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Article: "A New Fear Known to Me": Emmett Till's Influence and the Black Panther Party
- Article from:
- Southern Quarterly
- Article date:
- July 1, 2008
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright Southern Quarterly Summer 2008. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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In the pages of the Chicago Defender, alongside those of the other leading "black" newspapers, the drama of Emmett Till's murder dominated the headlines throughout fall 1955. For nineteen consecutive weeks, the paper presented accounts of the final hours of the teenager's life, the outcry of Mississippians (of all races) for swift justice against Till's murderers, the NAACP's efforts to publicize Till's tragedy to the nation-at-large, the gradual backlash of white Mississippians who felt slandered by the NAACP leadership and changed their allegiance from Till to the boy's assailants, and the eventual split between Till's mother, Mamie Till Bradley, and the NAACP over allegations that she ...