2600-642: The Regional Council of Negro Leadership which organized a boycott against service stations that refused to provide restrooms for black people. The RCNL's annual rallies in Mound Bayou between 1952 and 1955 drew crowds of ten thousand or more. During the trial of Emmett Till 's killers, black reporters and witnesses stayed in Howard's Mound Bayou home, and Howard gave them an armed escort to the courthouse in Sumner . Author Michael Premo wrote: Mound Bayou
2704-529: The United States Supreme Court 's 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education to end segregation in public education, which it ruled unconstitutional. Many segregationists believed the ruling would lead to interracial dating and marriage. Whites strongly resisted the court's ruling; one Virginia county closed all its public schools to prevent integration. Other jurisdictions simply ignored
2808-600: The White Citizens' Councils , and the Cold War , all of which were played out in a drama staged in newspapers all over the U.S. and abroad. After Till went missing, a three-paragraph story was printed in The Greenwood Commonwealth and quickly picked up by other Mississippi newspapers. They reported on his death when the body was found. The next day, when a picture of him his mother had taken
2912-610: The 100 "most influential images of all time": "For almost a century, African Americans were lynched with regularity and impunity. Now, thanks to a mother's determination to expose the barbarousness of the crime, the public could no longer pretend to ignore what they couldn't see." On September 6, Till was buried at Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip, Illinois . News about Emmett Till spread to both coasts. Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley and Illinois Governor William Stratton also became involved, urging Mississippi Governor White to see that justice
3016-483: The Mississippi Delta. The chief surgeon was T.R.M. Howard , who eventually became one of the wealthiest black men in the state. Howard owned a plantation of more than 1,000 acres (4.0 km), a home-construction firm, and a small zoo, and he built the first swimming pool for black people in Mississippi. In 1952, Medgar Evers moved to Mound Bayou to sell insurance for Howard's Magnolia Mutual Life Insurance Company. Howard introduced Evers to civil rights activism through
3120-631: The Mississippi River, and white hostility in the region contributed to the economic failure of Davis Bend. Isaiah T. Montgomery led the founding of Mound Bayou in 1887 in northwest Mississippi. The bottomlands of the Delta were a relatively undeveloped frontier, and freedmen had a chance to make money by clearing land and using the profits to buy lands in such frontier areas. In 1892, the Mound Bayou Normal Institute ,
3224-455: The NAACP. In response, NAACP executive secretary Roy Wilkins characterized the incident as a lynching and said that Mississippi was trying to maintain white supremacy through murder. He said, "there is in the entire state no restraining influence of decency, not in the state capital, among the daily newspapers, the clergy, nor any segment of the so-called better citizens." Mamie Till-Bradley told
Mound Bayou, Mississippi - Misplaced Pages Continue
3328-461: The South for decades, the circumstances surrounding Till's murder and the timing acted as a catalyst to attract national attention to the case of a 14-year-old boy who had allegedly been killed for breaching a social caste system. Till's murder aroused feelings about segregation, law enforcement, relations between the North and South, the social status quo in Mississippi, the activities of the NAACP and
3432-417: The South, interracial relationships were prohibited as a means to maintain white supremacy . Even the suggestion of sexual contact between black men and white women could carry severe penalties for black men. A resurgence of the enforcement of such Jim Crow laws was evident following World War II , when African-American veterans started pressing for equal rights in the South. Racial tensions increased after
3536-418: The South. Till assured her that he understood. Statistics on lynchings began to be collected in 1882. Since that time, more than 500 African Americans have been killed by extrajudicial violence in Mississippi alone, and more than 3,000 across the South. Most of the incidents took place between 1876 and 1930; though far less common by the mid-1950s, these racially motivated murders still occurred. Throughout
3640-431: The United States, following McDowell County, West Virginia . The national average is 76.1 years for a male. Senators Robert F. Kennedy and Joseph S. Clark, Jr. had visited "pockets of poverty" in the Mississippi Delta 40 years earlier. In Cleveland, they observed barefoot, underfed African-American children in tattered clothing, with vacant expressions and distended bellies. Kennedy stated that he thought he had seen
3744-511: The United States. Intense scrutiny was brought to bear on the lack of black civil rights in Mississippi, with newspapers around the U.S. critical of the state. Although local newspapers and law enforcement officials initially decried the violence against Till and called for justice, they responded to national criticism by defending Mississippians, giving support to the killers. In September 1955, an all-white jury found Bryant and Milam not guilty of Till's murder. Protected against double jeopardy ,
3848-468: The acquittal of his killers drew attention to the long history of violent persecution of African Americans in the United States. Till posthumously became an icon of the civil rights movement . Till was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. During summer vacation in August 1955, he was visiting relatives near Money, Mississippi , in the Mississippi Delta region. Till spoke to 21-year-old Carolyn Bryant,
3952-420: The age of 18 living with them, 24.7% were married couples living together, 43.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.5% were non-families. 24.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.06 and the average family size was 3.66. In the city, the population was spread out, with 34.7% under
4056-428: The age of 18 living with them, 38.20% were married couples living together, 27.30% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.40% were non-families. 25.30% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.90% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.79 and the average family size was 3.36. In the county, the population was spread out, with 29.60% under
4160-460: The age of 18, 12.9% from 18 to 24, 23.5% from 25 to 44, 19.1% from 45 to 64, and 9.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 27 years. For every 100 females, there were 78.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 67.6 males. The median income for a household in the city was $ 17,972, and the median income for a family was $ 19,770. Males had a median income of $ 21,700 versus $ 18,988 for females. The per capita income for
4264-468: The age of 18, 14.00% from 18 to 24, 25.70% from 25 to 44, 19.60% from 45 to 64, and 11.00% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 30 years. For every 100 females there were 87.80 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 81.70 males. The median income for a household in the county was $ 23,428, and the median income for a family was $ 27,301. Males had a median income of $ 27,643 versus $ 20,774 for females. The per capita income for
Mound Bayou, Mississippi - Misplaced Pages Continue
4368-607: The boy from his great-uncle's yard, but claimed they had released him the same night in front of Bryant's store. Bryant and Milam were arrested for kidnapping . Word got out that Till was missing, and soon Medgar Evers , Mississippi state field secretary for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and Amzie Moore , head of the NAACP's Bolivar County chapter, became involved. They disguised themselves as cotton pickers and went into
4472-428: The boy in the incident was from Chicago and was staying with Mose Wright. Several witnesses overheard Bryant and his 36-year-old half-brother, John William "J. W." Milam, discussing taking Till from his house. In the early morning hours of August 28, 1955, sometime between 2:00 and 3:30 a.m., Bryant and Milam drove to Mose Wright's house. Armed with a pistol and a flashlight, he asked Wright if he had three boys in
4576-556: The case against Milam and Bryant was "pretty good", on September 3 announced his doubts that the body pulled from the Tallahatchie River was that of Till. He speculated that the boy was probably still alive. Strider suggested that the recovered body had been planted by the NAACP: a corpse stolen by T. R. M. Howard, who colluded to place Till's ring on it. Strider changed his account after comments were published in
4680-580: The circumstances abhorrent. Local newspaper editorials denounced the murderers without question. Leflore County Deputy Sheriff John Cothran stated, "The white people around here feel pretty mad about the way that poor little boy was treated, and they won't stand for this." However, discourse about Till's murder soon became more complex. Robert B. Patterson , executive secretary of the segregationist White Citizens' Council, used Till's death to claim that racial segregation policies were to provide for blacks' safety and that their efforts were being neutralized by
4784-713: The city was $ 8,227. About 41.9% of families and 45.6% of the population were below the poverty line , including 58.5% of those under age 18 and 34.5% of those age 65 or over. The city of Mound Bayou is served by the North Bolivar Consolidated School District , which operates I.T. Montgomery Elementary School in Mound Bayou and Northside High School in Shelby . The elementary school is named after Mound Bayou cofounder Isaiah T. Montgomery. From its earliest years, Mound Bayou has struggled with inadequate educational infrastructure. According to
4888-480: The city. The population density was 2,395.1 inhabitants per square mile (924.8/km). There were 723 housing units at an average density of 823.8 per square mile (318.1/km). The racial makeup of the city was 98.43% African American , 0.05% Native American , 0.24% Asian , 0.81% White , 0.05% from other races , and 0.43% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.38% of the population. There were 687 households, out of which 38.4% had children under
4992-425: The cotton fields in search of any information that might help find Till. Three days after his abduction and murder, Till's swollen and disfigured body was found by two boys who were fishing in the Tallahatchie River. His head was very badly mutilated: he had been shot above the right ear, an eye was dislodged from the socket, there was evidence that he had been beaten on the back and the hips, and his body weighted by
5096-506: The country, notably appearing in Jet magazine and The Chicago Defender , both black publications, generating intense public reaction. According to The Nation and Newsweek , Chicago's black community was "aroused as it has not been over any similar act in recent history". Time later selected one of the Jet photographs showing Mamie Till over the mutilated body of her dead son, as one of
5200-468: The county was $ 12,088. About 27.90% of families and 33.30% of the population were below the poverty line , including 43.90% of those under age 18 and 27.90% of those age 65 or over. According to the most recent data on U.S. life expectancy, published in 2010 by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation , a male in Bolivar County could expect to live 65.0 years, the second shortest for any county in
5304-400: The county. As of the 2010 United States Census , there were 34,145 people living in the county. 64.5% were Black or African American , 33.5% White , 0.6% Asian , 0.1% Native American , 0.9% of some other race and 0.6% of two or more races . 1.9% were Hispanic or Latino (of any race). As of the census of 2000, there were 40,633 people, 13,776 households, and 9,725 families living in
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#17327868538495408-521: The county. The population density was 46 people per square mile (18/km ). There were 14,939 housing units at an average density of [7] per square mile (7/km ). The racial makeup of the county was 65.11% Black or African American , 33.24% White , 0.10% Native American , 0.49% Asian , 0.01% Pacific Islander , 0.48% from other races , and 0.56% from two or more races. 1.17% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. There were 13,776 households, out of which 35.20% had children under
5512-471: The couple's separation, Bradley visited Mamie and began threatening her. At 11 years old, Till, with a butcher knife in hand, told Bradley he would kill him if the man did not leave. Till was typically happy, however. He and his cousins and friends pulled pranks on each other (Till once took advantage of an extended car ride when his friend fell asleep and placed the friend's underwear on his head), and they also spent their free time in pickup baseball games. Till
5616-613: The downfall of Mississippi society, but whites like those in White Citizens' Councils that condoned violence. Till's body was clothed, packed in lime, placed into a pine coffin, and prepared for burial. It may have been embalmed while in Mississippi. Mamie Till-Bradley demanded that the body be sent to Chicago; she later said that she worked to halt an immediate burial in Mississippi and called several local and state authorities in Illinois and Mississippi to make sure that her son
5720-632: The government. They ain't gonna go to school with my kids. And when a nigger gets close to mentioning sex with a white woman, he's tired o' livin'. I'm likely to kill him. Me and my folks fought for this country, and we got some rights. I stood there in that shed and listened to that nigger throw that poison at me, and I just made up my mind. 'Chicago boy,' I said, 'I'm tired of 'em sending your kind down here to stir up trouble. Goddam you, I'm going to make an example of you—just so everybody can know how me and my folks stand.' —J. W. Milam, Look magazine, 1956 In an interview with William Bradford Huie that
5824-539: The head and sinking his body in the Tallahatchie River . Three days later, Till's mutilated and bloated body was discovered and retrieved from the river. Till's body was returned to Chicago, where his mother insisted on a public funeral service with an open casket , which was held at Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ . It was later said that "The open-coffin funeral held by Mamie Till Bradley exposed
5928-525: The home of Mose and Elizabeth Wright in Money, Mississippi, on August 21, 1955. On the evening of August 24, Till and several young relatives and neighbors were driven by his cousin Maurice Wright to Bryant's Grocery and Meat Market to buy candy. Till's companions were children of sharecroppers and had been picking cotton all day. The market mostly served the local sharecropper population and was owned by
6032-573: The house from Chicago. Till was sharing a bed with another cousin and there were a total of eight people in the cabin. Milam asked Wright to take them to "the nigger who did the talking." Till's great-aunt offered the men money, but Milam refused as he rushed Emmett to put on his clothes. Mose Wright informed the men that Till was from up north and did not know any better. Milam reportedly then asked, "How old are you, preacher?" to which Wright responded, "64." Milam threatened that if Wright told anybody, he would not live to see 65. The men marched Till out to
6136-492: The influence of Northern opinion and agitation. This independent attitude was profound enough in Tallahatchie County that it earned the nickname "The Freestate of Tallahatchie", according to a former sheriff, "because people here do what they damn well please", making the county often difficult to govern. Tallahatchie County Sheriff Clarence Strider, who initially positively identified Till's body and stated that
6240-419: The largest of any community in the United States. The current mayor of Mound Bayou is Leighton Aldridge. Mound Bayou traces its origin to freed African Americans from the community of Davis Bend, Mississippi . Davis Bend was started in the 1820s by planter Joseph E. Davis (elder brother of former Confederate president Jefferson Davis ), who intended to create a model slave community on his plantation. Davis
6344-842: The local boys then dared Till to speak to Bryant. However, in his 2009 book, Till's cousin Simeon Wright, who was present, disputed the accounts of Huie and Jones. According to Wright, Till did not have a photo of a white girl, and nobody dared him to flirt with Bryant. Speaking in 2015, Wright said: "We didn't dare him to go to the store—the white folk said that. They said that he had pictures of his white girlfriend. There were no pictures. They never talked to me. They never interviewed me." The FBI report completed in 2006 notes: "[Curtis] Jones recanted his 1955 statements prior to his death and apologized to Mamie Till-Mobley". According to both Simeon Wright and Wheeler Parker, Till wolf-whistled at Bryant. Wright said, "I think [Emmett] wanted to get
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#17327868538496448-531: The marriage dissolved in 1952, "Pink" Bradley returned alone to Detroit. Mamie Till-Bradley and Emmett lived together in a busy neighborhood in Chicago's South Side near distant relatives. She began working as a civilian clerk for the U.S. Air Force for a better salary. She recalled that Till was industrious enough to help with chores at home, although he sometimes got distracted. Till's mother remembered that he did not know his own limitations at times. Following
6552-440: The more extreme details of Bryant's story were invented after the fact as part of the defense's legal strategy. After Wright and Till left the store, Bryant went outside to retrieve a pistol from underneath the seat of a car. Till and his companions saw her do this and left immediately. It was acknowledged that Till whistled while Bryant was going to her car. However, one witness, Roosevelt Crawford, maintained that Till's whistle
6656-525: The murder trial, Bryant testified that Till grabbed her hand while she was stocking candy and said, "How about a date, baby?" Bryant said that after she freed herself from his grasp, Till followed her to the cash register, grabbed her waist and said, "What's the matter baby, can't you take it?" Bryant said she freed herself, and Till said, "You needn't be afraid of me, baby", used "one 'unprintable' word" and said "I've been with white women before." Bryant also alleged that one of Till's companions came into
6760-464: The number of farm workers needed, and the population is half of its peak in 1930. Today, soybeans, corn, and rice are also commodity crops. In 1836, when it was founded, the land was originally Choctaw, and was taken for use in agriculture, with some of the most valued land in the state. In 1840, there was only one free black person, 384 free whites, and 971 enslaved people, making its population 60% slaves. This number only increased, because around 1860,
6864-453: The one who had talked to her. Milam and Bryant tied up Till in the back of a green pickup truck and drove toward Money, Mississippi. According to some witnesses, they took Till back to Bryant's Groceries and recruited two black men. The men then drove to a barn in Drew , pistol-whipping Till on the way and reportedly knocked him unconscious. Willie Reed , who was 18 years old at the time, saw
6968-466: The police because he feared for his life, Curtis Jones placed a call to the Leflore County sheriff, and another to his mother in Chicago. Distraught, she called Emmett's mother Mamie Till-Bradley. Wright and his wife Elizabeth drove to Sumner , where Elizabeth's brother contacted the sheriff. Bryant and Milam were questioned by Leflore County sheriff George Smith. They admitted they had taken
7072-544: The political system since 1890 when the white-dominated legislature passed a new constitution that raised barriers to voter registration. Whites had also passed ordinances establishing racial segregation and Jim Crow laws . Mamie largely raised Emmett with her mother; she and Louis Till separated in 1942 after Mamie discovered that he had been unfaithful. Louis later assaulted Mamie, choking her to unconsciousness, to which she responded by throwing scalding water at him. For violating court orders to stay away from Mamie, Louis Till
7176-408: The population was about 87% slaves, due to its mostly agricultural economy, and continued to gain a high black population, relating to it being in the delta, and mound bayou's pressure for African-Americans to move to the delta. The county had 18 documented lynchings in the period from 1877 to 1950. In the 1920s, Bolivar county was a hotspot for UNIA chapters, with 17 chapters, and by 1960, it had
7280-418: The press denigrating the people of Mississippi, later saying: "The last thing I wanted to do was to defend those peckerwoods . But I just had no choice about it." Bryant and Milam were indicted for murder. The state's prosecuting attorney, Hamilton Caldwell, was not confident that he could get a conviction in a case of white violence against a black male accused of insulting a white woman. A local black paper
7384-498: The previous Christmas showing them smiling together appeared in the Jackson Daily News and Vicksburg Evening Post , editorials and letters to the editor were printed expressing shame at the people who had caused Till's death. One read, "Now is the time for every citizen who loves the state of Mississippi to 'Stand up and be counted' before hoodlum white trash brings us to destruction." The letter said that Negroes were not
7488-417: The road to a water well near the barn, where they were approached by Milam. Milam asked if they heard anything. Reed responded, "No." Others passed by the shed and heard yelling. A local neighbor also spotted "Too Tight" (Leroy Collins) at the back of the barn washing blood off the truck and noticed Till's boot. Milam explained he had killed a deer and that the boot belonged to him. Some have claimed that Till
7592-576: The ruling. In other ways, whites used stronger measures to keep blacks politically disenfranchised, which they had been since the turn of the century. Segregation in the South was used to constrain blacks forcefully from any semblance of social equality. A week before Till arrived in Mississippi, a black activist named Lamar Smith was shot and killed in front of the county courthouse in Brookhaven for political organizing. Three white suspects were arrested, but they were soon released. Till arrived at
7696-404: The same time as Till and his cousin, supported Wright's account. Author Devery Anderson writes that in an interview with the defense's attorneys, Bryant told a version of the initial encounter that included Till grabbing her hand and asking her for a date, but not Till approaching her and grabbing her waist, mentioning past relationships with white women, or having to be dragged unwillingly out of
7800-476: The secondary school of the Mound Bayou district, closed in 2018. Bolivar County residents have residency for two community colleges: Coahoma Community College and Mississippi Delta Community College . Their main campuses respectively are in unincorporated Coahoma County and Moorhead in Sunflower County . The last hospital in town closed in 1983. A branch of Delta Health Center is located in Mound Bayou. Founded in Mound Bayou in 1967, Delta Health Center
7904-453: The stench from it was noticeable two blocks away. She decided to have an open-casket funeral , saying: "There was just no way I could describe what was in that box. No way. And I just wanted the world to see." Tens of thousands of people lined the street outside the mortuary to view Till's body, and days later thousands more attended his funeral at Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ. Photographs of Till's mutilated corpse circulated around
8008-505: The store by another boy. Anderson further notes that many remarks prior to Till's kidnapping made by those involved indicate that it was his remarks to Bryant that angered his killers, rather than any alleged physical harassment. For instance, Mose Wright (a witness to the kidnapping) said that the kidnappers mentioned only "talk" at the store, and Sheriff George Smith only spoke of the arrested killers accusing Till of "ugly remarks." Anderson suggests that this evidence taken together implies that
8112-444: The store, grabbed him by the arm, and ordered him to leave. According to historian Timothy Tyson, Bryant admitted to him in a 2008 interview that her testimony during the trial that Till had made verbal and physical advances was false. Bryant had testified Till grabbed her waist and uttered obscenities but later told Tyson, "that part's not true." As for the rest of what happened, the 72-year-old stated she could not remember. Bryant
8216-593: The town suffered a severe economic decline in the 1920s and 1930s. Shortly after a fire destroyed much of the business district, Mound Bayou began to revive in 1942 after the opening of the Taborian Hospital by the International Order of Twelve Knights and Daughters of Tabor , a fraternal organization. For more than two decades, under its Chief Grand Mentor Perry M. Smith, the hospital provided low-cost health care to thousands of black people in
8320-450: The trial. Wright claims he entered the store "less than a minute" after Till was left inside alone with Bryant, and he saw no inappropriate behavior and heard "no lecherous conversation." Wright said Till "paid for his items and we left the store together." In their 2006 investigation of the cold case, the FBI noted that a second anonymous source, who was confirmed to have been in the store at
8424-403: The truck passing by and later recalled seeing two white men in the front seat, and "two black males" in the back. Some have speculated that the two black men worked for Milam and were forced to help with the beating, although they later denied being present. Willie Reed said that while walking home, he heard the beating and crying from the barn. Reed told a neighbor and they both walked back up
8528-492: The truck. Wright said he heard them ask someone in the car if this was the boy, and heard someone say "yes." When asked if the voice was that of a man or a woman Wright said that "it seemed like it was a lighter voice than a man's." In a 1956 interview with Look magazine, in which they confessed to the killing, Bryant and Milam said they would have brought Till by the store in order to have Carolyn identify him, but stated they did not do so because they said Till admitted to being
8632-516: The two men publicly admitted in a 1956 interview with Look magazine that they had tortured and murdered Till, selling the story of how they did it for $ 4,000 (equivalent to $ 45,000 in 2023). Till's murder was seen as a catalyst for the next phase of the civil rights movement. In December 1955, the Montgomery bus boycott began in Alabama and lasted more than a year, resulting eventually in
8736-635: The white, married proprietor of a local grocery store. Although what happened at the store is a matter of dispute, Till was accused of flirting with, touching, or whistling at Bryant. Till's interaction with Bryant, perhaps unwittingly, violated the unwritten code of behavior for a black male interacting with a white female in the Jim Crow -era South . Several nights after the encounter, Bryant's husband Roy and his half-brother J. W. Milam, who were armed, went to Till's great-uncle's house and abducted Till, age 14. They beat and mutilated him before shooting him in
8840-448: The world to more than her son Emmett Till's bloated, mutilated body. Her decision focused attention on not only American racism and the barbarism of lynching but also the limitations and vulnerabilities of American democracy." Tens of thousands attended his funeral or viewed his open casket, and images of Till's mutilated body were published in black-oriented magazines and newspapers, rallying popular black support and white sympathy across
8944-581: The worst poverty in the nation in West Virginia, but it paled in comparison to the poverty he observed in Cleveland. The county has a county administrator, who acts upon the requests of the board of supervisors primarily. The county is within the boundaries of two community college districts: Coahoma Community College and Mississippi Delta Community College . CCC's main campus is in rural Coahoma County outside of Clarksdale, and MDCC's campus
9048-509: Was a sharecropper and part-time minister who was often called "Preacher". He lived in Money, Mississippi , a small town in the Delta that consisted of three stores, a school, a post office, a cotton gin , and a few hundred residents, 8 miles (13 km) north of Greenwood . Before Till departed for the Delta, his mother cautioned him that Chicago and Mississippi were two different worlds, and he should know how to behave in front of white people in
9152-416: Was a smart dresser, and was often the center of attention among his peers. In 1955, Mamie Till-Bradley's uncle, 64-year-old Mose Wright, visited her and Emmett in Chicago during the summer and told him stories about living in the Mississippi Delta. Emmett wanted to see for himself. Wright planned to accompany Till with a cousin, Wheeler Parker; another cousin, Curtis Jones, would join them soon after. Wright
9256-472: Was an oasis in turbulent times. While the rest of Mississippi was violently segregated, inside the city there were no racial codes ... At a time when blacks faced repercussions as severe as death for registering to vote, Mound Bayou residents were casting ballots in every election. The city has a proud history of credit unions, insurance companies, a hospital, five newspapers, and a variety of businesses owned, operated, and patronized by black residents. Mound Bayou
9360-628: Was besieged by reporters from all over the country. David Halberstam called the trial "the first great media event of the civil rights movement". A reporter who had covered the trials of Bruno Hauptmann and Machine Gun Kelly remarked that this was the most publicity for any trial he had ever seen. No hotels were open to black visitors. Mamie Till-Bradley arrived to testify, and the trial also attracted black congressman Charles Diggs from Michigan. Bradley, Diggs, and several black reporters stayed at T. R. M. Howard's home in Mound Bayou . Located on
9464-404: Was directed not at Bryant, but at the checkers game that was taking place outside the store. Carolyn's husband, Roy Bryant, was on an extended trip hauling shrimp to Texas and did not return home until August 27. Historian Timothy Tyson said an investigation by civil rights activists concluded Carolyn Bryant did not initially tell her husband Roy Bryant about the encounter with Till, and that Roy
9568-537: Was distributed in Bolivar County. 33°47′N 90°53′W / 33.79°N 90.88°W / 33.79; -90.88 Emmett Till City of Oxford Other localities Emmett Louis Till (July 25, 1941 – August 28, 1955) was a 14-year-old African American youth who was abducted and lynched in Mississippi in 1955 after being accused of offending a white woman, Carolyn Bryant, in her family's grocery store. The brutality of his murder and
9672-517: Was done. The tone in Mississippi newspapers changed dramatically. They falsely reported riots in the funeral home in Chicago. Bryant and Milam appeared in photos smiling and wearing military uniforms, and Carolyn Bryant's beauty and virtue were extolled. Rumors of an invasion of outraged blacks and northern whites were printed throughout the state, and were taken seriously by the Leflore County Sheriff. T. R. M. Howard ,
9776-639: Was forced by a judge in 1943 to choose between jail or enlisting in the U.S. Army . In 1945, a few weeks before his son's fourth birthday, Louis Till was court-martialed and executed in Italy for the murder of an Italian woman and the rape of two others. At the age of six, Emmett contracted polio , which left him with a persistent stutter . Mamie and Emmett moved to Detroit, where she met and married "Pink" Bradley in 1951. Emmett preferred living in Chicago, so he returned there to live with his grandmother; his mother and stepfather rejoined him later that year. After
9880-619: Was influenced by the utopian ideas of Robert Owen . He encouraged self-leadership in the slave community, provided a higher standard of nutrition and health and dental care, and allowed slaves to become merchants. In the aftermath of the Civil War , Davis Bend became an autonomous free community when Davis sold his property to former slave Benjamin Montgomery , who had run a store and been a prominent leader at Davis Bend. The prolonged agricultural depression, falling cotton prices, flooding by
9984-449: Was published in Look magazine in 1956, Bryant and Milam said that they intended to beat Till and throw him off an embankment into the river to frighten him. They told Huie that while they were beating Till, he called them bastards, declared he was as good as they and said that he had sexual encounters with white women. They put Till in the back of their truck, and drove to a cotton gin to take
10088-450: Was returned to Chicago. A doctor did not examine Till post-mortem. Mississippi's governor, Hugh L. White , deplored the murder, asserting that local authorities should pursue a "vigorous prosecution." He sent a telegram to the national offices of the NAACP, promising a full investigation and assuring them "Mississippi does not condone such conduct." Delta residents, both black and white, also distanced themselves from Till's murder, finding
10192-695: Was shot and tossed over the Black Bayou Bridge in Glendora, Mississippi , near the Tallahatchie River . The group drove back to Roy Bryant's home in Money, where they reportedly burned Till's clothes. Well, what else could we do? He was hopeless. I'm no bully; I never hurt a nigger in my life. I like niggers—in their place—I know how to work 'em. But I just decided it was time a few people got put on notice. As long as I live and can do anything about it, niggers are gonna stay in their place. Niggers ain't gonna vote where I live. If they did, they'd control
10296-512: Was surprised at the indictment and praised the decision, as did The New York Times . The high-profile comments published in Northern newspapers and by the NAACP were of concern to the prosecuting attorney, Gerald Chatham ; he worried that his office would not be able to secure a guilty verdict, despite the compelling evidence. Having limited funds, Bryant and Milam initially had difficulty finding attorneys to represent them, but five attorneys at
10400-514: Was the first rural community health center in the United States. Ed Townsend wrote the Marvin Gaye hit song " Let's Get It On " in Mound Bayou. Bolivar County, Mississippi Bolivar County ( / ˈ b ɒ l ɪ v ər / BOL -i-vər ) is a county located on the western border of the U.S. state of Mississippi . As of the 2020 census , the population was 30,985. Its county seats are Rosedale and Cleveland . The county
10504-628: Was the poorest state in the U.S. in the 1950s, and the Delta counties were some of the poorest in Mississippi. Mamie Carthan was born in Tallahatchie County , where the average income per white household in 1949 was $ 690 (equivalent to $ 8,800 in 2023). For black families, the figure was $ 462 (equivalent to $ 5,900 in 2023). In the rural areas, economic opportunities for blacks were almost nonexistent. They were mostly sharecroppers who lived on land owned by whites. Blacks had essentially been disenfranchised and excluded from voting and
10608-408: Was told by a person who frequented their store. Roy was reportedly angry at his wife for not telling him. Carolyn Bryant told the FBI she did not tell her husband because she feared he would assault Till. When Roy Bryant was informed of what had happened, he aggressively questioned several young black men who entered the store. That evening, Bryant, with a black man named J. W. Washington, approached
10712-526: Was two years old, her family moved to Argo, Illinois , near Chicago, as part of the Great Migration of rural black families out of the South to the North to escape violence, lack of opportunity and unequal treatment under the law. Argo received so many Southern migrants that it was named "Little Mississippi"; Carthan's mother's home was often used by other recent migrants as a way station while they were trying to find jobs and housing. Mississippi
10816-597: Was unaware of Collins and Loggins. Sheriff Strider, however, booked them into the Charleston, Mississippi , jail to keep them from testifying. The trial was held in September 1955 and lasted for five days; attendees remembered that the weather was very hot. The courtroom was filled to capacity with 280 spectators; black attendees sat in segregated sections. Press from major national newspapers attended, including black publications; black reporters were required to sit in
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