Brief Summary Of Emmet Till's Death

4TH PERIOD It has been roughly sixty years since the callous manslaughter of Emmet Till took place, but yet gratuitous murders of young minorities have not ceased to exist. It is alarming to me that the racial struggle in America has not perished, but then again, this nation was taken by the white man and created for the white man’s disposal. We as minorities were never meant to rejoice in freedom or take part in the pursuit of happiness because of the blatant fact that we were meant to be someone’s property. Emmet Hill like any other sensible person wasn’t fond of this philosophy. He believed that he was equally obligated to the same rights as any other American citizen. In doing so, the fourteen year-old was unjustifiably murdered, over a simple act of affection. …show more content…
Both J.W. Milam and Roy Bryant wanted to make an example out of Emmet by not only killing the young man, but by torturing him until he could no longer scream for mercy. His disfigured corpse was put on display in an open casket funeral. It received the attention of the nation and this case wasn’t going to be swept under the rug like past lynchings. Till’s death may have been a tragedy, but it opened the eyes of many young African Americans that wanted change thus sparking a social movement. Americans were appalled of the injustice taking place in the courtroom as they witnessed the two assailants of the crime being acquitted even after both had previously confessed to the crime. Civil rights activists thus used the murder of Emmett Till as a rallying cry for civil rights protest, transforming a heinous crime into a springboard for