- Emmett was born Emmett Louis Till on July 25, 1941, at Cook County Hospital in Chicago.
- His nickname was Bobo, and his babysitter was Iberia Hampton, mother of Black Panther Party Chairman Fred Hampton.
- At 5 years old, Emmett had polio, which left him with a stutter.
- Emmett’s Father, Louis Till, was a WW2 soldier. Sadly, he was murdered for allegedly raping and murdering some Italian women along with another soldier.
- It was Louis Till’s ring that Emmett wore to Mississippi. He begged his mom, Mamie Till-Mobley if he could wear it and show it off to his cousins. Because he wore this ring, his great uncle Moses Wright could identify his body.
- Carolyn Bryant did not only accuse Emmett of whistling (which his cousins said he did whistle). Carolyn also testified that he was physically aggressive and that he propositioned her. According to the transcripts acquired by the FBI in 2004, Mrs. Bryant made it seem that Emmett Till sexually assaulted her, holding her hands and putting his hands around her waist.
- After being kidnapped from his family’s home, Emmett Till was taken to a barn in Drew Mississippi where he was beaten according to the testimony of then-18-year-old Willie “Reed” Louis who heard his cries. A few Black men were also alleged to have helped Milam and Bryant. Leroy “Too Tight” Collins, Lee Logins, and Frank Young.
- Mississippi tried to cover up the murder by hurrying to bury Emmett’s body. However, Mamie Till got the body shipped to Chicago. Upon arriving back in Chicago on the morning of September 2, 1955, the first stop for Till’s body was the A. A. Rayner Funeral home which, in 1955, was located at the corner of 41st and Cottage Grove. The casket arrived locked and sealed with the state seal of Mississippi, with orders that the casket was not to be opened. If Mississippi authorities could not bury the body in a nameless cotton field, they hoped their seal would keep Till’s story under wraps. But Mamie wasn’t going for that. She forced the casket open.
- In 2004, the body was exhumed, and DNA testing was performed, conclusively identifying it as the body of Emmett Louis Till.
On learning of the death of her son, Mamie-Till Mobley made 3 key decisions that forever changed the Civil Rights Movement and cemented her son into history:
- She demanded Emmett’s body be returned to Chicago.
- She demanded an open casket.
- She allowed Jet Magazine to take pictures of Emmett’s battered body and publish them for the world to see.
Had Till’s mother not intervened and reclaimed her son’s body, Till’s lynching may have been recorded in the history books alongside the likes of George Lee and Lamar Smith. Like Till, Lee and Smith were lynched in Mississippi in the summer of 1955 days before Emmett arrived. But unlike Till, their stories have been largely forgotten.
- The same train that took Emmett to Money is the same train that brought his remains back to Chicago.
- In early 2022, a filmmaker found the kidnapping warrant for JW Milam and Roy Bryant. The warrant also listed Carolyn Bryant, but she was never arrested. (Source: LeFlore Count Courthouse, Greenwood MS, Elmus Stockstill, LeFlore County Court Clerk)
- Emmett’s body was taken to the A.A. Rayner Funeral home before arriving at Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ on the South Side of Chicago for the funeral on September 4, 1955. He was buried on September 6th.
- The trial began on September 19, 1955, and the white people in the area raised $10,000 for JW Milam and Roy Bryant’s defense fund.
- The man in charge of picking the list of jurors for the Emmett Till case was the county attorney who was also one of Milam and Bryant’s defense attorneys.
- Still, three of the men on the jury thought Milam and Bryant were guilty until they eventually agreed with the majority. Though they knew the men were not innocent, they also did not think “justifiable homicide”— was a fitting punishment for a Black boy who insulted a white woman.
- Mamie Till stayed at the home of TRM Howard in the all-black community of Mound Bayou during her time in the trial. The community was secure, armed, and well-guarded. People said getting into it was like trying to get into the white house.
- In 1956, JW Milam and Roy Bryant confessed to killing Emmett Till in Look Magazine for $4,000.
- In 2007, Carolyn Bryant admitted she lied about the details of Emmett Till to Duke University senior research scholar Timothy Tyson. However, in an unpublished memoir from 2008 titled: I am More than a Wolf Whistle: The Story of Carolyn Bryant Donham as written by Marsha Bryant, Bryant stands by her story that Emmett put his hands on her. She declares she is a victim as well as Emmett.
Her confession to Tyson was made public in 2017.
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