Why Is Emmett Till Important In World History

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Emmett Till was a 14 year old boy who was murdered by two white men in Mississippi in 1955. Emmett was killed because a white woman stated Emmett whistled at her and behaving inappropriately. The murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till in 1955 brought local and global attention to the racial violence and injustice in Mississippi. The brutal lynching of an Emmett helped shape the civil-rights movement and became the first Black Lives Matter case. Emmett's murder is important because it inspired activism and resistance that became known as the Civil Rights movement. It impacted the world history because the sight of his brutalized body pushed many people that were silent to directly fight for justice. Medgar Evers was an influential activist who was …show more content…

Locally, people rallied that Mississippi should take the blame for not finding the murders guilty of the crime. African American and white people who sympathized were upset to see the murders on pictures smiling, showing no sorrow that they were rejected, threatened and attacked by a local resident. Although the state of Mississippi was the focus, globally many events took place as well. Emmett's mother wanted an open casket for her son to show the world what racism did to her son. It was said that Tens of thousand people came to his funeral viewing his mutilated body which attracted national attention. Emmett's murder was published in magazines, newspaper and across the U.S., and the state of Mississippi was frowned on because of the lack of black civil …show more content…

There were warnings of a second civil war if no accountability was taken for killing black people for no reason. Emmett's murder "aroused feelings about segregation, law enforcement, relations between the North and South, the circumstances of Mississippi, the activities of the NAACP and the White Citizens' Councils." There was no compromise Emmett faced because he never had a chance to sacrifice one thing for another because he was kidnapped from his family and murdered. However, because of Emmett's brutal death, David Halberstam a reporter, called the trial "the first great media event of the civil rights movement.” which feels like his death was traded for awareness to protect the lives of black

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