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An Overlooked Witness to Emmett Till’s Kidnapping

February 11, 2017

The horrific murder of young Emmett Till in 1955 spurred national outrage. The 14-year-old black boy from Chicago was in Mississippi visiting family when two white men kidnapped, brutally beat and left him to drown in the Tallahatchie River. His mother, Mamie Till, made sure the world saw what had happened to her son, opening his sealed casket to show his mutilated face. Thousands came to pay their respects to Till, launching a rejuvenated movement against lynching and further propelling civil rights activists. Roy Bryant and JW Milam, were acquitted of the crime and later sold their confession to Look magazine. Matter of Fact takes an inside look at what happened over 60 years ago and speaks with a witness to the kidnapping who says he was never interviewed by authorities.

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