Remembering Emmett Till

70 years following his murder, the Diocese of Mississippi commemorates Till and his family with two events in August

There are a handful of pictures that have been said to have transformed culture.

One of those pictures is a photo taken by David Jackson, for JET Magazine in 1955—a photograph of the beaten, bludgeoned body of Emmett Till. His mother, Mamie Till, wanted that photograph to be circulated, so that Americans could see what had happened to her 14-year-old son during a summer visit to Mississippi.

Mamie Till had lots of misgivings about allowing Emmett to travel from their home in Chicago to Mississippi in August 1955 to visit family members.

Emmett’s own insistence, and the reassurance of their family members, persuaded her to give in. Emmett traveled from Chicago to Mississippi, with much counsel and many warnings from his mother.

On August 28, 1955, Emmett was with his Mississippi family when a fateful stop at Bryant’s Store in Money, Mississippi changed history.

During the stop at the store for refreshments, Emmett encountered store owner, Carolyn Bryant. He apparently spoke to her while attempting to purchase some candy or gum. Bryant offered differing versions of the encounter, ranging from a claim that Emmett touched her hand and whistled at her, to a later claim that he had grabbed her and made a suggestive remark to her. Whatever actually happened between Emmett and Carolyn Bryant, the young white wife and mother took offense. Later, her husband, Roy, and his brother-in-law, J.W. Milam, went to settle the score with young Emmett. Emmett was kidnapped from his relatives’ home. When Emmett’s body was found, he’d been beaten and shot, tied to a cotton gin fan and thrown into the Tallahatchie River.

Mamie Till courageously allowed photographer David Jackson to capture the image of her son’s mutilated body to share with the media. She wanted everyone to see what had happened to him. She also wanted the persons responsible to be brought to justice.

Justice may not have come in the way that Mamie Till might have hoped: Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam were acquitted by an all-white jury of having killed Emmett Till.

But David Jackson’s photograph, along with Bryant and Milam later having sold a story to Look magazine, confessing to the killing, ignited a national conversation. And persons who might not have found themselves committed to the Civil Rights Movement were propelled out of their comfort zones and into the front lines—all the while, recalling the image of Emmett Till from David Jackson’s photograph—a photograph that helped change a nation’s conversation.

On Sunday, August 10, at 3:00 p.m. at St. Andrew’s Cathedral, Bishop Michael Curry, former Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church, will join Bishop Dorothy Wells of the Episcopal Diocese in Mississippi, in a conversation about the ways in which Emmett Till’s death affected Mississippi and our nation—and how 70 years later, The Episcopal Church continues to strive to be a fountain of healing and a place from which holy conversation may take place. Registration is encouraged—and may be completed by visiting standrews.ms/till.

On Saturday, August 9, from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., as a way of setting context for the Sunday afternoon conversation and as part of the Adele Franks Crispin Journey Series, Bishop Wells will offer her workshop, “The History of Us: White, Black and Together in the United States,” at St. Andrew’s Cathedral. Bishop Wells’ workshop, which emanated from her doctoral work, has been widely offered in the Diocese of West Tennessee and is centered around the holy understanding that part of our baptismal covenant to respect the dignity of every human being is to be willing to hear and respect all of our shared history—and not to silence any voices in the recounting of that shared history. Registration is limited to 75 (in order for there to be table conversation at lunch), and may be completed by visiting standrews.ms/journey.

Please plan to join us for one or both events. Indeed, the Church, too, can change a nation’s conversation for good. Full details on both events are also available via the Cathedral’s homepage, standrews.ms.