Emmett Till was a 14-year-old African American boy from Chicago who traveled to Money, Mississippi, in August 1955 to visit relatives. Raised in the North, Emmett was un- familiar with the strict racial codes of the Jim Crow South. While in Mississippi, he reportedly whistled at or spoke flirtatiously to Carolyn Bryant, a white woman working at a grocery store. Though the exact nature of the interaction remains debated, this alleged breach of racial etiquette set off a tragic chain of events.

Several nights later, Emmett was abducted from his great-uncle’s home by Roy Bryant, Carolyn’s husband, and his half-brother, J.W. Milam. The two men beat, tortured, and ultimately killed Emmett, dumping his body into the Tallahatchie River, weighed down by a fan tied around his neck with barbed wire

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