WALT – Why did
Emmett Till die?
Starter - Why do you
think this boy died? Write
down your thoughts in your
book
WILF - To be able to describe the events of Emmett Till’s
death
To be able to analyse the sources to form a judgement about
why Emmett Till was killed
Why did Emmett Till die?
Bob Dylan – The death
of Emmett Till: listen to
the song and annotate
around the lyrics what
you think they mean?
Challenge What can we learn about
Emmett Till’s death from
this song?
Bob Dylan – Death of Emmet Till Lyrics
’Twas down in Mississippi not so long ago
When a young boy from Chicago town stepped through a Southern
door
This boy’s dreadful tragedy I can still remember well
The color of his skin was black and his name was Emmett Till
Some men they dragged him to a barn and there they beat him up
They said they had a reason, but I can’t remember what
They tortured him and did some things too evil to repeat
There were screaming sounds inside the barn, there was laughing
sounds
out on the street
Then they rolled his body down a gulf amidst a bloody red rain
And they threw him in the waters wide to cease his screaming pain
The reason that they killed him there, and I’m sure it ain’t no lie
Was just for the fun of killin’ him and to watch him slowly die
And then to stop the United States of yelling for a trial
Two brothers they confessed that they had killed poor Emmett Till
But on the jury there were men who helped the brothers commit this
awful crime
And so this trial was a mockery, but nobody seemed to mind
I saw the morning papers but I could not bear to see
The smiling brothers walkin’ down the courthouse stairs
For the jury found them innocent and the brothers they went free
While Emmett’s body floats the foam of a Jim Crow southern sea
If you can’t speak out against this kind of thing, a crime that’s so
unjust
Your eyes are filled with dead men’s dirt, your mind is filled with dust
Your arms and legs they must be in shackles and chains, and your
blood
it must refuse to flow
For you let this human race fall down so God-awful low!
This song is just a reminder to remind your fellow man
That this kind of thing still lives today in that ghost-robed Ku Klux
Klan
But if all of us folks that thinks alike, if we gave all we could give
We could make this great land of ours a greater place to live
Why did Emmett Till die?
Source activity: 15 Minutes
Using the hand out, go around the
room and find out what the 6
different sources tell you about the
reasons for Emmett Till’s death.
Challenge What source is the most/least
useful and why
Source 1
On August 24th, 1955, Emmett Till, a black boy,
and some of his friends (also black) went into
Bryant’s grocery shop to buy some food. As they
left the shop, Emmett wolf whistled at Mrs
Bryant (a white woman) who was working in the
shop. When Mrs Bryant’s husband found out he,
and his half brother drove to the house Emmett
was staying at and kidnapped him at 3am on
August 28th. He was taken to a barn, tortured
and shot. His body was dumped in a nearby river
and was found a few days later.
The two men who had kill him confessed to the
murder and were put on trial. An all white jury
took 67 minutes to come to a ‘not guilty verdict’
and the two men were set free.
An account of the death of Emmett Till and
the subsequent trial
Source 2
‘The little kid asked for it and got precisely what
was coming to him. Mrs Bryant's husband and his
friends are her natural protectors from insult
and injury. Those men deserve honour, not blame,
for doing their duty. Even if they actually killed
the little boy, which has not yet been shown, a
verdict of Justifiable Death would be in order’.
From a letter send to a local newspaper in
1955 during Emmett Till’s murder trial
Source 3
Some men they dragged him to a barn and there they beat him
up.
They said they had a reason, but I can't remember what.
They tortured him and did some evil things too evil to repeat.
There was screaming sounds inside the barn, there was laughing
sounds out on the street.
Then they rolled his body down a gulf amidst a bloody red rain
And they threw him in the waters wide to cease his screaming
pain.
The reason that they killed him there, and I'm sure it ain't no
lie,
Was just for the fun of killin' him and to watch him slowly die.
And then to stop the United States of yelling for a trial,
Two brothers they confessed that they had killed poor Emmett
Till.
But on the jury there were men who helped the brothers commit
this awful crime,
And so this trial was a mockery, but nobody seemed to mind.
I saw the morning papers but I could not bear to see
The smiling brothers walkin' down the courthouse stairs.
For the jury found them innocent and the brothers they went
free,
While Emmett's body floats the foam of a Jim Crow southern
sea.
The Death of Emmett Till by Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (a white man) wrote many songs during the 1960s
about poor treatment of blacks in the USA
Source 4
Literally half the town belonged to the Klan
when I was a boy. At its peak, which was from
1923 through 1925, the local Klan had about
five thousand members, out of an adult
population of ten thousand. With this strength
the Klan was able to dominate local politics. It
packed the police and fire departments with
its own people, with the result that on parade
nights the traffic patrolmen disappeared and
traffic control was taken over by sheeted
figures whose size and shape resembled those
of the vanished patrolmen.
Robert Coughlan, The Ku Klux Klan (Book),
1959
Source 5
‘He was killed because he got out of
his place with a white woman. A boy
from Mississippi would have known
better than that. This boy was from
Chicago. Negroes up North have no
respect for people. They think they
can get away with anything. He just
came to Mississippi and put a whole
lot of notions in the boys' heads
here and stirred up a lot of trouble’.
A 14 year old girl remembering
the thoughts of the white woman
whose house she cleaned
Source 6
The Jim Crow Laws were in
place from 1876-1965 and
made blacks ‘separate but
equal’. From different schools
to different toilets, the laws
were enforced by the local
police and the courts.
From a school history text
book (2007)
Why did Emmett Till die?
Source one
Source two
Source three
This source tells me
that (tick the correct
option):
This source tells me
that (tick the correct
option):
This source tells me
that (tick the correct
option):
Emmett was attacked
for kicking a man.
The person did not
care about Emmett
The people arrested
went to jail
Emmett wolf whistled
a woman.
The person felt bad
about the killing.
The people arrested
walked free
Emmett stole some
bread from a store.
The person tried to
help Emmett.
The people arrested
said sorry.
Source four
Source five
Source six
This source tells me
that (tick the correct
option):
This source tells me
that (tick the correct
option):
This source tells me
that (tick the correct
option):
The town was a safe
place for Emmett
Emmett got into a
fight with a boy
Blacks and whites
lived together
The town was a risky
place for Emmett
Emmett did nothing
wrong.
Black people could go
to white schools
The town was a very
Emmett insulted a
safe place for Emmett woman
Black people were
made to use different
facilities.
Why did Emmett Till die?
What do the sources tell you about the reasons for
Emmett Till’s death?
Source one
Source two
Source three
Source four
Source five
Source six
Why did Emmett Till die?
Exam Question: What do the sources tell you
about the reasons for Emmett Till’s death?
D
I can organise sentences into paragraphs to
answer questions, and can refer to at least
one source.
E
I can organise sentences into paragraphs to
answer questions and can identify which
sources are useful to answer a question.
P
I can ask my own questions and choose
relevant sources to answer them. I am
beginning to explain why there are different
interpretations of the past using more than
3 different sources.
Peer Assessment
Effective
Feedback Star and a
Wish
Give them some
feedback
What did they
do well?
How could
they improve
for next
time?
5
Minutes
Reflection - Think,
Pair, Share
Summarise in 5 words what you
think the experience for black
people like Emmett Till in the
1950’s?
Share with the person next to
you…
Feedback to the group!
Why did Emmett Till die?
Video Clip about the death of
Emmett Till
Extension - create your
own poem or rap that
explains why Emmett Till
died.