American Experience: The Murder of Emmett Till on AllMovie

In August 1955, the 14-year-old Emmett Till made a mistake that would cost him his life: he whistled at a white woman in a grocery store in the town of Money, Mississippi. While local African-Americans understood the dangers of such actions, Till had grown up in Chicago and was only visiting family members. Following the "affront," Roy Bryant, the grocery store owner, and J.W. Milam, his brother-in-law, kidnapped the young boy. Three days later, Till's body was discovered in the Tallahatchie River. Both men were brought to trial, acquitted, and later sold their story, admitting to the murder, to Look magazine. The ferocity of the murder (Till's body was badly mutilated) and the lack of justice reverberated throughout the African-American community, and to many, became the spark that set off the civil rights movement. The Montgomery bus boycotts, in fact, began three months after Till's body was found. The Murder of Emmett Till includes interviews with Till's mother and residents of Money.