emmett till.

This past weekend we traveled to see the Emmett Till locations. I'm going to assume everyone knows the story, at least somewhat. I could tell the story, but I will let the Mississippi Freedom Trail sign do that for me. Instead let's go on a short visual tour. I debated on if I should post pictures of his mangled body, since those pictures are so important to the civil rights movement. I decided they were too graphic for this blog. If you haven't seen them yet please do. Remember that this iwas a 14 year old boys punishment for whisiling at a woman that was seen as above him. It puts everything in context. A google search will turn the pictures up.

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The Remains Of The Store. This is what's left of the store that Emmett Till visited that fateful day. The store has obviously been out of use. The crazy thing about the store to me is that it used to be a spot to go to... But its currently in the middle of nowhere. It got me thinking back on how life might have been back then.

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The Shed. This is where 14 year old Emmett Till was taken to be tortured and killed for whistling at a white woman. The craziest thing about this shed however is that... Its on private property... and is still in use to this day...

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The Tallahatchie River.The river that Emmett Till was found in 3 days later. 'Nuff said.

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The Courthouse. This is where the murder trial for Roy Bryant (the husband) and J.W. Milam (his half brother) happened. There was international outrage, amazing press coverage, witnesses to the kidnapping, a witness who heard the screams and was threatened into silence by one of the defendants, motivation, and one of the most famous graphic pictures of all time was the picture of Emmett Till that was circulating. The trial took place in Mississippi in the 1950s. They were acquitted by an all white, all male jury. They later admitted in "Look Magazine" that they did do it. They could not be tried again due to double jeopardy protecting them against being retried. Isn't that crazy? The only question I really have for them is did they ever regret it? Did they ever even feel bad?

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(Bonus) Robert Johnson Greenville, MS Grave. This is one of the graves for blues legend Robert Johnson.

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