How old would emmett till be today
- •
The alleged teasing of white store clerk Carolyn Bryant by the 14 year-old African American Emmett Till led to his brutal murder at the hands of Bryant’s husband Roy and his half-brother, J.W. Milam, forcing the American public to grapple with the menace of violence in the Jim Crow South. According to court documents, Till, who was visiting family for the summer in Money, Mississippi, from Chicago, purchased two-cents worth of bubble gum from the Bryant Grocery store and said, “Bye, baby” over his shoulder to Carolyn Bryant as he exited the store.
That night Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam ran into Emmett’s uncle’s home where he was staying, dragged Till from his bed, beat him to the point of disfigurement, and shot him before tossing his body into the Tallahatchie River with a cotton-gin fan attached with barbed wire laced to his neck to weigh him down. Bryant and Milam maintained their innocence and would eventually be acquitted of the murder by an all-white, all male jury. They later sold their story for $4,000 to Look magazine– bragging about the murder as a form of Southern just
- •
Life
Emmett Louis Till (nicknamed “Bobo”), was born on July 25, 1941 to Mamie (née Carthan) Till-Mobley and Louis Till at Cook County Hospital in Chicago, Illinois. The Cook County Hospital was one of the only local facilities providing medical care to African Americans. Till’s birth was difficult, leaving him with facial scars. Doctors also initially believed that he would be permanently disabled, but he began walking at 11 months.
The Tills initially resided in Argo-Summit, a town outside of Chicago, where Mamie Till-Mobley’s family settled after moving from Mississippi as part of the Great Migration. This exodus of African Americans out of the South was ignited by long-standing racist violence and widespread economic, social, and political disparities between Black and White people. Louis worked at the Argo Corn Products Company, one of the primary employers of African American men in the town, including Mrs. Till-Mobley’s father, John Carthan.
Emmett’s parents separated when he was a toddler, and he and his mother remained in Argo-Summit. While in the first grade, he
- •
Introduction
In August and September of 1955, a series of tragic events in rural Mississippi and Chicago’s South Side brought a 14-year-old African American boy’s lynching to national attention. Emmett Till’s kidnapping, murder, and funeral marked a turning point in America’s understanding of racist violence. Mamie Till-Mobley’s courage in showing the brutality done to her son highlighted racial injustice and helped inspire the modern civil rights movement.Mississippi Beginnings
Mamie Till-Mobley (née Carthan) was born in Webb, Tallahatchie County, Mississippi. At the age of two, her family relocated to the Chicago Area, eventually settling in Argo-Summit. Their move was part of the Great Migration, an exodus ignited by violence and widespread economic, social, and political disparities that African Americans were experiencing in the South. After graduating from high school, she married Louis Till. Their only child, Emmett, was born in 1941. Known as a fun-loving jokester, Emmett spent his childhood in Argo-Summit, then Chicago’s South Side. Though polio left him with a sCopyright ©soybeck.pages.dev 2025