Devery S. Anderson - Emmett Till: The Murder That Shocked the World and Propelled the Civil Rights Movement

EMMETT TILL

Mississippi Delta. Courtesy of Jason Francis.

The Murder That Shocked
the World and Propelled the
Civil Rights Movement

DEVERY S. ANDERSON Foreword by Julian Bond

For Amanda, Tyler, and Jordan,
who have lived with Emmett Till as long as I have

www.upress.state.ms.us

The University Press of Mississippi is a member
of the Association of American University Presses.

Copyright 2015 by University Press of Mississippi
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America

First printing 2015
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Anderson, Devery S.

Emmett Till : the murder that shocked the world and propelled the civil rights movement / Devery S. Anderson ; foreword by Julian Bond.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-4968-0284-2 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN 978-1-4968-0285-9 (ebook) 1. Till, Emmett, 19411955. 2. LynchingMississippiHistory

20th century. 3. African AmericansCrimes againstMississippi. 4. RacismMississippiHistory20th century 5. Trials (Murder)MississippiSumner. 6. Hate crimesMississippi. 7. Till-Mobley, Mamie, 19212003. 8. RacismMississippiHistory20th century. 9. United StatesRace relationsHistory20th century. 10. MississippiRace relations. I. Title. II. Title: Emmett Till, the murder that shocked the world and propelled the civil rights movement.

HV6465.M7A63 2015

364.134dc23 2015005681

British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data available

printed with a grant from
Figure Foundation

vector and square where dots connect

by Julian Bond

This work, several years in the making, has been an effort that involved many individuals. Along the journey I have made friends with numerous scholars and students of the Emmett Till case, and all of them have been generous to a fault with their research files and expertise.

I want to thank David Beito and Linda Royster Beito for sharing with me, prior to its publication, portions of the manuscript of their book, Black Maverick: T. R. M. Howards Fight for Civil Rights and Economic Power. They made known to me sources that I had previously been unaware of, and sent me photocopies of hard-to-find documents related to Emmett Till.

Davis Houck at Florida State University opened his newspaper files to me, saving me legwork in locating many Mississippi and out-of-state papers. It was Davis who paved the way for the University Press of Mississippi to publish this book; Daviss friendship has become one of the many rewards of taking on this project. Keith Beauchamp, Hank Klibanoff, and Christopher Metress also sent me important materials at various stages in my research. Amy Chatham went out of her way to provide me with copies of items that had once belonged to her husbands grandfather, Gerald Chatham, the man who prosecuted Emmett Tills accused killers in 1955. Heather McAdams and Patterson Smith sent me a few rare magazines that contained Till-related materials. Plater Robinson also provided me with a copy of a document that I had been trying to get my hands on for years. Scholars such as James Grossman, Stokes McMillan, and Stephen Whitfield were kind enough to answer questions for me by email. Thanks to all of you for your generosity, help, and support.

I must also give a heartfelt thanks to those I have interviewed over the course of my research, and who, after several decades, were able to recount details crucial to the story: Martha Baker, Gerald Chatham Sr., Doris Colon, Roosevelt Crawford, Bobby Dailey, Myrlie Evers-Williams, John Herbers, Gene Herrick, Macklyn Hubbell, Willie [Reed] Louis, Bill Minor, Wheeler Parker Jr., William Parker, Betty Pearson, Bill Pearson, W. C. Shoemaker, Crosby Smith Jr., Bill Spell, Ygondine Sturdivant, Dan Wakefield, Steve Whitaker, Ernest Withers, and Simeon Wright. Others who became part of the Till story did not have to go back quite so far, but their input was just as important. Therefore, thanks go to Jim Abbott, Dr. Jeffrey Andrews, Keith Beauchamp, Phil Benninger, Christopher Benson, Robert Garrity Jr., Susan Glisson, Jim Greenlee, John Hailman, Jan Hillegas, David Holmberg, Dale Killinger, Stanley Nelson, Steve Ritea, Mike Small, and Alvin Sykes. I am extremely grateful to others whom I interviewed or corresponded with who have or once had a relative with some connection to the Emmett Till saga. Most of these people reached out to me first, but I learned about a few of them on my own and contacted them. So I give a special thanks to James Boyack Jr., Randall Bradley, Amy Chatham, Rita Dailey, Robbie Duke, Marsha Gaston, Airickca Gordon-Taylor, Minter Krozer, Allie Ledford, Katherine Malone-France, Mary Lou Ray, Johnny B. Thomas, Ellen Whitten, and Rosalind Withers. Five people I interviewed have asked that their names not be included in this book, but I remain as grateful for their valuable input as I do any of the others I talked to and wish so much that I could publicly recognize them.

I also thank Clare Anderson, Brigid Bennett, Tim Bethea, Guenalle Blanchet, Jenny Blue, Shayla Brown, Jimmy Carpenter, Suzy Carter, Norma Chase, Lou Chesterton, Camille Chivers, Ronald Coleman, Cassie Cox, Forrest Crawford, Chris Crowe, Jessica Donaldson, Alan Donnes, Michael Ellery, Amber Etchells, Reena Evers, Ayan Farah, Elizabeth Snyder Fortino, Jim Fox, Mary Francis, Michelle Freeman, Mel Gardner, Whitney Gealta, Devon Geary, Betsy Glick, Isaac Goldberg, Michael Granger, Lisa Gross, John Hatch, John Hays, Tillie Henson, Ronald Herd, Frances Holland, Mark Johnson, Romilly Jones, Ryan Jones, Kurt Kemper, Tony King, Susan Klopfer, Philip Kolin, Rebecca Jane Langwell, Tiffany Littlejohn, Darryl Mace, Deborah Madden, Lee McGarrh, Nick Meakins, Zoe Meakins, Jerry Mitchell, Ed Modestino, Scott Norris, David Nystrom, Neil Padden, Denn Pietro, Virginia Schafer, Mariana Skillen, Priscilla Sterling, Belinda Stewart, Dave Tell, Lois Emily Toole, Timothy B. Tyson, Claire Ward, Kandy Warner, Minnie Watson, Meghan Riley Wheeler, Brian Whitney, John Wilson, former Mississippi governor William Winter, and Dan Wotherspoon for a multitude of kindnesses along the way.

From 1996 until her passing in 2003, I maintained a friendship with Mamie Till-Mobley, mother of Emmett Till. I regret that I did not record every word of the numerous conversations we held, many of which seemed casual at the time, but now, over a decade after her passing, I realize were priceless.

I also express appreciation to staff members at the interlibrary loan department at the J. Willard Marriott Library at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City for processing never-ending orders of microfilm, and to the Salt Lake City Library for its generous policy allowing free photocopying. The staffs at the National Archives offices in Oxford, Mississippi, and Morrow, Georgia, processed orders for me; personnel at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History were most gracious during numerous visits to their facility. I was given equally helpful treatment at the Mitchell Memorial Library at Mississippi State University in Starkville, the Ned R. McWherter Library at the University of Memphis, and the Greenwood Leflore Library in Greenwood, Mississippi. Brittany Bell and Emily Erwin Jones of the Charles W. Capps Jr. Archives and Museum at Delta State University in Cleveland, Mississippi, were very helpful to me during a two-day visit to their facility in February 2006. Both have since become good friends. The Family History Library of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City, Utah, with its seemingly limitless resources, was a treasure trove where I obtained information on many of the players in the Emmett Till story.