My Emmett Till Story

Do you remember the moment you realized the world you once knew, you really didn’t know at all? I do. I remember it so well because it was that very moment, life no longer looked the same for me. People no longer looked the same to me. And it was a moment I will never forget. 

I was in the 8th grade, 13 years old and it was the month of February. And just like every other year, the teachers rolled out their TV carts to give what they called, a “black history lesson.” It wasn’t actually a lesson, more like a 30-minute video of clips throughout “black history” and once the video was over, so was the lesson. Yep, 30 minutes, and it was expected to hold us over until that next February. 

But this year was different. This particular year, I learned of someone I’d never forget. During that 30-minute video, a clip of maybe 30 seconds came across the screen and it mentioned, “the boy who started a movement.” As I looked at the screen, I saw the handsome face of a kid not much older than I. And almost as quickly as I saw his face, I heard about how this young boy was “killed for whistling at a white woman.” That was it. That was the story. Not much else, as they hurried to the next figure in black history. Most of the video was focused on Jim Crow laws and Martin Luther King Jr but I couldn’t concentrate on any of that. I was so interested in the story of Emmett Till. 

After class, I was speaking to my best friend at the time and I mentioned how I had never heard of Emmett. “Aneika what?! You’ve never heard of Emmett Till? Girl who hasn’t heard of Emmett Till?!” She sort of laughed it off but in that moment, I felt a bit judged. You see, I was one of the top of my class and had been for years. It wasn’t often that one of my peers knew more about anything than I did. Yet, somehow this story slipped past me. 

We switched classes and it was time for math. I don’t remember much about that period except as we were leaving. I mentioned to my math teacher, Mrs Branch, that I had seen the video and didn’t know a kid was killed for something like whistling at someone. Concern filled her eyes as she gave me the same surprised look that my best friend had given me just the class before. It was clear that someone had failed me, that someone had left a VERY important part out of black history. Mrs Branch insisted that I go and grab lunch (where everyone else had already headed off to) and return to her class to spend lunch with her. 

When I returned, she told me to go and sit at her desk. I did. As I sat down, I saw that same handsome face on her computer screen. She had pulled up articles on Emmett Till. I immediately dived into them. Word after word, paragraph after paragraph, I was hooked. My heart began to fill with sadness. But then something happened. I scrolled down to the bottom of one of those articles and that’s when I saw it. That’s when I saw the body of Emmett AFTER they pulled him from the water. 

As I write this, tears fill my eyes as I recall the way my heart dropped. I had never seen anything like it. I had never felt such heartbreak, especially for someone I had never met. I remember reading “Open Casket for her son” and the words of a heartbroken mother, “I wanted the world to see what they did to my boy.” Reading that article brought tears streaming down my face. I remember Mrs Branch saying that she couldn’t believe I had never heard his story because his story was such a huge part of that horrific time. I don’t remember eating lunch that day. I don’t remember much of the rest of that day. I do however remember the boy that forever changed my life. 

That week, every single night, I dreamt of Emmett. I dreamt of his mother crying. I dreamt of me looking, searching for him. I dreamt of me meeting him, crying, asking if he was ok. I dreamt of myself asking him if he was happy. You see, while everyone else went on with their lives, I was stuck in time for a week, wondering how God let those men do that to Emmett. Back then, I didn’t know much about God, but I knew that He was good. And I knew that He was powerful. And I knew that He could do ANYTHING. So I wondered why He didn’t save him, why He didn’t let Mamie Till hug her child one more time. 

I didn’t know kids weren’t exempt. I didn’t know that the horrible things that happened to blacks were something that happened to the black kids as well. Kids were supposed to be off-limits. Kids were safe. But oh how naive I was. 

Some of you will read this and say to yourself, how did you not hear about Emmett until the age of 13? What school did you go to? Who were your teachers at your previous school? Were there any black teachers? And my answer is yes. In fact, a few years before being at this school, I was at a predominantly black school, if not all black. But none of that matters. You see, I could barely deal with the story of Emmett at 13. At no year prior would I have been able to handle the weight of his story. God knew when to introduce me to him. And God used two teachers and a best friend to do so. 

If I can be honest, I’ve watched countless movies, and videos and read countless articles of the times of Jim Crow. But I’ve never been able to watch or read anything related to Emmett again until this year. Because to do so would have been signing up to relive a moment that broke my heart. But now, in my adult life, and my walk with God, I understand that it was necessary, horrific and heart-wrenching…but necessary. People had gotten so used to blacks being killed that they were probably almost numb to it. But who could turn a blind eye to a child? Who could turn a blind eye to a handsome face who in his mother’s last look at him, was unrecognizable? Emmett's death was not in vain. His death inspired those who were fearful, to fight. His death inspired those who were silent, to speak. His death inspired those who hated, to love and to love people who didn’t look like them. Nearly 70 years after his death, his death still inspires me. 

My life changed the day I was introduced to Emmett Till but for the better. Although I was introduced to an evil I didn’t know existed, I was also introduced to strength, through the will of his mother. I was introduced to courage, through the will of the people. But most importantly I was introduced to God, in a way I had never been previously. That was the first moment I came to realize that even in the most horrendous situations, God can still use it for SO much good. 🖤