The Blood of Emmett Till

What does the term “Jim Crow” refer to? What were some of the practices of Jim Crow? How did Jim Crow come about? What is its legacy in American society?

Research lynching. Try to determine how many people were lynched each year for the period from 1900 to 1920. Why were they lynched? What form did lynchings usually take? How were they turned into a form of public spectacle and entertainment? Why was it so difficult to pass antilynching laws in America?

The Blood of Emmett Till concerns events in Mississippi, and the author consistently blames the racial violence he describes on the culture of the South and of Mississippi in particular. Do research on race relations in Mississippi from the Civil War to the present. Mississippi figures largely in the civil rights movement. It was the site of several notorious murders. Find out who was murdered and how their deaths fit in with the picture the author paints of the state’s racist culture. You might, as part of this assignment, watch the film Mississippi Burning.

The author alludes to Democratic senators like Theodor Bilbo and James Eastland and to the “Dixiecrat” movement. Research the history of the Democratic Party and pay special attention to its relationship with slavery. What side of the slavery debate were Democrats usually on in the 19th century? Why does the party’s history explain why so many Southern racist politicians in the 1950 and 1960s were Democrats? Who were the Dixiecrats, and what did they stand for?

The author quotes two writers: William Faulkner and Richard Wright. Who were they? What did they write about? Faulkner says it is immoral to kill children, but he also says Emmett Till may have gotten what was coming to him. Can you figure out from your research why his attitude was so contradictory? Research the story of Joe August in the novel Light in August, in which Richard Wright describes growing up in fear of whites. He also wrote a book of short stories called Uncle Tom’s Children, and some of the stories concern lynching. Read one of the stories and compare it to the story of Emmett Till.

Which figures emerge as heroes in The Blood of Emmett Till? Why are they heroic? Who are the villains, apart from Bryant and Milam?

Is it possible to empathize with and understand people like Roy Bryant and J. W. Milam? Can their behavior be situated within an historical and/or cultural context and forgiven? Or is what they did such a transgression that they are unforgiveable? What about Carolyn Bryant?

Sheriffs played an important role in the South and in the civil rights movement. In the South they are elected to office. How did this affect Sheriff Strider? How was his behavior shaped by the fact he was elected? Compare Strider to Crosby Smith, the other sheriff who figured in Emmett Till’s story. How were the two men different? Do you think the trial would have turned out differently if Crosby Smith was in charge of the investigation?