Getting Away with Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case
Storyboard-Text
- Hello Everyone! I'm Wyatt Hutchins and I created this graphic novel based on the book I read, Getting Away with Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case. The story is about a 14-year-old black boy named Emmett Till who was murdered in Money, MS in 1955. The author, Chris Crowe, believes that this incident marked the beginning of the civil rights movement in America.
- In the summer of 1955, Emmett Till, a 14-year-old black boy from Chicago went to visit his family in Money, MS to experience life on a farm. Emmett had never experienced much racism in Chicago and was not used to a culture of white supremacy. Emmett's mother was worried that he wouldn't know how to treat white people in the Jim Crow South.
- Life is different in Mississippi for black folks. "If you have to get on your knees and bow when a white person goes past, do it willingly" (47).
- Yes Ma'am
- I have lots of girlfriends back home.
- Money, MS was nothing like Chicago. There were no city parks, baseball fields, dance halls, movie theaters, restaurants, or department stores. People, especially black folks, were very poor and most black people still worked in the fields and lived in sharecropper shacks owned by white landowners. Black people were regularly beaten or killed by white people for no good reason other than being black.
- Hey Emmett, what are the girls like in Chicago? You can have white girlfriends?!?!? I don't believe it.
- For the poor children of sharecropping families, the center of social activity in Money was a small white-owned store that catered to local Black sharecroppers and field workers. Emmett's cousins challenged him to go talk to Carol Bryant, a 21-year-old white woman who owned the store with her husband. No one knows what happened in the store but Mrs. Bryant accused Emmett of asking her out on a date and then later whistling at her. This was dangerous behavior in the Jim Crow South.
- No problem boys. I'll be right back with her phone number.
- BRYANT'SGROCERY & MEAT MARKET
- Open
- "You talkin' mighty big, Bo. There's a pretty little white woman in there in the sto'. Since you Chicago cats know so much about white girls, let's see you go in there and get a date with her" (51).
- A few days after the incident at Bryant's store, everyone was talking about what had happened. When Carolyn Bryant's husband Roy found out that a black boy from Chicago was disrespectful to his wife, he was furious. On Saturday August 28th, around 2:30am, Mr. Roy Bryant and his half-brother J.W. Milam went out to confront Emmett who was at his uncle's sharecropper's shack about 3 miles outside of Money. Bryan and Milam kidnapped Emmett from the house and drove off into the night. Emmett was never seen alive again.
- "This is Mr. Bryant. I want to talk to the boy" (58).
- The boy is coming with us!
- When she heard about the kidnapping, Emmett's mother, Mamie Till Bradley, knew that her son was in serious danger. She called everyone she could including the Chicago police and all the newspapers and media outlets in Chicago. To her surprise they all called her back willing to help with the disappearance of her son. The phone calls to the police worked. On Sunday, the day after Emmett was kidnapped Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam were arrested for the kidnapping of Emmett Till.
- What have they done with my boy ?!?!?!?!
- On Wednesday, August 31st, three days after the arrest of Bryant and Milam, a 17 year-old-boy white boy, Robert Hodges, found a body in the Tallahatchie River while fishing. He called the sheriff's office and soon deputies arrived on scene to retrieve the body. They brought Moses Wright, Emmett's uncle, to identify the badly mutilated and decomposed corpse. The body of Emmett Till looked like it had been tortured and badly mutiliated.
- Emmett!! How am I going to tell your Momma?
- I've never seen any body this bad before
- Emmett's remains were sent to a Black funeral home to be prepared for burial while the grave was being dug. News outlets started reporting the story about Emmett's body being turned up in the Tallahatchie River. The local authorities wanted to bury the body quickly but Emmett's mother wanted the body returned to Chicago. Emmett's remains arrived in Chicago and his mother couldn't even recognize the body it was so badly disfigured.
- Are you sure you want to look at the body Mamie?
- Mrs. Till decided to hold an open-casket wake before the funeral of her son, so that the world could see the horrific things that were done to her 14-year-old boy. The news outlets published a lot of print and photo coverage of the funeral like Mrs. Till wanted. On the same day as the funeral, with national pressure on the court in MS, Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam were indicted for the murder of Emmett Till. It was the first time in MS history that a white man was indicted for killing a black person.
- "Let the people see what they did to my boy" (66).
- "Despite the state's violent racist culture, the vicious murder horrified many white residents, and they supported a conviction of Bryant and Milam. Neither of the killers were well liked in the community, and many people felt the brothers had overstepped their 'white authority' in kidnapping and killing the boy" (71-72). Unfortunately, after a weeklong trial, the jury found Mr. Bryant and Mr. Milam not guilty.
- Objection your Honor!
- That uppity boy from Chicago just looked like trouble! He had no respect for any white folks in this town!
- Although Bryant and Milam got away with murder, the trial grabbed the attention of the entire nation, and this trial would mark the beginning of the 'decline of segregation and Jim Crow rule in the South' (107). The Emmett Till case outraged many people and Black people all over the country began protesting for their rights in America and for segregation to end
- Equal Rights For All
- No more segregation!
- I hope you enjoyed my graphic story about Emmett Till. I learned that I care about all people and that everyone should be treated fairly. People shouldn't be treated differently because of the color of their skin. The court system can be very unfair to people of different races. The story of Emmett Till is very sad. I knew that racism existed in the 1950's, but it's hard to believe how badly black people were treated and that white people could get away so easily with murdering a black boy for no reason. It was surprising to find out that black and white kids were separated in schools in the 1950s. This is an important story that everyone should read.
Über 30 Millionen erstellte Storyboards
Keine Downloads, Keine Kreditkarte und Kein Login zum Ausprobieren Erforderlich!
