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Emmett Till was witnessed whistling at a Caucasian woman in Mississippi.
While in Roy Bryant's convenient store, Till whistled at Carolyn Bryant the owners wife. When the story was reported, the Mississippi media portrayed it as if Till, a 14 year old, tried to get the attention of Mrs. Bryant using vulgar language, obscene gestures and unpleasant physical contact. In contrast, the Chicago media reported merely a whistle. -
Emmett Till was kidnapped from uncle's home and brutally murdered.
Around 2 a.m., Till, while sleeping in a room with his cousin, was kidnapped from his bed by two men. Roy Bryant and John William Millam took Till from his bed into the woods and brutally beat him. After the assault, they shot him multiple times to the head, tied barbwire around his neck and disposed of his body in the Tallahatchie River.
Over 100 reporters nationwide came to Money, Mississippi to investigate the murder and its affect on the town. Most described the event as horrific. -
The viewing of the body and funeral service of Emmett Till was held.
After Till body was shipped to Chicago on Sept. 2nd, the funeral service was held at Roberts Temple Church of God. Till's mother Mamie Till requested and open casket. Many Chicagoans waited in line to view Till's body. Till's body was buried at Burr Oaks Cemetary three days later. Reporters were in attendance at all parts of the burial and funeral taking picture fo the body and family in grievance. These pictures will later been published in newspapers and magazines acroos the country. -
J.W. Millam and Roy Bryant were acquitted of murder charges.
After deliberately for only 67 minutes, an all white male jury acquitted Millam and Bryant of the murder of Emmett Till. The jury was quoted saying the reason that they took so long was because they stopped to drink soda pop. In the days to follow, many media outlets worldwide ran headlines speaking on the injustice of the Till trial in Sumner, Mississippi. -
Rosa Parks was arrested for breaking segregation laws.
Rosa Parks was arrested on a Montgomery, Alabama bus for refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger. She was arrested, fngerprintred and also fined $14. This initial event was only locally broadcast through media because this was a common situation in the Jim Crow South. -
Rosa Parks is found guilty in the court of law.
Parks stands trial and is convicted of acts against segregation laws. -
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Montgomery Bus Boycott was set in place by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Violence in Birminghamand other parts of AlabamaWith Parks conviction, Dr. King was elected to the president of the Montgomery Improvement Association where he organized a city wide boycott against the Montgomery Mass Transit Authority by blacks unitl the buses were integrated. This event was so successful because al arge majority of the cities bus patrons were black. The media was quite influnetial in spreading the word thorughout city to other blacks as well as to the rest of the country. They reported on the violence and faulty arrest. -
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Range of violence as reaction to the desegregation of the buses.
Photos of the Civil Rights MovementDuring this two week span, there were numerous violents acts done to black bus riders and supporters and leaders of the boycott including Dr. King. These criminal acts including shots from sniper into buses hitting innocent riders, bombings of churches and homes and fatal assaults on blacks wating at busstops. The media was portraying Montgomery during the boycott and weeks to follow as a city of complete and utter chaos and injustice.
