Murder of Emmett Till

Also known as: Emmett Till

Active: 1955–1955
Region: Money and Sumner, Mississippi, USA
States: IL, MS
Kind: Single
Status: Acquitted
Victims: 1

In August 1955, Emmett Till, a 14-year-old Black boy from Chicago, was visiting relatives near Money, Mississippi. After an encounter at Bryant's Grocery with Carolyn Bryant, a white woman (what happened there is disputed), her husband Roy Bryant and his half-brother J. W. Milam took Till from his great-uncle Mose Wright's home in the night of August 28. They beat and shot him and sank his body in the Tallahatchie River, where it was found three days later. His mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, insisted on an open-casket funeral in Chicago, and the photographs shocked the nation. In September 1955 an all-white, all-male jury in Sumner acquitted both men; months later they admitted the killing to Look magazine. Neither was ever retried, and both are dead. Federal reviews in 2004 and 2017 ended without charges. The case helped spark the civil rights movement.

Ask the Atlas about this case →

Victims

We remember the people whose lives were taken.

Emmett Louis Till, 14 · August 28, 1955
A Chicago boy visiting relatives in the Mississippi Delta.

Timeline of locations

August 24, 1955
Bryant's Grocery, Money (Other, approximate area)
On August 24, 1955, Till went into the store owned by Roy and Carolyn Bryant. Carolyn Bryant later claimed he harassed her; his cousin, who was there, said nothing improper happened. The building is now a ruin.
August 28, 1955
Mose Wright's home, near Money (Abduction, approximate area)
In the early hours of August 28, Bryant and Milam came armed to the home of Till's great-uncle, Mose Wright, and took him away. Mapped at city precision.
August 31, 1955
Graball Landing, Tallahatchie River (Recovery site, approximate area)
Till's body, weighted with a cotton gin fan, was pulled from the Tallahatchie River here, near Glendora. A memorial sign placed in 2008 has been repeatedly vandalized. The site is part of the national monument.
September 1955
Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ, Chicago (Other)
Mamie Till-Mobley insisted on an open-casket funeral for her son here. Many thousands of people came, and photographs of his body drew national attention. The church is part of the national monument.
September 1955
Tallahatchie County Second District Courthouse, Sumner (Court / trial)
Roy Bryant and J. W. Milam were tried here in September 1955 and acquitted by an all-white, all-male jury. The courthouse was restored to its 1955 appearance and is part of the national monument.

Murder of Emmett Till

Victims

Timeline of locations

Watch, listen, read

Watch

Sources