Emmett Till

by Devery S. Anderson

  Certainly, Emmett’s conduct was consistent with the personality for which he was known. “He had a habit of whistling and hollering at girls,” Mose Wright acknowledged, having observed his nephew’s behavior for several days, “but he only did it for fun. He didn’t mean any harm. . . . He didn’t mean any harm not saying ‘ma’am’ and ‘sir’ to white folks.”76 Echoing what the others said, Deputy Sheriff Cothran told the New York Post that as Emmett left the store, he “said goodbye to Mrs. Bryant. Then, after he got outside, she saw him turn around in the direction of the store and give a whistle. She called it a wolf whistle.”77

  The local youth who witnessed this knew immediately that Emmett Till broke one of the oldest taboos in southern race relations. Emmett and his companions frantically fled the store and sped back toward the church. As the car drove east on Dark Ferry Road, the teens thought they were being pursued by two cars following closely behind. As they neared the church, they parked, jumped out, and hid in a field behind some trees. Simeon, however, remained in the car alone, hiding in the backseat. To everyone’s relief, the cars were driven by blacks who passed on by. After Emmett and the others got back into the car, they sat and talked about the incident further.78

  Sorting through these early sources, a probable scenario at the Bryant store emerges. On whole, those present said that Emmett Till’s behavior involved more than just a whistle, but not much more. Clearly, as several black youths stood outside the store playing checkers or watching the game, Emmett boasted about dating white girls in Chicago and may have shown off a photo. Aware of the pretty woman inside the store, an unidentified “older boy” urged Emmett to go inside and look at her. That Parker did not identify the boy but only referred to him as “older” would indicate that he was not any of those who drove to the store with Emmett and that Parker did not really know him. Only one of those in the car, eighteen-year-old Thelton Parker, was older than Wheeler.79

  Although Emmett’s actions inside the store are not certain, they involved nothing more than him touching Carolyn Bryant’s hand and asking for a date. In that case, Simeon Wright would have seen Carolyn pull her hand away from Emmett and alerted Parker that there was “trouble.” Parker then sent another boy inside—probably Albert Johnson—to bring him out. If Emmett did ask Carolyn Bryant for a date, his actions were only meant as a prank for the benefit of those outside. What may have been a joke to Emmett, however, was not funny to Carolyn Bryant. Bryant followed Emmett to the door, and, once outside, Emmett waved and said “Good-bye,” which prompted Bryant to go toward the car. At that moment, Emmett whistled.

  Wheeler Parker said years later that in the hurry to flee the store, Maurice Wright dropped a burning cigarette on the floor of the car and refused to drive off until he found it. “Till was furious,” Parker remembers. “He was stuttering, saying, ‘let’s go, let’s go.’”80 The group decided not to tell Mose Wright about the incident and hoped that it would simply blow over. The following day, however, Ruth Crawford assured the others that they “hadn’t heard the end of it.”81

  Unfortunately, revisionist attempts to explain Emmett Till’s encounter with Carolyn Bryant at the Bryant store and the motive for his whistle have trickled in for decades, and some have been popularized in documentaries and memoirs. This has only added confusion to the historical record, making it necessary to deal with them here.

  The first appeared shortly after the incident. Although it was well known that Emmett Till’s childhood bout with polio had left him with a stutter, the Baltimore Afro-American, a popular black weekly, reported in its September 10, 1955, edition that “the boy made a whistling sound in his effort to pronounce words. This sound, apparently, was misinterpreted by Mrs. Bryant, who thought he was giving her a ‘wolf’ whistle of admiration.” The source for this interpretation, surprisingly, was Maurice Wright, who completely contradicted what he had told reporters earlier. Continuing on, the article insisted that Maurice “steadfastly denied that his cousin had either spoken insolently or whistled at Mrs. Bryant.”82

  There is no explanation for why Maurice suddenly changed his story and felt a need to sanitize Emmett Till’s behavior. But it seemed to die quickly, as evidenced by what his father, Mose, summarized for a reporter a month later, which only backed up the original version, although a few of the details are out of sequence: “Simmy [Simeon] said after Bo bought the bubble gum from the lady he said goodbye.” Bryant then went to get her gun from the car. “When she came back Bobo was standing there. Simmy said Bobo whistled twice. That’s all was said and done. They called it a wolf whistle.”83

  Thirty years later, Mamie Bradley, who was not present to witness the incident, resurrected elements of Maurice Wright’s revised story and added a few of her own. Emmett’s whistle on this occasion was deliberate, she explained, but only because it helped him stop his stutter and pronounce his words.84 Significantly, she did not espouse this idea early on, at least publicly. In fact, a month after Emmett’s encounter with Carolyn Bryant, Mamie contradicted what Maurice Wright said and even what she would say later: “He had polio when he was in the first grade and although he overcame it, he had a bad speech defect and couldn’t whistle at all. I often laughed when he tried and said I could whistle better than he could.”85 A lesser-known theory later came from Roosevelt Crawford, who said that Emmett indeed whistled outside the store, but that it was not directed toward Carolyn Bryant. Instead, it was aimed at a bad move someone made on the checker board.86

  Wheeler Parker and Simeon Wright have always dismissed these alternate explanations not only because they also witnessed the wolf whistle but because they remember Emmett’s reaction. “He knew he had done something wrong, because he begged us not to tell daddy,” said Wright. Parker agrees. “Everyone knew a wrong had been committed.”87 In light of all of the many eyewitness accounts of Emmett Till’s whistle as reported in August and September 1955, together with what Parker and Wright still vividly recall, it is clear that Mamie Bradley’s and Roosevelt Crawford’s explanations are without merit.

  Ruth Crawford, also present that evening, said in 1979 that she never knew Emmett Till or anything about the story.88 When interviewed again over twenty years later, however, she was more talkative. She said that on that August night in 1955, she was looking through a window at the Bryant store while Emmett was inside making his purchase. All Emmett did to offend Bryant was put his money in her hand instead of on the counter. Bryant then jerked her hand back. Crawford did not hear the whistle, but she acknowledges that others outside did.89 Although Huie learned that the teenagers present were peering through the window to watch Till, Simeon Wright insists that Crawford’s recollections are inaccurate because the counter was at the opposite end of the store and thus hidden from view. However, Carolyn Bryant’s own description placed the candy counter on the south side, about one-third of the way into the store, and the cash register farther back.90 This likely accounts for the discrepancy between what Ruth Crawford said she saw and what Simeon Wright remembers about the layout of the store.

  The day after his encounter with Carolyn Bryant, Emmett wrote a letter to his mother, and if the contents are any indication, the trouble from the night before had already been forgotten. “I am having a fine time[.] will be home next week. please have my motor bike fixed for me,” he instructed. He also promised to pay her back for the cost. Elizabeth Wright included a letter of her own in the envelope, written to her sister, Alma Spearman. “The boys is enjoying them selves fine and we are enjoying them,” she wrote. As for Emmett: “He is certainly a nice kid. He is just as obedient as you want to see.” Upon getting Emmett’s letter, Mamie determined not to fix the motorbike, assuring herself that, for Emmett, who was probably either too careless or unskilled to ride it safely, it would be “certain suicide” for him if she repaired it. Alma was so pleased with her sister’s description of Emmett that she proudly hung the letter on the refrigerator and said it could serve as his obituary. Sometime during that week, M
amie sent Emmett a letter of her own and gave him the good news that she had picked up Mike from the dog pound.91

  Within a few days, Mose and Elizabeth learned about the trouble from Wednesday night. Elizabeth heard it directly from the boys. “Grandma knew about the ‘incident’ because we’d told her and not Grandpa, who would have gotten angry at us,” said Wheeler Parker just after he returned to Chicago. Mose later said he heard about it from an “outsider” sometime before the weekend.92 As the family picked cotton again on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, however, they all forgot about it. At the end of the week, the boys received their payment, calculated at $2 for every hundred pounds picked. Emmett only earned $4, a reflection of his dislike for the fields. Wheeler Parker’s earnings totaled around $8, and the more experienced Simeon Wright pocketed about $15.93

  On Saturday, August 27, sixteen-year-old Curtis Jones, another grandson of Mose, arrived in town, having driven down from Chicago with an uncle. Like Till and Parker, he came to spend a portion of his summer vacation with the Wrights and was anxious to work in the cotton fields. Although he would later say that he had witnessed the store incident and even provided what he claimed were firsthand details, his story proved to be a fabrication.94

  The day that Jones came to town, the boys went fishing, and Emmett, ever the prankster, threw a log into the water to create a loud splash. “That was a big fish just jump up over there,” he yelled, just before he broke down laughing. Echoing Parker’s description of their cousin, Jones said Emmett “loved to be what you call the center of attention.”95

  During a typical evening, the Wright family stayed home, relaxed, and listened to the radio.96 On the weekends, however, they often went into Greenwood, and on this Saturday night, Mose, his three sons, the three boys from Chicago, and some of the Crawford children went into the city for an evening of fun. Maurice, Wheeler, and Emmett drove together, and Mose and the others rode with twenty-two-year-old John Crawford.97 While Mose visited his own friends gathered at the railroad tracks, the boys walked the busy streets, gazed at the nightclubs, and looked with amazement at the large crowds that had gathered that night. John Crawford bought the boys some wine, and they also drank White Lightning and beer. Later, they broke away to visit a plantation party north of town.98 For the Chicago boys, it was a nice break from the isolation of East Money. They left Greenwood after midnight and arrived back home around 1:00 A.M.99

  While driving back to East Money in the late-night darkness, Maurice accidentally struck a dog. Those in the car saw a soft side to Emmett, who started crying and pleaded for Maurice to stop. Suddenly, Emmett was not the show-off or cocky prankster that everybody knew. This was the first time that they had even seen him cry.100 Maurice kept driving, however, and moments after they arrived home, they all went to bed. The family had plans to visit Elizabeth’s brother, Crosby Smith, in Sumner later that morning.101

  By 2:00 A.M., all eight people in the Wright household were asleep. Simeon Wright and Emmett shared a bed, while Robert and Maurice Wright slept in another in the same room. Wheeler Parker and Curtis Jones were in the west room off the front porch. Mose and Elizabeth slept nearby in the east front room.102

  Suddenly, Mose was awakened by a loud knock at the door and a voice calling out, “Preacher, Preacher.” When Mose asked who was there, a man answered and identified himself as “Mr. Bryant.” He said he wanted to talk to Wright and “the boy.” Elizabeth, who by then knew of Wednesday’s store incident, was also awakened. She realized immediately that the boy Bryant wanted was Emmett. She got up, went to Emmett’s bedroom, and attempted to get him up and out the back door to hide in the cotton fields. “We knew they were out to mob the boy,” she soon explained. “But they were already in the front door before I could shake him awake.”103

  When Mose Wright opened the door, he saw a large man in front, holding a pistol and a flashlight. Behind him was another man who said, “I’m Roy Bryant.” Those were the last words Bryant spoke, and the other, larger man took over from there. Wright saw a third man outside behind the other two. “I think it might have been a colored man, but I didn’t see his face. He didn’t want me to see him,” Wright said. To hide his identity, the man covered his face with his hands.104

  The two men in front pushed their way into the house, leaving the third, shadowy figure outside. The man with the gun told Elizabeth to get back into bed and to “keep your yap shut.” He asked Mose if he had two boys there from Chicago. When Wright acknowledged that he did, the man said he wanted the one who “did the talking at Money.” The house was dark, except for the beam from the flashlight held by the larger intruder. He told Wright to turn on the lights, but all except one of the sockets were empty; the only bulb still in place was burned out.105

  Wright did not know which room Emmett was in, so he led the men first to the room occupied by Parker and Jones. The loud voices had already awakened both boys, but Jones fell back to sleep almost immediately. Parker, however, was still awake when the men came into the room. When he saw the gun, he was certain that he was about to be killed. “I was literally shaking.” Seeing that neither boy was the one the men wanted, Wright led them through the next room, which was vacant, then on to the room occupied by Emmett and the three Wright boys. The gunman told Wright, “If it is not the right boy, we are going to bring him back and put him in the bed.”106

  After Wright awakened Emmett, the large intruder spoke directly to the Chicago teen.

  “Are you the one who did the smart talk up at Money?”

  “Yeah,” answered Emmett, still half asleep.

  This angered the gunman. “You say ‘Ya’ again and I’ll blow your head off.”

  The man ordered Emmett to get up and get dressed, which he did while sitting on the side of the bed. He put on a white T-shirt, charcoal gray pants, and black loafer shoes. Simeon Wright woke up as Emmett was getting dressed. He could not make out who anyone was in the room because the only light he could see came from the flashlight. Before the men led Emmett out of the room, the one in charge turned to Wright.

  “How old are you?”

  “Sixty-four,” replied Wright.

  “Well, if you know any of us here tonight, then you will never live to get to be sixty-five.”107

  Emmett showed no outward fear of the men or what might happen to him as they led him out of the room.

  “This was my sister-in-law, and I’m not going to stand for it,” the angry gunman shouted. Still, Emmett remained relaxed through the entire ordeal.108

  As Wright, Emmett, and the two other men passed through the east bedroom, Elizabeth got back up. Once again, the gunman told her to “get back in bed, and I mean, I want to hear the springs.” In a final attempt to spare Emmett of whatever fate the men had in mind, Mose begged them not to take the boy. He explained that because of Emmett’s bout with polio, he did not “have good sense.” (Wright later clarified to a reporter that he was referring to Till’s speech impediment, and that his nephew possessed normal intelligence.)

  “Just take him outside and whip him,” he pleaded.

  Elizabeth even offered to pay them money for the “damages.” In each instance, the pleas were futile. Mose then asked the men where they were taking the boy.

  “Nowhere if he’s not the right one,” replied the larger man.

  The men then led Emmett outside to a vehicle parked between twenty and twenty-five feet from the front door. The third man who waited outside was no longer visible. While standing on the porch, Wright heard one of the men ask someone waiting if the boy was “the right one.” A voice, which Wright said sounded like a woman’s voice, answered that he was. That was all the men needed to hear before loading Emmett into what was either a car or a truck—Wright could not make it out. With the headlights off, they drove west, toward Money.109

  Mose Wright stood silently on his doorstep for about twenty minutes. As one who had never had any trouble with white people in a lifetime in the Mississippi Delta, he fully expected the
car that had whisked Emmett Till away to soon return, with his nephew suffering only a whipping for the “talk” he had done three days earlier.110

  Elizabeth was not as patient, however, and left Mose on the porch while she fled frantically across the fields to the home of William Chamblee, a white neighbor. Mrs. Chamblee wanted to assist the terrified woman, but for reasons unknown, her husband resisted. Getting no help there, Elizabeth returned home and demanded that Mose take her to her brother’s house in Sumner. Leaving their three sons and two grandsons behind, they got into the car, stopped for gas, and drove the thirty miles to Crosby Smith’s house in neighboring Tallahatchie County. In his hurry to appease his wife, Mose never even told the five boys still in bed that they were leaving.111

  Meanwhile, Wheeler Parker got up, slipped on his shoes, and then got back into bed. In case the men returned, he wanted to be ready to run to the fields and hide. Simeon, now alone in the bed he had shared with Emmett, lay awake also. Robert and Maurice Wright and Curtis Jones all stayed asleep. For Wheeler and Simeon, the rest of the night was sleepless as they lay silently in their rooms, in total darkness, for what seemed like eternity. “Nobody said anything to anybody,” said Parker about the horrifying experience. “It seemed like day would never come.”112

  3

  Murder Heard Round the World

  Mose and Elizabeth Wright arrived in Sumner around sunrise Sunday morning, still shaken. Crosby Smith was shocked to see his early morning visitors and listened intently as they rehashed the nightmare they had witnessed at their home a few hours earlier, where strangers burst in and kidnapped their nephew, Emmett Till, at gunpoint.1

  They had not been in Sumner long before Mose drove back home, with Smith following in his own truck. Elizabeth, however, stayed behind. In fact, she was so traumatized that she never again returned to Money—not even to retrieve her belongings. When Mose and Smith arrived at the Wright home that morning, they saw that Emmett was still missing but found the remaining boys safe.2 The two men then kept watch on the front porch, holding out hope that their abducted nephew would soon return unharmed. That prospect grew dimmer with each passing minute, however, and there was a ghostly silence while they waited in vain. “I guess we was out there from around 8:00 in the morning ’til way past noon,” Smith noted, “and not even a dog walked past that house.”3