Emmett Till was a 14-year-old African American boy who was brutally murdered in Mississippi in 1955. While visiting relatives in Money, Mississippi, Till allegedly whistled at or made some form of interaction with Carolyn Bryant, a white woman who owned a local grocery store. This act, perceived as a violation of the racial codes of the Jim Crow South, led to his abduction by Bryant's husband, Roy Bryant, and his half-brother, J.W. Milam. Around August 28, 1955, Bryant and Milam kidnapped Till from his great-uncle's home, beat him severely, shot him in the head, and tied a large metal fan to his neck with barbed wire to weigh him down before throwing his body into the Tallahatchie River. His mutilated body was recovered three days later
. Till's mother insisted on an open-casket funeral in Chicago to show the world the brutality of the murder. Images of his disfigured body were widely published, galvanizing national attention and outrage over racial violence and injustice in the United States
. Bryant and Milam were arrested and tried for Till's kidnapping and murder but were acquitted by an all-white, all-male jury. Protected by double jeopardy, they later confessed to the crime in a magazine interview, describing the details of the murder
. The murder of Emmett Till became a pivotal event in the civil rights movement, highlighting the violent racism in the South and inspiring activism such as the Montgomery bus boycott later that year. The case remains a symbol of the fight against racial injustice in America
. The FBI reopened the investigation in 2004 but concluded in 2006 that the statute of limitations had expired, preventing federal prosecution
. Despite the lack of legal justice, Emmett Till's death had a profound and lasting impact on the civil rights movement.
