Emmett Till

Death of Innocence: The Story of the Hate Crime That Changed America, by Mamie Till-Mobley and Christopher Benson. Random House. 320 pages. $24.95. There are no memorials in Money, Miss., reminding visitors of what happened there nearly 50 years ago. The town itself, nearly abandoned, seems on the verge of sinking into the rich soil of the Delta region of Mississippi. There are no signs off the main roads directing travelers to Money. Only a U.S. post office set in a small trailer confirms that this is the place where a black Chicago teen-ager allegedly violated Southern racial etiquette and then was murdered for his offense, a hate crime that helped set in motion forces that would transform the country.

When 17-year-old John Edwards was shot in the head on Edmondson Avenue this month, no one marched on City Hall. There were no comparisons to Emmett Till, no columns in national newspapers about the anxieties of growing up black and male in a country still haunted by racial divides. Baltimore Ravens did not wear hoodies in solidarity. On average, one juvenile a month has been the victim of homicide in Baltimore over the past three years. Many, like Edwards, were written about and discussed briefly, then forgotten by all but loved ones.

Toward the end of August in 1955, Mamie Till took her son Emmett to a station to catch a train south from Chicago to Mississippi for a visit to his aunt, uncle and cousins. But as it turned out, he was traveling to his death. Today, the Enoch Pratt Free Library will show the documentary film The Murder of Emmett Till. The film will be followed by a panel discussion. Directed by Stanley Nelson, an acclaimed filmmaker, The Murder of Emmett Till was first broadcast nationally in 2003 on the PBS American Experience series.

"There are so many stories here," says Howard, owner of the Washington barbershop where Cuttin' Up takes place. Adapted and directed by Charles Randolph-Wright from Craig Marberry's book (subtitled Wit and Wisdom from Black Barber Shops), Cuttin' Up is something of a sequel to Crowns, adapted from Marberry's book about the relationship between black women and their hats. Crowns was a best-selling book as well as a best-selling show at theaters around the country, and Cuttin' Up should also have a promising future.

ALSIP, Ill. - The earth above Emmett Till's grave was scraped away just after dawn yesterday, and steel cables hoisted his burial vault from the ground as family members prayed nearby. The barrel-topped concrete vault containing Till's metal casket was raised to a flatbed truck and covered in a blue tarp. Seven squad cars then escorted the remains on the 20-mile trip to Chicago, where forensics experts waited to see whether they would shed new light on a murder that helped ignite the civil rights movement.

There are no shocking revelations or deathbed confessions in tonight's 60 Minutes report on an infamous 50-year-old civil rights case. Yet, the double-length segment focusing on the 1955 murder in Mississippi of 14-year-old Emmett Till is a reminder of how valuable a repository of national memory and voice of social conscience television news can be when its makers try. Till, an ebullient teenager who lived with his mother in Chicago, came to visit relatives...

WASHINGTON - The Justice Department reopened the investigation yesterday into the death of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old black youth whose 1955 killing illuminated the racism of the South and ignited the emerging civil rights movement. It has been almost a half-century since the body of Till, beaten and shot because he purportedly whistled at or otherwise offended a white woman, was dragged from a Mississippi river, an industrial fan tied to his neck with barbed wire. No one has ever been convicted of the crime, though it has been known almost from the beginning that at least two men, Roy Bryant and his half-brother, J.W. Milam, both now dead, kidnapped Till at gunpoint from the home of relatives in the middle of the night in August 1955.

A screening and discussion of the film The Murder of Emmett Till is set for 6:30 p.m. tomorrow at the Enoch Pratt Central Library, 400 Cathedral St. The free presentation - sponsored by the library and the Baltimore Community Relations Commission - marks the 40th anniversary of Till's death. The 14-year-old boy had traveled from Chicago to Mississippi to visit relatives in August 1955, and was beaten and killed, allegedly by two white men, after he purportedly whistled at a white woman.

CHICAGO -- Federal investigators have wrapped up an investigation into the murder 50 years ago of Emmett Till, a black teenager from Chicago who was tortured and killed in Mississippi for allegedly whistling at or making advances to a white woman. "The investigation is concluded, and the report is almost done," said Mike Turner, legal counsel for the FBI in Jackson, Miss. Results from the 18-month murder investigation could be in the hands of Mississippi District Attorney Joyce Chiles as early as next month, Turner said.

ATLANTA - The trial and conviction last month of former Ku Klux Klansman Edgar Ray Killen has prompted federal prosecutors in Mississippi to re-examine three lesser-known crimes from the civil rights era. U.S. attorney Dunn Lampton has promised to review evidence in the 1964 killings of Charles Moore and Henry Dee, two young black men from rural Franklin County. Their mutilated bodies were found in the Mississippi River while federal authorities were searching for Andrew Goodman, James Chaney and Michael Schwerner - the three civil rights workers whose deaths Killen was accused of plotting.

CHICAGO -- Federal investigators have wrapped up an investigation into the murder 50 years ago of Emmett Till, a black teenager from Chicago who was tortured and killed in Mississippi for allegedly whistling at or making advances to a white woman. "The investigation is concluded, and the report is almost done," said Mike Turner, legal counsel for the FBI in Jackson, Miss. Results from the 18-month murder investigation could be in the hands of Mississippi District Attorney Joyce Chiles as early as next month, Turner said.

Toward the end of August in 1955, Mamie Till took her son Emmett to a station to catch a train south from Chicago to Mississippi for a visit to his aunt, uncle and cousins. But as it turned out, he was traveling to his death. Today, the Enoch Pratt Free Library will show the documentary film The Murder of Emmett Till. The film will be followed by a panel discussion. Directed by Stanley Nelson, an acclaimed filmmaker, The Murder of Emmett Till was first broadcast nationally in 2003 on the PBS American Experience series.

A screening and discussion of the film The Murder of Emmett Till is set for 6:30 p.m. tomorrow at the Enoch Pratt Central Library, 400 Cathedral St. The free presentation - sponsored by the library and the Baltimore Community Relations Commission - marks the 40th anniversary of Till's death. The 14-year-old boy had traveled from Chicago to Mississippi to visit relatives in August 1955, and was beaten and killed, allegedly by two white men, after he purportedly whistled at a white woman.

MY JOURNEY with Emmett Louis Till started when I was 10, a boy in Baton Rouge, La. I was very inquisitive, with a love for reading. I remember riffling through some magazines my parents kept in our study and noticing an old Jet magazine. After turning a few pages, I came across a horrible photo of a disfigured face. I showed the picture to my parents, and they told me what had happened and who the boy in the picture was. It was hard for me to believe that such a thing could happen. Startled by the story and not wanting to believe it, I was eager to learn more.

ATLANTA - The trial and conviction last month of former Ku Klux Klansman Edgar Ray Killen has prompted federal prosecutors in Mississippi to re-examine three lesser-known crimes from the civil rights era. U.S. attorney Dunn Lampton has promised to review evidence in the 1964 killings of Charles Moore and Henry Dee, two young black men from rural Franklin County. Their mutilated bodies were found in the Mississippi River while federal authorities were searching for Andrew Goodman, James Chaney and Michael Schwerner - the three civil rights workers whose deaths Killen was accused of plotting.

ALSIP, Ill. - The earth above Emmett Till's grave was scraped away just after dawn yesterday, and steel cables hoisted his burial vault from the ground as family members prayed nearby. The barrel-topped concrete vault containing Till's metal casket was raised to a flatbed truck and covered in a blue tarp. Seven squad cars then escorted the remains on the 20-mile trip to Chicago, where forensics experts waited to see whether they would shed new light on a murder that helped ignite the civil rights movement.

ATLANTA - Attorney General Janet Reno and other top Justice Department officials assured the Rev. Jesse Jackson at a 90-minute meeting in Washington yesterday that the department was actively investigating the hanging of a black youth in his front yard in Kokomo, Miss., a month ago. An autopsy concluded that the death of the youth, Raynard Johnson, 17, was suicide. But his family and Jackson say they are convinced he was lynched because of his relationships with white girls. State, local and federal officials, under persistent pressure from Jackson, have been investigating the June 16 death despite the preliminary finding of suicide by a state medical examiner.

There are no shocking revelations or deathbed confessions in tonight's 60 Minutes report on an infamous 50-year-old civil rights case. Yet, the double-length segment focusing on the 1955 murder in Mississippi of 14-year-old Emmett Till is a reminder of how valuable a repository of national memory and voice of social conscience television news can be when its makers try. Till, an ebullient teenager who lived with his mother in Chicago, came to visit relatives...