The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till (2005)

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The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till was released on August 17, 2005, in the USA. The American film was produced by Till Freedom Come Productions. The film was directed by Keith Beauchamp. The movie was displaying the investigation of Emmet Louis Till's death, an African American boy who died for whistling at a white woman[1].

Plot

Emmett Louis Till was sent to visit his uncle in the Mississippi Delta by Mamie Till-Mobely, his mother, from Chicago in August 1955. However, later on, Till was beaten and murdered for whistling a white girl in Mississippi. Those murderers gauged out Till's eyes, shot him in the head, cut off his tongue, and tying a fan to his neck which was then thrown in the Tallahatchie River. Mamie decides to open the casket at the funeral so everyone can see how the people of Mississippi murdered his son. The exposure has sparked the Civil Rights movement in America[2].

Black Empowerment

Till's great uncle stood up against the jury's verdict in a Southern court pointing out the abductors of his nephew who are white, where if anybody does that in Southern America such as Mississippi is considered to be dead a few days later. Still, he would stand up bravely for fighting the rights of his nephew's death[3]. Emmett didn't die in vain. His dreadful and brutal death aroused media notice when his mother insisted on having an open coffin. Her reason was simple yet, a controversial decision at the time. She believes her decision has to be done by saying, "I want the world to see what they did to my son." The death indeed provoked the Southern Black Resistance which later became known as the American Civil Rights Movement. Philosophers and activists have examined the death of Emmett until then, and the case has even made its way through the history of harassment towards African-Americans in the last five decades. People are still intrigued by the assassination of until. Many books have been published exposing the inappropriate circumstances surrounding the powerful case and the controversial jury decision. Yet, the authentic narrative of the incident has never been revealed[4].

Controversy

Emmett Till, in a family photo (inset) and in the open-casket photo[5]

It is crazy, the way the local sheriff casually tells TV reporters "We had no problem until our blacks went up north and talked to the NAACP and came back here and caused problems.". Dane Wakefield, a journalist, reported as he remembers "everyone in the town knew they did it" even before they confessed in the Look magazine. The murderers, Roy Brant and J.W. Milam, proudly confessed the murder and expose the story in the Look magazine to be rewarded USD 4,000. In the trial, both of them were liberated from the crime with only an hour in the court where an all-white jury acquitting them from the accusations[6].

References

  1. The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till (2005). IMDb. Retrieved January 19 2021
  2. Ed Gonzalez. Review: The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till Slant Magazine. Retrieved January 19 2021]
  3. Ronnie Scheib. The Untold Story Of Emmett Louis Till Variety. Retrieved January 19 2021]
  4. The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till Riverfront Times. Retrieved January 19 2021]
  5. The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till RogerEbert. Retrieved January 19 2021]
  6. Roger Ebert. 50 years later, doc reopens case RogerEbert. Retrieved January 19 2021]