Emmett Till, a 14-year old African American from the south side of Chicago, is kidnapped and brutally murdered while visiting his relatives in Money, Mississippi, by Roy Bryant, and brother-in-law, J.W. Milam.
Till had gone to the Bryant store in with his cousins, and reportedly may have whistled at Carolyn Bryant, Roy's wife. Till's body was dumped in the Tallahatchie River. In September 1955 an all-white jury found Bryant and Milam not guilty of Till's murder. Protected against double jeopardy, the two men publicly admitted in a 1956 interview with Look magazine that they had tortured and murdered Till, selling the story of how they did it for $4,000 (equivalent to $50,000 in 2025). Till's murder became a catalyst for the next phase of the civil rights movement. Eight years later on this date, Martin Luther King Jr delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech during a Civil rights march on Washington.
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