This article is a thought – provoking and articulate depiction of how writers have captured the life and story of Emmitt Till, a young black boy who was kidnapped, horrifically brutalized, tortured, taunted, and eventually murdered by two white men. Within the article, the author, Chris Metress, takes a journey through the American judicial system during the year of 1955. It also describes the influence that Emmett Till’s death had on the Civil Rights Movement and subsequent African American literature. To read this article is to fathom emotions of pain, hate, anger, and heartache. However, through it all, African American writers have been able to keep the spirit of Emmett Till ever present.
In this day and time, it is essential to …show more content…
It also bought many African – Americans together and created another benchmark in Black History. For several months, African American political and religious leaders sponsored Emmett Till protest rallies throughout the country. Gatherings in New York, Chicago, Baltimore, St. Louis, Detroit, and Los Angeles attracted thousands of outraged protesters, and the mother of the slain boy, Mamie Till Bradley, joined forces with the NAACP and toured the nation, telling her story to packed auditoriums and churches and helping to generate one of the most successful fundraising and membership campaigns in NAACP history. Unfortunately, the attempts for justice were futile. Not surprisingly, Milam and Bryant were never retried for murder in Mississippi, and Attorney General Herbert Brownell refused to bring the federal government into the case because the crime did not involve interstate …show more content…
The Mississippi courts may have closed the book on the Till case long ago, but the African American community, in particular the African American writer, has not. Over the past forty-five years, Till 's story has resurfaced in many different forms and has drawn the attention of a wide variety of artists. Langston Hughes, Gwendolyn Brooks, James Baldwin, Anne Moody, Eldridge Cleaver, Toni Morrison, Audre Lorde, John Edgar Wideman, Bebe Moore Campbell, Anthony Walton, and Michael Eric Dyson are just a few of the writers who have explored the legacy of Money, Mississippi. As a result, Till 's murder has woven itself intimately into the fabric of African American poetry, drama, fiction, and memoir, and Till 's image has emerged as one of the most powerful and haunting reminders of racial injustice in America. African Americans felt that because the system was unjust, they too would be unjust. They sought to create disturbance and disruption. Many writers of that particular time and even those thereafter used Emmett Tills murder as a means to convey the nature of and level of inhumanity of White
In this day and time, it is essential to …show more content…
It also bought many African – Americans together and created another benchmark in Black History. For several months, African American political and religious leaders sponsored Emmett Till protest rallies throughout the country. Gatherings in New York, Chicago, Baltimore, St. Louis, Detroit, and Los Angeles attracted thousands of outraged protesters, and the mother of the slain boy, Mamie Till Bradley, joined forces with the NAACP and toured the nation, telling her story to packed auditoriums and churches and helping to generate one of the most successful fundraising and membership campaigns in NAACP history. Unfortunately, the attempts for justice were futile. Not surprisingly, Milam and Bryant were never retried for murder in Mississippi, and Attorney General Herbert Brownell refused to bring the federal government into the case because the crime did not involve interstate …show more content…
The Mississippi courts may have closed the book on the Till case long ago, but the African American community, in particular the African American writer, has not. Over the past forty-five years, Till 's story has resurfaced in many different forms and has drawn the attention of a wide variety of artists. Langston Hughes, Gwendolyn Brooks, James Baldwin, Anne Moody, Eldridge Cleaver, Toni Morrison, Audre Lorde, John Edgar Wideman, Bebe Moore Campbell, Anthony Walton, and Michael Eric Dyson are just a few of the writers who have explored the legacy of Money, Mississippi. As a result, Till 's murder has woven itself intimately into the fabric of African American poetry, drama, fiction, and memoir, and Till 's image has emerged as one of the most powerful and haunting reminders of racial injustice in America. African Americans felt that because the system was unjust, they too would be unjust. They sought to create disturbance and disruption. Many writers of that particular time and even those thereafter used Emmett Tills murder as a means to convey the nature of and level of inhumanity of White