Civil Rights Essay

Kareen Hyman
Civil Rights Exam
Emmett Till Emmett Till was a fourteen year old teenager who was brutally murdered. His death was caused by Roy Bryant and J.W Milam. Many whites in 1955 defended these two men and thought that Till deserved his death. The way blacks were treated in Mississippi is sickening. Any form of disrespect towards a white person could get you whipped, beaten, lynched or killed. Blacks had to basically bow down to whites in order to keep the peace. Till’s death is one that will never be forgotten throughout not only black history, but history period. After of hours of research, I got the fully story of Emmett Till’s death; and it is truly not one to be forgotten.
On August 24, 1955, Till and his friends and relatives were outside Bryant’s Grocery store playing around. Till pulled out a picture of a white woman out of his wallet to brag about his relationships with white girls back in Chicago (where he was from). His friends then proceeded to tell Till if he was so good with white women, to then go flirt with the cashier inside the store; Till did. He went inside to buy some bubble gum and then grabbed the cashier’s hand; which was Carolyn Bryant. He allegedly flirted with her in the store and then was escorted out. He then whistled at Carolyn Bryant. When Roy returned from his trip out of town, he heard about the “Chicago nigger boy” whom allegedly whistled at his wife. Around that time, as we all know, blacks were not treated equally. They had no civil rights and most whites still hated them.
On August 28, Bryant and Milam took Till from his uncle’s home. The plan was never to kill Till, but to teach him a lesson. He was then brought to their home where he was whipped with a pistol continuously by each man. He was then put on a truck where he was taken to the Tallahatchie River. They then shot him above his right ear and Till’s body dropped to the floor. They proceeded to tie and 75 pound cotton gin around his neck with barbered wire and rolled him into the river. 72 hours later, a fisher saw someone’s feet and legs sticking up out of the water. They got the body out of the water, put it on their boat and called the cops. The cops arrived to see an unrecognizable, horribly beaten, bruised, and almost decomposed body. The right side of his face was barely attached and the right eye was hanging out the socket. The only way he was identified was by his initialed ring that his uncle was able to point out. The body was shipped back to Chicago to have an open casket funeral so the world could see the aftermath of his brutal death.
Yes, many blacks were killed and lynched in Mississippi, but this one was special. This murdered was portrayed to people all across the world to show the racism in the south. It opened everyone’s eyes for many different reasons. What his life really worth a whistle? To white people, Till deserved it but to blacks and other countries, not at all. This murder drew attention to civil rights abuse in the south. The civil rights movement was in full effect after the harsh and brutal murder of Emmett Till.
This murder started civil right movements that will also never be forgotten. 100 days after the murder Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus. This gave birth to the Montgomery bus boycott and the many civil right movements that followed. With this murder making front pages of magazines and newspaper, people really woke up and realized it’s time for a change. Emmett Till marked the beginning of the end of injustice and segregation in the south.

The Children’s March
The Children’s March was a campaign held by children of all ages in 1963. The march was to help end segregation in Birmingham so African Americans would have the same equal right opportunities as whites. The children were very firm in what they believed in, which was the driving force for them to march. They wanted their freedom and their equal rights just like all the other children. The

Show More

Civil Liberties And Civil Rights

Civil Rights And Civil Liberties

The Civil Right Movement: The Beginning Of The Civil Rights Movement