The Blood of Emmett Till [eBook - NC Digital Library

This extraordinary New York Times bestseller reexamines a pivotal event of the civil rights movement—the 1955 lynching of Emmett Till—"and demands that we do the one vital thing we aren't often enough asked to do with history: learn from it" ( The Atlantic ). * A New York Times Notable Book * A Washington Post Notable Book * Longlisted for the National Book Award * Winner of the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award * An NPR, Los Angeles Times, and Atlanta Journal-Constitution Best Book of the Year * In 1955, white men in the Mississippi Delta lynched a fourteen-year-old from Chicago named Emmett Till. His murder was part of a wave of white terrorism in the wake of the 1954 Supreme Court decision that declared public school segregation unconstitutional. Only weeks later, Rosa Parks thought about young Emmett as she refused to move to the back of a city bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Five years later, Black students who called themselves "the Emmett Till generation" launched sit-in campaigns that turned the struggle for civil rights into a mass movement. Till's lynching became the most notorious hate crime in American history. But what actually happened to Emmett Till—not the icon of injustice, but the flesh-and-blood boy? Part detective story, part political history, The Blood of Emmett Till "unfolds like a movie" ( The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ), drawing on a wealth of new evidence, including a shocking admission of Till's innocence from the woman in whose name he was killed. "Jolting and powerful" ( The Washington Post ), the book "provides fresh insight into the way race has informed and deformed our democratic institutions" (Diane McWhorter, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Carry Me Home ) and "calls us to the cause of justice today" (Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II, president of the North Carolina NAACP). The Event That Launched The Civil Rights Movement- The 1955 Lynching Of Young Emmett Till- Now Reexamined By An Award-winning Author With Access To Never-before-heard Accounts From Those Involved As Well As Recently Recovered Court Transcripts From The Trial. In 1955, A Fourteen-year-old Black Boy Named Emmett Till, Who Had Come Down From Chicago To Visit Relatives In Mississippi, Was Murdered By A Group Of White Men. He Had Gone Into A Small Country Store A Few Days Earlier And Made Flirtatious Remarks To A White Woman, Twenty-one-year-old Carolyn Bryant; Bryant's Husband And Brother-in-law Were Two Of Till's Attackers. They Were Never Convicted, But Till's Lynching Became One Of The Most Notorious Hate Crimes In American History. It Set Off A Wave Of Protests Across The Country, Helped The Naacp Gain Thousands Of Members, And Inspired Famous Activists Like Rosa Parks To Stand Up And Fight For Equal Rights For The First Time. Part Detective Story, Part Political History, Timothy Tyson's The Blood Of Emmett Till Revises The History Of The Till Case, Not Only Changing The Specifics That We Thought We Knew, But Showing How The Murder Ignited The Modern Civil Rights Movement. Tyson Uses A Wide Range Of New Sources, Including The Only Interview Ever Given By Carolyn Bryant; The Transcript Of The Murder Trial, Missing Since 1955 And Only Recovered In 2005; And A Recent Fbi Report On The Case. In A Time Where Discussions Of Race Are Once Again Coming To The Fore, The Blood Of Emmett Till Redefines A Crucial Moment In Civil Rights History. -- Publisher Description Nothing That Boy Did -- Boots On The Porch -- Growing Up Black In Chicago -- Emmett In Chicago And Little Mississippi -- Pistol-whipping At Christmas -- The Incident -- On The Third Day -- Mama Made The Earth Tremble -- Warring Regiments Of Mississippi -- Black Monday -- People We Don't Need Around Here Any More -- Fixed Opinions -- Mississippi Underground -- There He Is -- Every Last Anglo-saxon One Of You -- The Verdict Of The World -- Protest Politics -- Killing Emmett Till -- Epilogue: The Children Of Emmett Till. Timothy B. Tyson. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 265-281) And Index. * Longlisted for the National Book Award * Winner of the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award * A New York Times Notable Book * A Washington Post Notable Book * An NPR Best Book of 2017 * A Los Angeles Times Best Book of 2017 * An Atlanta Journal-Constitution Best Southern Book of 2017 * This extraordinary New York Times bestseller reexamines a pivotal event of the civil rights movement—the 1955 lynching of Emmett Till—"and demands that we do the one vital thing we aren't often enough asked to do with history: learn from it" ( The Atlantic ). In 1955, white men in the Mississippi Delta lynched a fourteen-year-old from Chicago named Emmett Till. His murder was part of a wave of white terrorism in the wake of the 1954 Supreme Court decision that declared public school segregation unconstitutional. Only weeks later, Rosa Parks thought about young Emmett as she refused to move to the back of a city bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Five years later, Black students who called themselves "the Emmett Till generation" launched sit-in campaigns that turned the struggle for civil rights into a mass movement. Till's lynching became the most notorious hate crime in American history. But what actually happened to Emmett Till—not the icon of injustice, but the flesh-and-blood boy? Part detective story, part political history, The Blood of Emmett Till "unfolds like a movie" ( The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ), drawing on a wealth of new evidence, including a shocking admission of Till's innocence from the woman in whose name he was killed. "Jolting and powerful" ( The Washington Post ), the book "provides fresh insight into the way race has informed and deformed our democratic institutions" (Diane McWhorter, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Carry Me Home ) and "calls us to the cause of justice today" (Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II, president of the North Carolina NAACP) In 2014, protesters ringed the White House, chanting, "How many black kids will you kill? Michael Brown, Emmett Till!" Why did demonstrators invoke the name of a black boy murdered six decades before?In 1955, white men in the Mississippi Delta lynched a fourteen-year-old from Chicago named Emmett Till. His murder was part of a wave of white terrorism in the wake of the 1954 Supreme Court decision that declared public school segregation unconstitutional. The national coalition organized to protest the Till lynching became the foundation of the modern civil rights movement. Only weeks later, Rosa Parks thought about young Emmett as she refused to move to the back of a city bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Five years later, the Emmett Till generation, forever marked by the vicious killing of a boy their own age, launched sit-in campaigns that turned the struggle into a mass movement. "I can hear the blood of Emmett Till as it calls from the ground," shouted a black preacher in Albany, Georgia. But what actually happened to Emmett Till--not the icon of injustice but the flesh-and-blood boy? Part detective story, part political history, Timothy Tyson's The Blood of Emmett Till draws on a wealth of new evidence, including the only interview ever given by Carolyn Bryant, the white woman in whose name Till was killed. Tyson's gripping narrative upends what we thought we knew about the most notorious racial crime in American history In 2014, protesters ringed the White House, chanting, "How many black kids will you kill? Michael Brown, Emmett Till!" Why did demonstrators invoke the name of a black boy murdered six decades before? In 1955, white men in the Mississippi Delta lynched a fourteen-year-old from Chicago named Emmett Till. His murder was part of a wave of white terrorism in the wake of the 1954 Supreme Court decision that declared public school segregation unconstitutional. The national coalition organized to protest the Till lynching became the foundation of the modern civil rights movement. Only weeks later, Rosa Parks thought about young Emmett as she refused to move to the back of a city bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Five years later, the Emmett Till generation, forever marked by the vicious killing of a boy their own age, launched sit-in campaigns that turned the struggle into a mass movement. "I can hear the blood of Emmett Till as it calls from the ground," shouted a black preacher in Albany, Georgia. But what actually happened to Emmett Till -- not the icon of injustice but the flesh-and-blood boy? Part detective story, part political history, cultural scholar Timothy Tyson draws on a wealth of new evidence, including the only interview ever given by Carolyn Bryant, the white woman in whose name Till was killed.