3,446 is the official number of Black people lynched in the United States between 1882 and 1968, according to the NAACP, though that is likely on the low end of the actual number. An average of 40 people lost their lives each year to these barbarous acts of murder. The 3,441st victim of the hideous displays of white supremacy was 14-year-old Chicagoan, Emmet Till. Director Chinonye Chukwu’s 2022 movie, Till, explores the events leading up to, during, and after Emmett Till’s murder trial, and the battle that his fearless mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, faced for justice.
The Backstory of Emmett and Mamie Till
United Artists
By all accounts, Emmett Till was a fun-loving, wisecracking, humorously infectious teenage boy. Raised by the Mississippi-born single mother Mamie in southern Chicago, Emmett grew up during the latter years of World War II, and against the backdrop of the American civil rights movement. Brought up in a more enlightened and socially liberal vicinity of the States, his experiences of racially-fueled, discriminatory behavior was, by 1950s standards, relatively minimal. However, the prejudicial nature of American society still meant there was always an element of nasty, racist undertones whenever a Black person stepped foot in a predominantly white area. The biographical drama portrays Emmett in the same glowing light in which his mother and relatives spoke of him — a charmingly charismatic and caring son, grandson, nephew, and cousin.
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A strong, loving, and doting mother, Mamie Till was naturally solicitous when sending her son to visit his aunt, uncle, and cousins in the unforgiving, less socially progressive South, having moved away from the area during the great migration with her family as a child due to the limitations placed on the rights of Black people, and the prevalence of the Ku Klux Klan and white supremacists.
As the film explores, Mamie Till’s life was under immense scrutiny following the murder of her son, as was her string of failed marriages to men of a questionable disposition. Having married Louis Till (Emmett’s father) who died during the war, and then Pink Bradley who was reportedly domestically abusive, Mamie settled down with Gene Mobley and remained with him until his death in 2000. Included in the film, following her son’s brutal murder, Mamie Till-Mobley became a ubiquitous influence in the fight for civil rights in America, speaking regularly at rallies, protests, and marches across the country. Spreading the word of equality throughout the 50 states, drawing on her son’s murder as a catalyst for reform, Mamie’s tireless efforts contributed to the Civil Rights Act of 1957.
The Murder of Emmett Till
The events of the murder are told chronologically, and the film’s depiction is almost entirely accepted as the unadulterated truth. The picture follows his trip down south from Chicago via train, under strict parental instruction to be on his best behavior, and to be “small down there.” After a week picking cotton with his cousins, and exploring the more rural life Mississippi offers compared to the urbanized experience of home life in Chicago, young Emmett, along with his cousins, visited the Bryant Convenience store run by husband and wife, Carolyn and Roy Bryant.
True to the actual events reported by eyewitnesses on that fateful day in August 1955, the film details Emmett’s purchasing of sweets and subsequent wolf-whistle directed at the cashier, Carolyn Bryant. After Bryant went to retrieve her handgun from the trunk of her car, the boys fled, and it wasn’t until three days later that Carolyn’s husband was informed. Believed to have turned up between approximately two and three in the morning on August 28th, Roy Bryant and his half-brother, J.W. Milam, forced their way into Mose Wright’s where they made threats to kill his family, before identifying and seizing Emmett. Placed in the back of a truck, Emmett was driven to a nearby house and remorselessly beaten, bludgeoned, and shot dead by Bryant and Milam.
Open Casket and Trial
As shown in the film, Mamie Till made the decision to display Emmett’s disfigured body in an open casket with the primary motivation of exposing the shocking evils her child was subjected to by cowardly white supremacists. The pictures of Emmett’s battered, bloated, and bruised body that was only identifiable by the ring he was wearing was featured in major national newspapers and magazines, and ultimately, these had the desired effect of provoking action to be taken.
As with any dramatized account, there are certain technical discrepancies that simply won’t have occurred. However, Till gets to the crux of what happened in the courtroom, where Mamie really did testify in front of an all-white jury, and Mose Wright really did give evidence, and identify the murderers. When it was Carolyn Bryant’s turn to take to the witness stand, she fabricated the events at the shop and falsely claimed that Emmett had physically assaulted her after making advances – a statement that the real Carolyn Bryant admitted to lying about many years after the trial’s conclusion, which ended predictably, in a not guilty verdict.
What Does Till Exclude?
Till is a film that documents the harrowing murder of an innocent, and harmless child at the hands of unrelenting, bloodthirsty white extremists. Thus, it’s understandable that Till’s creators wanted to avoid diverting attention to another story, opting to omit real details of Emmett’s father, Louis’ absence, and the reasons he died at war. The subject of Louis Till is treated with a certain degree of ambiguity throughout the runtime, and his death is merely attributed to being a casualty of war. The film is factually correct as far as Louis Till’s death occurred during a stint in active service, however, the circumstances around his death are more sinister.
After continually breaching a restraining order placed on him by the courts at the mercy of his then ex-wife, Mamie, he was given the option of joining up with the US military during WWII or spending time in a state penitentiary. Choosing the former, Louis enlisted and began service in Italy. While serving, he was subsequently court marshaled and hanged, having been accused and found guilty of murdering an Italian and raping two people. However, his conviction remains a bit contentious to this day, with many believing it was simply a smear campaign on Emmett Till, in an attempt to dehumanize the boy and as a justification for his murderers’ acquittal.
Was Any Justice Achieved for Emmett?
In short — no. Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam left the courthouse free men and lived out the rest of their days as such. Yet, in 1956, in an interview with a magazine, the pair confessed to the murder of Emmett Till, but due to double jeopardy, it meant neither could be prosecuted again for that crime. Carolyn Bryant is still alive today, living in a retirement home in Kentucky, and has never faced reprimand for lying under oath. Yet, Emmett didn’t die in vain; his death symbolized a greater push for the civil rights movement, and aided the passing of fundamental legislation that protected those just like him.
