Emmett Till
In 1955, fourteen year-old Emmett Till traveled from Chicago to Money, Mississippi, to visit his cousins. He returned home in a casket, his body distorted almost beyond recognition. As punishment for whistling at Carolyn Bryant, a white woman, outside the local grocery store, Carolyn’s husband, Roy Bryant, and brother-in-law, J.W. Milam, abducted Emmett in the middle of the night. They proceeded to torture, mutilate, shoot him, tie him to a seventy-pound cotton gin fan, and toss him into the Tallahatchie River. An all-white jury acquitted Milam and Bryant, although they later sold their confession to Look magazine.
While officials in Mississippi tried to dispose of the body, Emmett’s mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, demanded that her son's body be returned to her and made the momentous decision to have an open casket funeral. A picture of his corpse was plastered on the cover of newspapers and magazines across the nation and over 50,000 people attended Emmett’s funeral. Emmett Till is one of the catalysts of the civil rights movement as his death forced a nation to confront injustice.
Johnnie Lee Savory
Convicted of double murder by an all-white jury in 1977 at the age of fourteen, Savory served thirty years in prison for a crime he did not commit. Released on parole in 2006, Savory still has not been officially exonerated. After his release from prison, Johnnie attended a play about Emmett Till and found himself overwhelmed with emotion as he related to the horrible fate of another innocent fourteen-year old child. Johnnie’s deep connection to Emmett was cemented when he discovered that they share the same birthday, July 25th.
Voices for Justice
Johnnie and Emmett’s cases both represent a state-sponsored denial of justice and the loss of innocence for children, for communities of color, and for our entire nation. However, these stories also are a part of a collective story for change, they contribute to the struggle for justice. Emmett’s death sparked change in this nation and his mother ensured that his legacy lives on for eternity. While Emmett’s voice was silenced, the strength and courage of so many in the civil rights movement allowed for their collective voice to be heard and heeded.
As Johnnie’s story reminds us, the civil rights movement does not and cannot remain in the past. Johnnie uses his voice to be part of this continued movement for justice for all people and you can contribute your voice to this movement as well. We are seeking 11,000 signatures to present a petition to Illinois Governor Pat Quinn to order DNA testing to exonerate Johnnie Lee Savory. I will continue to blog intertwining Emmett and Johnnie’s stories to illuminate the connections between the past and the present, and the continued struggle for justice. Sign the petition, speak out against wrongful convictions, and join in this powerful movement.
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