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Article: A Death in the Delta: The Story of Emmett Till.
- Article from:
- The Washington Monthly
- Article date:
- June 1, 1989
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1989 Washington Monthly Company. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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A Death in the Delta: The Story of Emmett Till.
Stephen J. Whitfield. Free Press, $19.95. Though the circumstances and the victims were worlds apart, the murder of Emmett Till in 1955, like the death of John F. Kennedy eight years later, shocked a generation out of its innocence. Yet for more than 30 years, Till has been relegated to the status of a footnote. Whitfield's book places Till's murder as a crucial, if hidden, event in the history of civil rights.
In August 1955, the 14-year-old Till traveled from Chicago to visit relatives in the Mississippi Delta. Once there, he whistled at, and perhaps propositioned, a white woman named Carolyn Bryant, ...