Presented By The Wendell Phillips Academy High School Leadership Department Mrs. Henderson, Department Chair Ms Banks Mr. Brown Mr. Jones Mr. Larson Mrs. Taylor Ms Boyd, Library Media Specialist Photograph of Ahmed Rayner courtesy of A.A. Rayner Funeral Home Other photographs courtesy of PBS.ORG, YouTube and Google Images

1. THE MURDER OF EMMETT LOUIS TILL
Presented By
The Wendell Phillips Academy High School Leadership Department
Mrs. Henderson, Department Chair
Mr. Brown Mrs. Banks Mr. Jones
Mr. Larson Mrs. Taylor
Ms Boyd, Library Media Specialist
Photograph of Ahmed Rayner courtesy of A.A. Rayner Funeral Home
Other photographs courtesy of PBS.ORG, YouTube and Google Images

2. 71ST & STATE STREET
EAST OF THE DAN RYAN EXPRESSWAY

3. WHAT DO THESE PEOPLE HAVE IN COMMON?

4. BRONZEVILLE
John H. Johnson
Wendell Phillips Academy
High School Graduate
Mamie Till’s family was part of the ‘great
migration’ of African-Americans that moved
from southern states to Bronzeville
Ahmed Rayner, owner of A.A. Rayner
- The funeral parlor was first located at
4141 South Cottage Grove Avenue in Chicago

5. EMMETT LOUIS TILL: A CHICAGO TEEN

6. TILL ATTENDED MCCOSH ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
NOW CALLED EMMETT TILL MATH & SCIENCE ACADEMY

7. SUMMER OF 1955 – A TRIP ‘DOWN SOUTH’
Emmett Till and his cousin travel to Mose Wright’s farm.

8. MONEY, MISSISSIPPI

9. JIM CROW LAWS

10. SUMMER OF 1955:
THE BEGINNING OF THE COTTON HARVEST

11. A VISIT TO BRYANT’S GROCERY STORE

12. STORE OWNERS ROY & CAROLYN BRYANT

13. TILL HAD A SPEECH IMPEDIMENT

14. THREE DAYS LATER, MOSE WRIGHT’S FAMILY
WAS AWAKENED AT 2:30AM

15. ACCORDING TO TILL’S UNCLE MOSE WRIGHT, HIS NEPHEW
WAS TAKEN AWAY IN A PICK-UP TRUCK BY THE HUSBAND
& BROTHER IN LAW OF CAROLYN BRYANT AND A BLACK MAN
The bed Till last slept in
A pair of pants that belonged to Till

16. Willie Reed saw Bryant, Milam
and Till enter the barn. He later
heard cries of someone being
beaten inside of the barn .
A WITNESS

17. THREE DAYS LATER, TILL’S BODY WAS PULLED
FROM THE TALLAHATCHIE RIVER

18. TILL’S BODY WAS WEIGHED DOWN BY THIS 70
POUND COTTIN-GIN FAN. BARBED WIRE WAS
WRAPED AROUND THE TEEN’S NECK AND
ATTACHED TO THE FAN.

19. Mose Wright was able to identify Emmett Till’s body by the
ring that was given to him by Till’s father, Louis Till.

20. STATE OF MISSISSIPPI OFFICIALS TRIED TO FORCE
TILL’S FAMILY TO BURY HIM IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE
BODY WAS PULLED FROM THE TALLAHATCHIE RIVER.
TILL’S MOTHER INSISTED IN HAVING THE
BODY RETURNED TO CHICAGO FOR BURIAL.

21. FUNERAL DIRECTOR, AHMED RAYNER III WAS INSTRUCTED
TO LEAVE THE COFFIN SEALED. FROM THE INSISTANCE
OF MAMIE TILL MOBLEY, HE OPENED THE COFFIN AND
PREPARED THE BODY FOR A PUBLIC VIEWING.

22. JOHN H. JOHNSON BRAVELY PUBLISHES
A GRAPHIC PICTURE OF EMMETT TILL’S
CORPSE IN JET MAGAZINE

23. ROBERTS TEMPLE CHURCH OF GOD
Bronzeville

24. ROBERTS TEMPLE CHURCH OF GOD
Bronzeville

25. THE TRIAL OF ROY BRYANT
AND J.W. MILAM

26. MOSE WRIGHT IDENTIFIES
ROY BRYANT AND J.W. MILAM IN COURT
For the first time, a black man had the strength to
stand in open court and accuse a white man of a capital crime.

27. DESPITE THE TESTIMONY OF WRIGHT AND REED,
BRYANT AND MILAM WERE FOUND ‘NOT GUILTY’
FIVE DAY TRIAL, 1 HOUR JURY DECISION

28. THE TILL CASE WAS RE-OPENED IN 2004
Documentary Filmmaker Keith
Beauchamp & Senator Charles Schumer –
NY, are credited to getting the Emmett Till
murder case re-opened.

29. THE TILL CASE WAS A
‘GROTESQUE MISCARRIAGE OF JUSTICE’
Till’s body was exhumed for an autopsy in 2005. The casket was donated to
the Smithsonian National Museum of African-American History and Culture

30. THE EMMETT TILL UNSOLVED CIVIL RIGHTS
CRIME ACT BECAME A LAW IN 2008
This is a federal law that provides a plan for investigating
and prosecuting unsolved Civil Rights era murders.

31. EYES ON THE PRIZE: EMMETT TILL
HTTP://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=PXK8U58PQTE