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Mamie Till-Mobley was born in Mississippi but, when she was
just two years old, her family joined the Great Migration
and settled in Chicago. They left a state where lynching was
“an all-too-common experience for blacks” and segregation
was a way of life. Things were different in Illinois; there
was still racism, but it wouldn’t likely kill anyone.
In this less-tumultuous place, Emmett Louis Till was born
and raised and, due to his Chicago upbringing, “could not
understand what it was like to be black in Mississippi.”
Still, as was the habit of many Midwestern African-American
families at that time, 14-year-old Emmett was sent to spend
the summer with an uncle in the south.
It was a tragic mistake.
In the days following August 31, 1955, when Emmett Till’s
body was pulled from the Tallahatchie River, “print media
outlets… sprang into action” to report “yet another
senseless murder of a black male…” Publications – both
mainstream and black – lept on the story in days to follow,
reporting on “indifference” from Mississippi officials, lack
of outrage from white Mississippians at the murder, and the
ensuing trial at which the defendants were observed
laughing.
Interestingly, Mace says that mainstream Midwestern
newspapers covered the story differently than did papers in
the West and Northeast. African-American publications,
particularly from the Midwest, also had understandably
different angles. They were, he says, the ones to
keep the story alive long after the trial ended.
“At the time,” Mace further adds, “whites in the Deep South
could not see that with his death Emmett Till sowed the
seeds of change that would sprout forth into the modern
civil rights movement.”
Regardless of race, Americans… and these members of the
Emmett Till generation would change the very nature of race
relations in the United States.”
I struggled some with In Remembrance of Emmett Till.
Part of the problem is that this book is more academic than
I expected; there were times when I was riveted by the
information author Darryl Mace uncovered, while other pages
made me want to just shelve it awhile.
There’s a good sense of time and context here, though, and
that helped. Mace gives readers ample opportunity to
understand why Till’s violent death wasn’t just “another
senseless murder;” why the U.S. was ripe for Civil Rights
progress made in the decade after his slaying; and how the
press, especially 60 years ago, served its public.
Scholars and historians may appreciate more from this book
than most, but Mace’s thoroughness will get you through if
you casually want to tackle it anyhow. Try In Remembrance
of Emmett Till, and see what you have to say. |
