aug 28, 1955 - Murder of Emmett Till

Description:

Emmett Till was 14 years old when he was murdered for whistling at a white woman. During the investigation, Rob Bryant and J.W. Milam were identified as the killers and admitted to the crime, but the jury, which was all white, took one hour to rule the not guilty. Emmett Till's funeral was open casket so that the cruelty and unfair actions placed upon the boy by the men was shown in its entirety.

Significance: This murder emphasizes how much whites disliked blacks and that black lives, in the perspective of an all-white jury, don't matter.

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