The white woman at the center of the Emmett Till murder trial just admitted she lied
The brutal murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till has haunted and horrified decades of Americans. The story goes that in 1955, when Chicago native Till was visiting family in Sumner, Mississippi, he allegedly whistled at Carolyn Bryant, the wife of a white man, Roy Bryant. Till said something "unprintable," Carolyn told the court later. "[Till] said [he had done something] with white women before" and Carolyn was "just scared to death."
Roy Bryant and his friend, J.W. Milam, were so furious that they abducted Till, disfigured and murdered him, and dumped his body in a river. Milam and Bryant were arrested, but the all-white jury who listened to Carolyn Bryant's testimony voted "not guilty" in under an hour. The two men walked free, and the incident launched the modern-day Civil Rights movement.
But key details in the story might be incorrect, Vanity Fair reports — because the details are actually a lie.
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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
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