LIBERATING EMMETT
Legacy, Redemption, Forgiveness
“Liberating Emmett – Legacy, Redemption, Forgiveness” is based on a true story, the
journey of a woman (with the assistance of Rayfield Mooty, her mentor and constant
advisor for Emmett’s mother, Mamie Till), who “challenges the most sacred shibboleths
of the origins of the Civil Right Movement” (Dr. C. Eric Lincoln—Duke U) in her
relentless efforts to free Emmett from the stigma of being an embarrassment to the
Movement to its catalyst. The passion of one woman’s determination in dedicating her
life to finding this truth finally liberates as she rightfully establishes Emmett Louis Till as
the true catalyst of the Civil Rights Movement, thereby giving him his proper place in the
historical account of the modern Civil Rights Movement of the 50s and the 60s.
In 1955 the cries of justice for the youngest lynching shocked the world as the “Not
Guilty” verdict echoed the airwaves. Just turning 14-years old, Emmett Louis Till, from
Chicago, was brutally murdered for whistling at a 21-year-old white woman, Carolyn
Bryant, in Money, Mississippi. The film puts a new twist on the story, the Redemptive
Spirit of John Whitten Jr., the young Defense Attorney for the murderers. He became
remorseful for his role in the case and later spent his life atoning by representing poor
Blacks in the state of Mississippi pro bono.