Assignment:
Help your classmates learn more about
the Emmett Till incident by completing the following steps:
1)
Research the
topic you are assigned by accessing the required sources.
2)
Be sure to find
the information required for your topic, but you are welcome to add more.
3)
Create a
professional, polished PowerPoint or Prezi presenting the information you
discover.
4)
Present the
information to the rest of the class.
1. Racial Climate in Mississippi
Source:
Required information:
·
What was the Mississippi Delta known as?
·
What social system did Mississippi use in every
community to meet the “challenge” of a big African American population?
·
What was this life like for the African
Americans?
·
In the 75 years before Emmett Till, how many black
men had been lynched in Mississippi? What
was the most common accusation against them?
·
What did Mississippi culture teach about women?
·
What irrational fear did white people in
Mississippi have about black men?
·
So how did the African American men have to act
in response to this fear?
·
What did most white people convince themselves
of regarding the social system in Mississippi?
·
How did hundreds of thousands of black
Mississippians respond to the social system in the years between WWI and WWII?
2. The Kidnapping
Sources:
Required information:
·
Create a timeline or chronology of the events
leading up to and including the death of Emmett Till. Start with Emmett’s arrival in Mississippi
for the summer. Don’t include any events
after his death.
3. Witnesses, Arrests, and Funeral
Sources:
Required information:
·
Where was Emmett’s body found? What condition was it in?
·
How was the body identified?
·
What promise did the funeral home director make
to the Mississippi authorities? Why can
you infer that he made this promise?
·
Describe in detail the face of Emmett’s
corpse.
·
When the funeral director asked Mrs. Till if she
wanted to seal the coffin back up, what did she say and why?
·
Describe Emmett’s funeral
·
Why did so many people bring their children to
the funeral?
·
What were the reactions to Emmett’s body?
·
How many people saw Emmett Till’s body in
person?
·
How did the rest of the country see the picture
and hear the story?
·
How did white America react?
4. The Trial
Source:
Required information:
·
What was the claim of Bryant and Mylam during
the trial?
·
How did the white community in Mississippi react
to the Bryants during the trial?
·
What was the message to black people?
·
Describe the courtroom during the trial…What do
you notice about the courtroom from the videos?
·
Describe the jury.
·
What seemed to be the sheriff’s main concern
during the trial?
·
What was the main argument for the defense (of
Bryant and Mylam)?
·
What did the defense accuse Mamie Till and the
NAACP of?
·
Why didn’t black people from the community speak
out about the case in the beginning?
·
What did Willie Reed finally step forward and
say he saw/heard?
·
What happened to Reed after he testified?
·
Who was the prosecution’s best witness and
why?
·
What happened to him afterwards?
·
What did the jury decide? What was the jury’s reason why?
5. Aftermath
Source:
Required information:
·
Because they were protected from further trials,
Bryant and Mylam did what with their story?
·
Retell the events of that night from their
perspective.
·
Who ruled out a federal investigation? What did he do that was particularly
insulting to Mamie Till?
·
Who did time for killing Emmett Till?
·
What message did the incident send to the black
community about civil rights?
·
Mamie Till said her son’s death opened what
movement?
·
What happened 100 days after Emmett’s
death?
·
The death of Emmett Till made people realize
that they had to do what if things were to change?
·
What was the only repercussion/consequence for
the Bryants?
6. Killer’s Confession
Source:
Required information:
·
What was the title of the article in LOOK
magazine that contained Bryant and Milam’s confession?
·
Who had also never heard the confession of the
killers? Why is this so disturbing?
·
Read the confession now, answering the questions
as you go…
·
In the first paragraphs of the article, which
side of the case does LOOK magazine seem biased towards? Why is this magazine publishing the
confession of these killers?
·
How were Roy Bryant and JW Milam related?
·
Why was Caroline without her husband that night
at the store?
·
What was Bobo/Emmett bragging about to his
friends outside the store? What did they
dare him to do?
·
What did he do/say to Caroline Bryant?
·
What did the racist nature of the community have
to do with Roy’s decision to do something to Emmett?
·
Why did Roy wait until early Sunday morning to
find Emmett?
·
What was Big Milam’s idea to do to Emmett at
first?
·
Why didn’t Emmett jump out of the back of the truck
and run?
·
According to Milam and Bryant, what made them
decide to kill Emmett?
·
According to Milam and Bryant, what was the last
conversation they had with Emmett before they shot him?
·
According to the article, what were the
attitudes of the majority of white Mississipians toward the case?
7. People: Emmett, Mrs. Till, and Moses Wright
Source:
Required information:
·
Help us get to know Emmett, especially his
personality, appearance, why he visited Mississippi, and his ring
·
Help us get to know Mrs. Till, especially why she
was a single mom, why she had an open casket funeral for Emmett, and what she
did to help the civil rights movement after Emmett’s death
·
Help us get to know Wright, especially what he
did for a living and what remarkable act of courage he did at the trial
8. People: The Bryants, Milam, and Sheriff
Stryder
Source:
Required information:
·
Help us get to know the Bryants, especially what
they did to make a living
·
Help us get to know Milam, especially what he
prided himself on
·
Help us get to know Strider, especially what he
wanted Emmett’s family to do with the body and what he testified about the body
in defense of Bryant and Milam
9. Sex and Race
Source:
Required information:
·
Define miscegenation.
·
Fill in the blank: “While whites
begrudgingly recognized that blacks were free, they were unwilling to accept
them as social and racial equals. White sexuality, before and after slavery,
always provided a means of white ___________________ over blacks.” (under
question 1)
·
In what terms did many white
Southerners interpret the Brown vs. Board
of Education decision? Include the
quote from the Alabama senator Walter C. Givhan. (Look in Jane Dailey’s comments under
question 2)
·
What was it common for lynchers to do
to their black male victims? Why? (under
question 3)
·
Why was protecting the virtue of a
white woman matter so much to white men in the South? What did it symbolize or represent to
them? (Jane Dailey’s comments under
question 4)
·
What were two reasons sexual contact
between races was so taboo? (under question 6)
·
Are things different in the South
today? (John David Smith’s comments under question 9)
