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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 8, 2017)
February 8, 2017 The Skanner Page 9 News Woman Who Falsely Accused Emmett Till Will Avoid Prosecution Relatives of Emmett Till speak out after Carolyn Bryant’s confession to author of new book By Erick Johnson The Chicago Crusader/NNPA Member H e’s been dead for more than 60 years. Buried with Emmett Till was the truth to what led to brutal murder in 1955. But the latest development in the case is not going well the Till’s relatives in Chicago, the mur- der boy’s hometown, where schools and streets are named after him. A new book about the mur- der is out and the woman whose accusations led to the brutal killing of the 14-year- old confessed that her story was a lie. Like Till’s killers, Carolyn Bryant Donham will not be brought to justice or face any charges for perjury. Till’s mother, Mamie Till-Mo- bley, never found justice for her son before she died in 2003. Now, the last surviving figure in one of the most shock- ing murder cases from the Jim Crow era will mostly likely go unpunished. Legal analysts say the case involving Donham is too old to prosecute, and Till’s killers have been dead for a long time. Till was a fun-loving teenag- er who lived in Chicago’s pre- dominately Black Woodlawn Emmett Till neighborhood for years before he made a fateful trip to Mis- sissippi at a time when many Blacks were being lynched and terrorized in the Deep South. Till and his mother are buried in Chicago’s Burr Oak Ceme- tery. Decades after he was bur- ied, the teenager’s grave con- tinues to draw more visitors than any other resting place in the cemetery on the city’s South Side. Now, Till’s murder case is back in the national spotlight with a new book where Don- ham recants her story after more than 60 years of silence since Till was brutally killed by two White men in Money, Miss. In the book, “The Blood of Emmett Till,” Donham said she lied during the criminal trial before her husband, Roy Bryant, and J.W. Milam were acquitted after proceedings that lasted just over an hour. For decades, Donham re- “ head before throwing his body in the Tallahatchie River. Days later, Till’s body was found with a large cotton gin fan tied around him with barb wire. Mississippi officials urged Till’s mother to keep his body shut tight in the casket, but Till-Mobley defied the orders. Pictures of Till’s face in Ebony, Jet and other newspapers hor- rified the nation and the world. At an open-casket funeral at the Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ in Bronzeville, Till’s mother wanted to show what the men had done to her son. Black historians say Till’s murder led Rosa Parks to re- fuse to give up her bus seat in a historic act that sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott and Like Till’s killers, Carolyn Bryant Donham will not be brought to jus- tice or face any charges for perjury mained silent as millions of Americans were led to be- lieve that Till whistled at her, grabbed her and verbally accosted her, before the two men kidnapped him in the pre-dawn hours of August 26, 1955. The two murdered Till during a brutal beating that severely disfigured Till’s face and body. They shot him in the the Civil Rights Movement. The Emmett Till murder case continues to burn with inter- est today and is the subject of many books and documenta- ries. However, this latest book on Till’s murder is drawing sig- nificant interest because it in- volves an elusive White wom- an who has broken her silence after avoiding the press and Till’s relatives for more than 60 years. In 2004, the late “60 Min- utes” correspondent Ed Brad- ley located Donham at her home in Greenville, Miss. His cameraman captured her on video, but the journalists were chased away from the proper- ty after Donham’s son arrived. “The Blood of Emmett Till” is already drawing rave re- views from readers who have received an early copy of the book. Written by Duke Universi- ty scholar, Timothy B. Tyson, the book also chronicles the life of Donham, who is twice divorced and married three times. The book also answers a question about the Till murder case that many Blacks knew for years: that Till did not flirt with Donham. On “CBS This Morning,” Tyson said he was connected to Donham after her daugh- ter-in-law called him and told him that she liked his previ- ous book, “Blood Done Sign My Name.” At the time, Don- ham was writing her memoir, which she said won’t be made public until 2036. Read more at TheSkanner.com
