A Civil Rights monument in Jackson, Miss. has been vandalized. The marker commemorated Civil Rights icon emmett Till, an African-American teenager who was killed during a racially charged attack in 1955.
The case of Emmett Till
Emmett Till (July 25, 1941) was a young man from Chicago, Illinois, who, in the August of 1955, was sent to visit his great-uncle in Mississippi. While there, he was accused of flirting with and [wolf] whistling at Carolyn Bryant, the white, married owner of a convenience store in the area. Conduct such as this would've gone against the prevailing [Jim Crow] laws of the time, which prohibited an African-American male from interacting with a white woman.
Several nights after the accusation was made, Bryant's husband, along with an accomplice, went to Till's home, abducted him, beat him, killed him, and, according to a report by Time Memory Project, "tossed him over the Black Bayou Bridge in Glendora, Mississippi, near the Tallahatchie River." Three days later, "Till’s bloated body surfaced, his face severely disfigured. He was identified by a ring on his finger," the Daily Beast wrote.
Emmett Till's body was sent back to Chicago, where, much to the shock of Americans nationwide, his mother requested an open casket funeral. Jet Magazine, a publication aimed at black readers, covered the story and showcased the graphic images of Till's mutilated corpse, which started to decompose.
Thousands of people attended the funeral service, and the decision by Emmett Till's mother and the journalistic choices of Jet Magazine led to a highly publicized conversation about race in America. This subsequently turned Emmett Till into an icon for the Civil Rights Movement.
In September of that same year, Carolyn Bryan's husband and his accomplice were acquitted of all charges of kidnapping and murder.
A year later, they did an interview with Look Magazine, where, under protection against double jeopardy, they admitted to murdering the teenager.
Earlier this year, it came to light through a report by AP, that Carolyn Bryant, who is now 72 years old, had lied about the events in the grocery store that ultimately led to Till's death.
She implied that her husband pressured her into testifying against Till under threat of physical abuse.
Vandalism of the Mississippi monument
On Monday, a marker on The Mississippi Freedom Trail was vandalized for the second time. The sign, which was installed in 2011, commemorates the life and death of Emmett Till. Someone tore off the monument's vinyl paneling which destroyed images and pertinent information surrounding the historical event.
This is not the first time this particular marker has been vandalized. Back in May of 2017, someone scratched the sign's surface with a blunt object. Another marker commemorating Till near the river where his body was retrieved was shot at several times.
