PBS AMERICAN EXPERIENCE aired a documentary on the brutal murder of a 14-year-old black teen named Emmett Till. The year was 1955 and Emmett was visiting relatives in Money, Mississippi. He "whistled" at a white woman named Carolyn Donham Bryant in a grocery store. Emmett was soon kidnapped, beaten, shot to death and his body dumped in a local river. His mother agreed to an open casket funeral of Emmett with his mutilated body. 50,000 black mourners viewed that casket. News reports revealed his open casket which outraged America.
Carolyn's then husband, Roy Bryant and his half-brother, J.W. Wilam were charged with murdering Emmett. Both were acquitted by an all "white" male jury. The federal government announced on July 12, 2018 that they will re-open the murder case of Emmett Till. They claim to have evidence of others involved in his death.
(Below is the full PBS documentary and it is a deeply compelling story that ignited the civil rights movement in the U.S., in the 1950's.).
There is a new book published called, "The Blood of Emmett Till" by Timothy B. Tyson. Carolyn Donham Bryant recants her story (2008) that Emmett never made any kind of physical, sexual advance, toward her. Even though she said so under oath in 1955.
Click on Book Cover below for Timothy's interview with CBS.
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