Tag: Emmett Till

Cousin of Emmett Till Sues to Compel Sheriff to Arrest White Woman, 88, Whose 1955 Interaction With Boy Preceded His Lynching

A cousin of Emmett Till, the young black boy lynched in 1955 for approaching a white woman in Mississippi, filed suit in federal court demanding that a recently discovered arrest warrant from the era be served on the woman. Till, a 14-year-old black boy from Chicago, was visiting relatives in Mississippi in 1955 when he…


Grand Jury Declines to Indict Woman in Emmett Till Killing

JACKSON, Miss.—A Mississippi grand jury has declined to indict the woman whose accusation set off the lynching of teenager Emmett Till nearly 70 years ago, most likely closing the case. After hearing more than seven hours of testimony from investigators and witnesses, a Leflore County grand jury last week determined there was insufficient evidence to…


Biden Signs Law Making Lynching a Federal Hate Crime

President Joe Biden on Tuesday signed into law the first anti-lynching legislation in U.S. history that would make the act a federal hate crime. “All right. It’s law,” Biden said shortly after he signed the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act at a desk in the White House Rose Garden alongside Vice President Kamala Harris, members of…


Department of Justice Closes Second Investigation Into Killing of Emmett Till

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has closed a second investigation into the killing of Emmett Till, saying it could not prove that a key player in what happened lied. Till, then 14, was said to have grabbed and whistled at a woman, Carolyn Bryant Donham, the co-owner of a store in Money, Mississippi. Enraged by…