In the summer of 1955, two men, both of them white, abducted a 14-year-old African-American boy named Emmett Till from his great-uncle's house in Money, Miss. And the way the jury chose to believe the ridiculous stories of the defense attorneys. Mr. Rayner was, he told the mother, he said, "If I was you I wouldn't look at this body because this body in such a horrible condition." "Why not give the boy a whipping," Wright begged, "and leave it at that? He would pay people to tell him jokes. Meanwhile, African American spectators were relegated to the back and looked on in fear. But I saw enough that I knew he was intact. Milam laid bare the racism that ruled Mississippi. Emmett's death was the opening of the Civil Rights movement. Mamie Till went to Washington to press the Federal Government to re-open the case. Roy Bryant and J.W. Donham was quiet about her. He was 14, but he just turned 14. When thetrial opened in September, the national and international press descended on the scene. Further, clearly speaking, he is a racist murderer. First my brother, then me, then him, then me. He had served in World War II and received combat medals. We put him back in the truck. Lawyer for Idaho murder suspect Bryan Kohberger thinks evidence can be 'attacked' Idaho murder victim had moved out of home but came back to see roommate The woman accused of setting off the 1955. He did a few welding jobs but eventually returned to the grocery business. His father's name was Henry Ezra Bryant. Hilary Goldstein If they would keep their nose and mouths out of our business we would be able to do more and enforcing the laws of Tallahatchie County and Mississippi. Rose Jourdain:It stunned white America. He spoke of it again, he went over it again. The next day, Roy Bryant was arrested for kidnapping. Mamie Till:The verdict came in "not guilty". Wright said he saw a person in the car, possibly Carolyn, who helped identify Emmett. White Woman: I'm almost convinced that the very beginning of this was by a communistic front. Narrator:A juror later revealed that the jury had stalled to "make it look good." The two had already been tried and . He asked. Willie Reed, Mississippi resident Getty Images The 14-year-old boy was murdered by two white men who were then acquitted. He visited a grocery store called Bryant's Grocery, which was owned by Donham and her husband Roy Bryant, both of whom were white. Walked in there say, "J.W. One or two at a time, the boys drifted into the store and back out again with a cold drink or a piece of candy. I noticed that the right eye was lying on midway his cheek, I noticed that his nose had been broken like somebody took a meat chopper and chopped his nose in several places. The killing would inspire both Bob Dylan and the Civil Rights movement. They be lookin' at you, rollin' their eyes and lookin' at you. Rebekah Suggs. Roy's half-brother J.W. There's one of his shoes here." Sign up for the American Experience newsletter! Mamie Till:I let them know that Mississippi was not Chicago. Narrator:At one end of Money was Bryant's grocery, which made a business of selling candy to black kids and provisions to field hands from nearby plantations. We ain't going to mix 'em. They thought they could run over the judge and the sheriff and everybody over there. Narrator:After he testified, Wright left his cotton blooming in the field, his old car sitting at the station, and slipped onto the train to Chicago. I mean it was almost like a 4th of July celebration, or it was almost as if the White Sox had won the pennant in the city of Chicago. Milam, who were found not guilty in a trial for the 1955 murder of black teenager Emmett Till, confess in an article in Look magazine published Jan. 24, 1956. But he turned around and he came back and he kissed me good-bye and he said, "Here. Natural born leader. I couldn't sleep at night. Brandon Teena's story: Background, what happened, and documentaries. Two nights later, Donham's then-husband, Roy Bryant, and his half-brother, J.W. And the cynicism ah, was ah, usually cached in very crude jokes. William Winter, Governor:It was argued in coffee shops all over the Deep South, that "If we give on this, then we'll, we'll start giving on everything else and the first thing you know, we won't have a segregated society, and black people will be taking over in this part of the country.". Wheeler Parker:We went to South, near the beginning of cotton-picking time, late August, and we picked cotton for a half a day and we would go swimming, run the snakes out the river. J.W. One of Roy Bryants defence lawyers told National Public Radios Soundprint program in 1994 that he regretted defending the case. Adam Green On a hot September in 1955, Roy Bryant and J.W. Consequences was that almost anything could happen to anybody at anytime down there. Discover short videos related to roy bryant interview on TikTok. But they were still white folks. Moses Wright's testimony in the trial of his great-nephew'skillers stands as one of the bravest moments in American history. He succumbed to cancer of the spine on New Year's Eve, 1980 at age 61. However, Roy repeated the crime and served eight months in prison. Stock footage of Tallahatchie River w/commentary:This is the muddy back woods Tallahatchie River where a weighted body was found alleged to be that of young Emmett Till. The two men, also white, were acquitted of this heinous and brutal crime. Interviewer: And how about you Mrs. Milam? A Supreme Court decision had struck down school segregation the year before. Black men did not touch white women. Mamie: I don't know, just by answering whatever questions that they ask me. Clenora Hudson-Weems Bryant died on September 1, 1994 about 14 years after Milam. It was here, that the Chicago Negro boy Emmett Till is alleged to have paid unwelcome attention to Roy Bryant's most attractive wife. Tracye A. Matthews, ARCHIVAL FILM And, of course, Emmett Till begged us not to tell my grandfather what had took place. Some reporters talked about Roy and Carolyn's "handsome looks" and J. W.'s tall stature and big cigars. Roy Bryant, a 24 year-old ex-soldier and his wife Carolyn owned the grocery and not much else. In this 23 September 1955, file photo, JW Milam, left, and Roy Bryant, right, sit with their wives in a courtroom in Sumner, Mississippi. Check your inbox to be the first to know the hottest news. They knew that there were strange things going on in places like Sumner, but they did not know it would be quite like that. "The life of a Negro in Mississippi," one European paper observed, "is not worth a whistle." ", Wheeler Parker:The two in the next room, my cousin and uncle they never woke up. John Herbers, Journalist:Sheriff Strider was a big, fat, plain talking, obscene talking sheriff you would expect to find in the South. He was born on January 24, 1931, and died in September 1994 of cancer. Bryant accused 14-year-old Till of sexual assault. Things are still unfolding in Emmetts case decades after the trial and years after Roy Bryants death. What was the motive for their brutal acts? Mamie Till:When people saw what had happened to my son, men stood up who had never stood up before. The jury of 12 white men who acquitted Emmett Till's killers in 1955. Those who have not been to the Delta find themselves gasping at the sight as they come over the lowest hills and see that expanse of flat agricultural land. And, Beau if you see a white woman coming down the street, you get off the sidewalk and drop your head. Milam, were . Roy Bryant held American nationality and was Caucasian. People became vocal who had never vocalized before. Florence Mars Of her accusation that Till had physically and verbally harassed her, she told Tyson, according to Vanity Fair:. Betty Pearson, Mississippi Resident:Part of that culture was that the women were put on pedestals and they were some sort of, ah idealization of whatever it means to be woman or to be female. Because -- those white folks were for real. Then you look at all these white folks and everybody lookin' at you and they've got they frowns on their face and everything. And said they wanted the boy that did the talk at Money. A Mississippi sheriff becomes a symbol of southern intransigence in the Emmett Till case. Get the latest on new films and digital content, learn about events in your area, and get your weekly fix of American history. Trudy Williams Warren Hampton, Mississippi Resident:I was playin' beside the road and I saw Mr. Milam in the truck coming by and it had a, had a cover over the door, we called a tarpaulin, and I heard somebody hollerin' on the truck. Margaret Crimmins The team discovered the warrant on Tuesday, June 21, 2022, in an archived file folder in the Leflore County Courthouse. Narrator:Mamie Till testified that the body she'd examined and buried was indeed her son. I mean the whole gym went crazy. Historian, public speaker and author Danielle McGuire PhD and journalism professor and author Allissa Richardson speak with the Gen-Z historian Kahlil Greene about the role of the media in shaping public perception around the murders of Black Americans. Narrator:The crowd in the courtroom waited in the heat. Mamie: To answer any questions that my, that the attorneys might ask me to answer. Roy Bryant and J.W. Mrs. Joyce Grant Discover the fascinating story of this iconic American garment. An all-white, all-male jury acquitted Bryant and Milam of kidnapping and murder of Emmett Till. I just in my mind I kept sayin', "I'll see him again," you know. In the fall of 1957, Carolyn and her family were living in Morgan City, Louisiana. Moses Newson, journalist, CONSULTANTS Roy Bryant: I'm just glad it's over with. Donham's husband, Roy Bryant, and brother-in-law, J W Milam, kidnapped and brutally murdered Till on August 28, 1955, and dumped his body in the Tallahatchie River. William Bicket, INTERNS I would wear flared skits with the crinoline underneath, you must have the crinoline. A high school dropout, she won two beauty contests and married Roy Bryant, an ex-soldier. Emmett Till, a 14-year-old Black boy visiting family in Mississippi from Chicago, was brutally murdered in August 1955. It had sex, it had murder, it had mystery. Roy Bryant was married to Carolyn Bryant Donham until his death. April Grayson Milam, on left, his wife, second from left, Roy Bryant, far right, and his wife, Carolyn Bryant, sit together in a courtroom in Sumner, Miss, on Sept. 25, 1955 . One-way train fare of $11.10 took them to a different world. Till's cousins later testified that they heard him . And it said, "This is Mr. I mean it's -- I mean someone come and stand over you with a pistol in one hand and a flashlight and you're 16 years old it's a terrifying experience, very terrifying. A childhood case of polio left him with a stutter, but by the time he was a teenager, Emmett Till had grown into a cocky, self-assured boy who loved to be the center of attention. Stock Footage, Mamie Till Arrives at Trial News Conference:Interviewer: What do you intend to do here today? Fox Movietone News Milam Bryant Scratch:We took him and we was just gonna whip him, scare some sense into him. The trial opened in September 1955, and the international press flooded the courtroom. You haven't kissed me good-bye. Get the news that matters from one of the leading news sites in Kenya, Money, Mississippi, the United States of America, Lamborghini Urus: Kenyans Stunned as KSh 40 Million SUV Is Spotted in Mombasa, Jury hears Elon Musk told 'lies' that cost Tesla investors millions, Trump presses Facebook to restore his account, Video of Interracial Couple Married for 45 Years Warms Hearts: "Nothing Gonna Stop Us", Champagne celebrates record sales in 2022. 60 Years Later: The Murder of Emmett Till Many whites in the surrounding counties showed up to watch the show. But I didn't accept it. Mamie Till:Those words were like arrows sticking all over my body. Corbis Images Contributors to Civil Rights groups soared. Emmett Till's body is taken to Chicago's Roberts Temple Church of God for viewing and funeral services. . On August 28, 1955, a 14-year-old African-American named Emmett Till was kidnapped from his relative's home in Mississippi by two adult white men, who brutally beat him to death. The entire article is available on PBS, and it is quite graphic. The high sheriff come in there, didn't even knock on no door or nothin'. They just disappeared. Sekou Shepard Interviewer: And you don't know whether they should be indicted? Mamie Till:They said that about one in every five had to be assisted out of the building. Narrator:On the first day of the trial, presiding judge Curtis Swango named the jury -- all white men from Bryant and Milam's home county.