Speaking to you about Jim Crow and its

Speaking to you about Jim Crow and its

Speaking Outline Topic: The murder case of Emmett Till Purpose: To inform the audience about how horrific Emmett’s murder was and how the case itself served as injustice. Intro: Imagine living in the time where Jim Crow laws were at its peak. Just think, not being able to hold the door open for a lady who has hand full of groceries or even communicating with the opposite race. Imagine being a 14 year-old black male at this time. For those of you who don’t know what it’s like to be black in those days, it was pretty tough.

I’m not here to speak to you about Jim Crow and its stupidity, but more a young man whose life was completely changed after what was a visit to his uncle’s house for a summer vacation. I. Emmett Till a.

Born on the Southside of Chicago, Illinois (North) on July 25, 1941. b. 14 year-old African American male c. At five, he contracted polio which made him stutter i. At 14, he had finished 8th grade and was known around town as “BoBo”.

ii. He was a jokester and was known for making people laugh. Transition: Let me take you down south to Money, Mississippi where Emmett and his friends were visiting his uncle Mose for the summer vacation.

II. Money, Mississippi d. Emmett and his cousins were visiting his uncle in Money, Mississippi for the summer vacation. On August 21, Emmett and his “gang” arrived in Money, Mississippi. e. Emmett and his cousins were picking cotton that Monday morning. That following Wednesday, with the few pennies that they made, they decided to go to Bryant’s Grocery and Meat Market to purchases candy, soda pops, bubble gum, etc.

(You know the usual a teenager would buy with his pennies. ) f. By Emmett being from up North, he didn’t have a clue about Jim Crow and its laws. g.Emmett placed the money he had for the purchase into Mrs. Bryant’s hand, rather it being laid on the counter. h.

When Mrs. Bryant followed Emmett outside, he made a whistle at her. Transition: Seeing that the whistle was made on complete innocence, Emmett was faced with more than just a whopping and a punishment. III. The “Kidnapping” and Murder i. Informed about the incident two days later, Roy Bryant (husband) and his half-brother began looking for Emmett. j.

At 2:00am on August 28, 1955, they found Emmett in his uncle’s cabin and proceeded to make entrance. Once inside, they carried Emmett out to “teach him a lesson”. . Three days later, Emmett was found in the Tallachie River with a 75-pound cotton gin fan bound to his neck, a bullet hole smack dab in the middle of his head (in which his mother said she could look directly through the hole and see daylight on the other side), his right eye laying midway to his cheek and his nose was completely flattened. l. Emmett was so dismembered that his mother only recognized him because he was wearing his father’s ring.

m. His mother demanded an open-casket funeral because she wanted the world to see what they had “done to her son”. Transition: Seeing that Emmett was killed for whistling at Mrs.Bryant, the case and the results shocked most of the world. IV.

An Injustice Case n. On September 23, 1955, after 63 minutes of deliberating, an all-white male jury aquits Roy Bryant and his half- brother J. W Milam of the murder of Emmett Till. o.

In October of 1955, they then admitted to a publisher of a magazine for $4,000 that they indeed killed Emmett Till. p. On May 10, 2004, the Department of Justice reopened the case.

q. 14 people were involved in the murder. r. 6 of the 14 are alive and can be charged today.

Conclusion: It may seem that to many that Emmett deserved to be murder and some may say that the way he died was unnecessary.We have many injustice cases today such as Jenna 6 and the West Memphis 3. What happened to Emmett shouldn’t have happened, but there really isn’t anything people could do when you have laws banding you from doing something simple as even giving a person a piece of paper if they needed it. This story has really made me think of how grateful I ‘am to be sitting in the room with different races and not have to worry about getting in trouble for picking up a neighbors pen if they drop it on the floor. Without further ado, let me introduce to you EMMETT LOUIS TILL.