Emmett Till was 14 in 1955 when he was accused of making improper advances on a white woman. He was murdered and his body was found in a river. Weeks later, two men were tried and acquitted of murder by an all-white jury.
By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS Associated Press JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A relative of Emmett Till is suing to try to make a Mississippi sheriff serve a 1955 arrest warrant on a white woman in the kidnapping that led to the Black teenager’s brutal lynching. The torture and killing of Till in the Mississippi Delta became a catalyst […] More
February 16, 2023
A grand jury in Mississippi declined to indict the white woman whose accusation set off the lynching of Emmett Till despite revelations about an unserved arrest warrant and a newly revealed memoir by the woman. A Leflore County grand jury determined there was insufficient evidence to indict Carolyn Bryant Donham on charges of kidnapping and manslaughter. More
August 9, 2022
The white woman who accused Black teenager Emmett Till of making improper advances before he was lynched in Mississippi in 1955 says she neither identified him to the killers nor wanted him murdered. In an unpublished memoir obtained by The Associated Press, Carolyn Bryant Donham says she was unaware of what would happen to the 14-year-old Till, who lived in Chicago and was visiting relatives in Mississippi when he was abducted, killed and tossed in a river. More
July 14, 2022
A team searching a Mississippi courthouse basement for evidence about the lynching of Black teenager Emmett Till found the unserved warrant charging a white woman, Carolyn Bryant Donham, in his 1955 kidnapping, and relatives of the victim want authorities to arrest her. More
June 29, 2022
Stymied in their calls for a renewed investigation into the murder of Emmett Till, relatives and activists want authorities to launch a kidnapping prosecution against Carolyn Bryant Donham, who set off the lynching by accusing the Chicago teen of improper advances in 1955. More
April 22, 2022
President Joe Biden signs The Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act into law -- lynching is now a federal hate crime. More
March 29, 2022
Relatives of Emmett Till joined with supporters Friday in asking authorities to reverse their decision to close an investigation of his 1955 lynching and instead prosecute a white woman at the center of the case from the very beginning. More
March 11, 2022
Congress gave final approval to legislation that for the first time would make lynching a federal hate crime in the U.S., sending the bill to President Joe Biden to sign into law. More
March 7, 2022
Justice Department told relatives of Emmett Till it is ending latest investigation into 1955 lynching of the Black teenager from Chicago who was abducted tortured and killed in Mississippi. More
December 6, 2021
