Group A Summary Post

In the Till Packet, there are two articles that explain the tragic death of Emmett Till.

The first article, from Slate Magazine, “The Shocking Story of Approved Killing in Mississippi” by William Bradford Huie was written at the time of Emmett Till’s murder case. The article provides facts, becoming more of a story than an article. It provides only one side of the story, focusing on the Bryant and Milam families. While the murdered boy’s family is virtually invisible save for the aunt and uncle Till was visiting. The so-called “Wolf-Whistle Murder” is explained as two white men kidnapping, beating, and murdering a 14 year old over his harassing one man’s wife. Tensions run high in this article, as the white men can clearly be seen as the bullies, and murderers, they are. Till’s bravery in the face of his murderers was seen as foolhardy, most likely leading to his untimely death. But as the article states at the end, half of Mississippi thought the murder was justified, and the other half did not disapprove “enough.”

The second article, from the PBS’s American Experience, “The Murder of Emmett Till” by Randy Sparkman. This article was written fifty years after the murder of Emmett Till, when his case was being brought to light by the court system, and focuses on Huie’s intentions while writing the piece above. Huie set out to make the story known, providing facts to the case for the people of America, not just an all-white jury. Huie was a Civil Rights journalist, covering other prominent murder cases at the time. Such was his way of reporting, stating the facts of a case so readers would be able to decide for themselves the verdict of the case. While readers in present America would clearly see a guilty verdict, those in the past may have not. But as stated before, Sparkman’s article was written at a time when Till’s case and body were brought to light once again, brought by the persistence of his family to see that Till’s death would receive some sort of justice. The case is not closed in the course of the article.

The articles are separated by a period of 50 years, and change in tone of the articles reflect the change in American views about the murders of young black boys.