Emmett Till

The Civil Rights Movement is a very important event that took place in the United States. Without the Civil Rights movement the United States would not be in the state that it is now. Not only would we not have had more opportunities for oppressed people, but theres is a very strong chance that we might still be in the state that the country was during that time. 

Many people and events are important to this movement good and bad. Not only were there a lot of great things that happened like, the bus boycotts, lunch sit-ins, and the infamous March on Washington, there were many ugly, devastating events that took place like assassinations and the devastating murder of Emmett Till.

Emmett Till was a 14 year old African American boy who’s brutal murder sparked outrage and brought light to the brutality of the Jim Crow era. 

Emmett Till was accused of harassing, touching, and threatening a white women who worked behind the counter of a convenience store. After hearing these allegations, the husband of the woman went to Till’s Uncles house and demanded that he got in the car. Then the husband and his associates made Till carry a 75 lb cotton gin fan to the Tallahatchie River where they then beat him, shot him in the head, and tied his body to the fan to dump his body in the river. 

At the trial for his murder, the jury debated for less than an hour and then ruled not guilty. This verdict sparked great outrage and shocked many people.

After finding the body Emmett Till’s mother decided to have a funeral with an open casket. This was such an important, empowering decision because in doing this, his mother chose to show the world, “what the racist murderers did to my son.”

The local newspaper published a picture of Emmett Till’s body and it hit mainstream media where it then was used as fuel for Civil Rights Movement. 

The murder of Emmett Till will forever have a long lasting affect on the Civil Rights Movement. Not only did this showcase the ugly, brutal end of the movement but it helped fuel and spark the anger and rage in Black Americans that helped them finally stand up for their rights and fight. 

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