“Bye bye baby…”



“Bye bye baby…”

Why was Emmett Till killed?

This is Emmett Till. On 31st August 1955, Emmett’s body was found washed up alongside the Tallahatchie River, near the small town of Money, Mississippi. Three days earlier two men had taken Emmett at gunpoint from the home of his great-uncle, Mose Wright. The two men were Roy Bryant and his brother-in-law, J.W. Milam. They tortured and killed 14 year old Emmett. His murder made the Black people of the USA determined to achieve civil rights.

“Be careful. If you have to get down on your knees and bow when a white person goes past, do it willingly."

In the summer of 1955, 14 year old Emmett Till left his home in Chicago and travelled to the small town of Money, Mississippi, to spend the summer with his cousins and his great-uncle, Mose Wright. Emmett had grown up in Chicago, in the north of the United States. He was pretty streetwise and understood the problems of black people living in the north. But, Emmett did not understand how different things were for black people in the south of the United States. Before he left, his mother gave him a warning. She said “Be careful. If you have to get down on your knees and bow when a White person goes past, do it willingly." Emmett failed to follow this advice.

“I’ve got a white girlfriend back in Chicago. I’ve been with white girls before…"

On 24th August 1955, Emmett was with a group of friends. They were sat outside the Bryant grocery store in the town of Money. Mississippi. Emmett was showing the other boys some photographs of his Chicago school friends. Emmett even boasted that he had a White girlfriend. The local boys found this very hard to believe because life was so different in the south. They dared Emmett to go into the Bryant grocery store and talk to the white woman who worked there. Emmett, walked confidently into the store and began talking to 21 year old Carolyn Bryant, who owned the store with her husband, Roy.

What happened next is a mystery. Emmett bought some gum and left the shop. On his way out, he said “Bye Baby.” to Mrs Bryant. Later, Mrs Bryant would remember it differently, saying that Emmett made rude suggestions to her. Whatever the truth, Mrs Bryant told her husband that she had been spoken to in a very disrespectful way by a young black boy.

“This is Mr Bryant… I wants the boy that done all that talk…”

In the early hours of Sunday 27th August 1955, Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam appeared at the home of Mose Wright. They threatened Mr Wright with a gun, demanding to see Emmett. Emmett appeared at the door and left the home of his uncle with the two men. He was never seen alive again. A few days later, Emmett’s body was found on the bank of the Tallahatchie River. His body was mutilated and tied to a heavy fan. He could not be identified by his facial features. Instead, he had to be identified by his initial ring.

Emmett’s body was returned to Chicago. His mother decided to have an open coffin, displaying the horrible state her son’s body was in. A magazine printed a photograph of Emmett’s body. This brought his death to the attention of the public. There were calls for a trial, so Byant and Milam were arrested and put on trial. Newspaper editors sent reporters to cover the trial which was held in Sumner.

“We did not expect that the White people who murdered Negroes would ever be brought to justice.”

Mose Wright was the star witness. In his testimony he bravely pointed out the two men who took Emmett from his house and explained how they had taken Emmett under threat of violence. He was brave because the Ku Klux Klan had threatened his life. The NAACP helped protect Mr Wright and made sure that the trial received lots of publicity. The all white jury took one hour to reach their verdict – NOT GUILTY! Emmett’s mother said the trial was a farce. But, the trial had given the Civil Rights movement a huge boost in publicity. Many people were angry at the verdict.

REVIEW: Below are some of the possible reasons why Emmett Till was killed. Check that you have collected all these reasons. Add any that you have missed to your own grid.

|Emmett came from the north. He did not understand |Emmett ignored his mother’s warning to show |People in the South still believed in the Jim Crow|

|the racism of |respect to White people in Mississippi. |laws which said segregation was legal. |

|the south. | | |

|There was anger in the South after the Supreme |Emmett boasted to his friends about having a White|Emmett was cheeky and disrespectful to Mrs Bryant.|

|Court had made segregated schools illegal. |girlfriend. | |

|Mr and Mrs Bryant were Southerners who believed |Emmett was not frightened and not sorry when he |Bryant and Milam were sure that they would be able|

|that black people were inferior. |was taken by Bryant and Milam. This made them |to get away with murder. |

| |angry and violent. | |

If you can think of any more reasons, add them to your chart.

The murder of Emmett Till was part of a much bigger struggle to improve the lives of the Black citizens of the southern states. To really understand why Emmett Till was murdered we need to look at the history of the Civil Rights movement up to 1955.

Examine these fact boxes carefully:

It’s time to sort your research. Cut out all boxes on your grid and sort them using the diagram below.

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Your task is to find out why Emmett Till was killed and what the murder tells us about the racism that existed in the southern states of the USA in the mid 20th Century.

By the end of this enquiry you will:

❑ have gained knowledge and understanding of how the civil rights movement began

❑ be able to recall the story of Emmett Till

❑ be able to link the story of Emmett Till to the struggle for civil rights in the 1940s and 1950s

❑ be able to explain why Emmett Till was killed and why his killers were able to get away with murder

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In this enquiry you will learn 10 new key words:

discrimination

segregation

desegregation

Civil Rights

testimony

constitution

NAACP

Jim Crow

lynching

Ku Klux Klan

I’m worried about Emmett going to the south. He doesn’t understand the hatred of blacks down there…..

You should have a grid with lots of boxes. In these boxes you are going to record reasons why Emmett Till was killed.

Try to complete at least two boxes from the information on this page.

The ‘Jim Crow’ Laws

These were a set of laws which set up segregation in the South. Black and White children had to attend separate schools. Blacks had separate park benches, swimming pools, waiting rooms, toilets, restaurants, hospitals and drinking fountains. Blacks had to give up their seats on buses if a White person could not find one. The year before Emmett was murdered, the US Supreme Court had made segregation in schools illegal which horrified White racists.

SEGREGATION – the separation of Black people and White people

You should now try to complete some more boxes on your cause grid. Use the information on this page. You should be able to complete another 3 boxes.

LYNCHING – the killing of Black people without a trial, usually by very violent means

KU KLUX KLAN – a White terrorist group who violently attacked Black people

MAKE SURE THAT YOU RECORD AND LEARN THESE KEY WORDS

J.W. Milam

Roy Bryant

Carolyn Bryant

After their trial, where they were found not guilty, Bryant and Milam told their story to a magazine. They were paid $4000. The men said:

o they had not intended to kill Emmett, but he was cheeky and disrespectful

o they expected him to be frightened and sorry, but he wasn’t

o he continued to boast about his White girlfriend

o they beat Emmett

o they gouged one of his eyes from its socket

o they shot Emmett in the head

o they tied his body to a heavy gin fan from Milam’s barn

You should now add any more reasons to your causes grid. Keep recording any key terms too!

NOT GUILTY!

BRYANT AND MILAM PROBABLY DIDN’T THINK THAT THEY WERE DOING ANYTHING WRONG! Why was this? We need to look deeper to make our explanation better.

Now, it’s time to dig deeper into the history of discrimination against Black people in the southern states to help explain why Emmett Till was killed.

FACT BOX 1

In 1863 President Lincoln freed the slaves. However, White Southern plantation owners brought in special new laws (Black Codes) which stopped Black people on plantations from moving around freely. Black people in the south gained the right to vote, but racist Whites set up groups like the Ku Klux Klan to terrorise Blacks. Eventually, the Whites took control of the South again and the right to vote was taken away from the Black people. Segregation laws (Jim Crow Laws) were passed. In 1896 the top court in America, the Supreme Court, passed a decision which said segregation was legal. They said facilities could be separate as long as they were equal. But this was rarely the case!

FACT BOX 2

Violence in the South enforced segregation. Black people were lynched or burned. Newspapers in the South advertised executions. Families would go and see executions and children had their photographs taken next to the rotting bodies of the Black victims. Lynchings continued because no White person in the South was ever prosecuted for murdering a Black person.

Many Black families left the South for a new life in Northern cities like Chicago. Here, there was a competition for jobs.

Roy Bryant

FACT BOX 3

During the Second World War many Black Americans fought against the Nazis with their European allies. At home, Black Americans worked hard to produce weapons and machinery for the war. However, their pay was still much lower than White workers. When the war ended Blacks were determined to end segregation, discrimination and violence. There were some outstanding Black role models like Joe Louis, the World Heavyweight Boxing Champion. In 1909, the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP) was set up. This organisation worked hard to achieve Civil Rights for Black People.

FACT BOX 4

In 1954 the Supreme Court (the highest court in America) passed a very important decision. It was called the Brown case. Mr Brown said it was wrong for his daughter to have to go to a Black school over a mile from his home when there was a White school around the corner. The Supreme Court agreed with him and said that schools should all be desegregated. This meant that Black children should be able to attend the same schools as White children. This 1954 decision made White racists in the South very angry. The Ku Klux Klan began lynchings again and said that the White race must be kept pure. The Southern states ignored the desegregation law.

I got this information from Fact Box 1. It mentions about the slaves being freed but I thought the separate but equal law was more important to explain why there was so much racism in the South in the 1950s.

For nearly one hundred years the Whites in the Southern states had got used to the idea that facilities should be separate but equal. They saw Blacks as a second class race. They did not want change.

You should have read all the extra fact boxes. These should have given you a much better understanding of what had happened to the Black People of America in the century before the murder of Emmett Till. It should also have told you about the attitudes of the Southern Whites.

Use the information in the four fact boxes to add more background reasons to your grid. Here is one to start you off. This task is quite difficult so read carefully.

The long term history of racism in the Southern USA

Things to do with the desire for change after 1945

Things to do with Emmett Till

Why was Emmett Till killed?

On 24th August 1955, 14 year old Emmett Till walked into the Bryant Grocery store in the small town of Money, Mississippi….

Now describe what happened and how the events led to

Emmett’s death. Use details from your grid/cards.

The murder of Emmett Till happened at a time when changes were being made to the lives of Black people in the Southern states of America.

Now explain what had been happening to improve the

lives of Black People in America since 1945. Try to explain

how this may link to the actions of Bryant and Milam.

The murder of Emmett Till was part of a much bigger problem to do with racist attitudes towards Black People in the Southern States of the USA.

Now explain how Black people had been treated since the

slaves were freed in 1863. Explain the reaction of the

Southern White racists to the changes.

The murder of Emmett Till is important because…

Now explain why you think the murder of Emmett Till was

so important in the struggle for Civil Rights.

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