Till is a 2022 biographical film about Mamie Till Mobley, a mother turned activist who fought for justice after the lynching of her 14-year-old son Emmett Till in 1955. The young Till was visiting family in Mississippi in the summer of 1955 and was accused of allegedly flirting with store cashier Carolyn Bryant during a public outing. Bryant later stated that Till had attempted to touch her and made lude comments towards her. When Bryant’s husband Roy returned from hauling shrimp, he and his brother abducted, tortured, and murdered Till in cold blood. The murderers were eventually acquitted of the crime by an all-white jury, shedding light on systemic racism in the Jim Crow-era South. Emmett Till's ghastly murder was effectively the impetus for the civil rights movement.
Till is directed by Chinonye Chukwu, and written and produced by Keith Beauchamp, who also produced the documentary The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till. Chukwu discusses the importance of the film in a recent interview with Movieweb. The film is a heart-wrenching examination of a mother’s strength, a dissection of racism, and proof that one woman can indeed make a difference. Here is the true story behind the 2022 movie Till.
Carolyn Bryant's Accusation
Emmett Louis Till was born in Chicago, Illinois on July 25, 1941 to parents Mamie Carthan and Louis Till. Just 14 years later, Till's young life would be tragically cut short in a devastating hate crime that would shock the nation and catalyze the civil rights movement. Till arrived in Money, Mississippi on Aug 21, 1955, where he would be staying with his Great Uncle Moses Wright to visit family. Later in the week, on August 24, Till and some friends visited Bryant's Grocery and Meat Market after a long day working the fields. During his visit to the store, Till was alone inside with Carolyn Bryant for less than a minute. There are varying accounts as to what transpired during this time, with Bryant later testifying that Till had grabbed her and made sexual advances, however, this has never been proven. According to the Clarion Ledger, Bryant's testimony has varied over the years, regarding the specifics of the event. Four days later on Aug 28, 1955, Roy Bryant returned home from a business trip. Learning of the alleged incident, he rounded up his half-brother John W. Milam and the two went in search of young Till. They were accompanied by three other men, who were never tried for their involvement in the crime.
The Abduction and Lynching of Emmett Till
At 2:30 am on the night of August 28, 1955, Bryant and Milam kidnapped Till from Moses Wright's home. Till's cousin Simeon Wright, who affectionately referred to his cousin as "Bobo," wrote a book detailing the events of his cousin's kidnapping and murder titled Simeon's Story. In this book, he shares how his mother came into the room begging the captors not to take young Emmett, even offering them money. Wright states: "They had come for Bobo, No begging, pleading or payment was going to stop them." Wright died in 2017 of complications from bone cancer.
The two men forced Till into their car at gunpoint and drove him to another location, which was later revealed to be the farm of Leslie Milam, John. W. Milam's brother, and beat him to near-death, gouged out one of his eyes, and fatally shot him in the head. They would later drive to another location to dump the body where they tied a 75-pound cotton gin fan around his neck with a length of barbed wire, before rolling his lifeless body into the Tallahatchie River. Till's Uncle Moses reported his nephew's kidnapping to the police, and Bryant and Milan were arrested for kidnapping the following day (August 29). On August 31, Till's swollen and mutilated corpse was discovered in the Tallahatchie River by a young boy out fishing. The body was so badly mutilated that his Uncle Moses could only identify it by a family ring Till was wearing with his father's initials on it.
A Mother’s Fight for Justice
Despite the gruesome nature of the crime, Emmett's mother Mamie Till insisted on an open casket funeral to show the brutality her son was subjected to, telling reporters, "Unless an example is made of the lynchers of Emmett, it won't be safe for a Negro to walk the streets anywhere in America." Furthermore, Mamie allowed a photographer from Jet Magazine to publish pictures of Till's body at the funeral to further spread awareness. Till's funeral would welcome roughly 50,000 onlookers who were shocked and saddened by the young boy's brutal death. Till's tragic death and Mamie's relentless fight for justice would go on to spark the civil rights movement for Black Americans everywhere.
Jury selection began for the trial on September 19, 1955, however, due to the rules at the time, none of the Black residents of Tallahatchie County were eligible to be jurors. As a result, the chosen jury would consist of 12 white men. During the trial, Moses Wright gave his eyewitness testimony of who had kidnapped Till on the night of August 28, fervently identifying Bryant and Milam. He also testified that he had identified Till's body by the family ring that was removed by the undertaker, which was further confirmed by Mamie Till. Despite there being a reasonable amount of evidence to convict, the two men were acquitted after only an hour of deliberation on September 23. It was later revealed that Tallahatchie County Sheriff H.C. Strider had held two key witnesses of the crime under false identities to prevent their testimony in the trial. The two men were Levi "Too Tight" Collins and Henry Loggins, who were employees of Milam's and participated in the events leading to Emmett's death (according to Emmett Till Memory Project). As if that wasn't enough of an injustice, Till's murderers later exploited Mississippi's double jeopardy law when they sold the story of how they had kidnapped and murdered Emmett to Look magazine for $3500 the year following their acquittal. To date, Carolyn Bryant has never been indicted for her involvement in Emmett's lynching.
The devastating outcome of the case shed light on racism in the South. The acquittal inspired countless protests and calls for federal legislation to protect the rights of Black citizens. Rosa Parks' infamous refusal to give up her seat on a public bus was inspired by Till. Parks once wrote, "The news of Emmett's death caused me [...] to participate in the cry for justice and equal rights." Till's unjust execution remains a poignant lesson on human rights to this day and has even inspired policy change recently, with President Joe Biden passing the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act into law on March 29, 2022, which makes lynching a federal hate crime. Danielle Deadwyler has been named an Oscar contender for her powerful performance as Mamie Till. You can watch the official trailer for the film here.