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Death of Innocence: The Story of the Hate Crime That Changed America

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Forty-eight years after Emmett Louis Till was brutally tortured, murdered and dumped in the Tallahatchie River with a gin engine tied to his body by white men who wanted to teach all blacks a lesson, his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley tells his short life story. Emmett had allegedly whistled at a white woman in a grocery store in Money, Mississippi, a capitol offense in his attackers' eyes. Raised in Chicago, Emmett didn't really understand the horrors of black life in the Delta even though Mamie had given him lessons on proper black "etiquette" for survival in Mississippi. Also Emmett stuttered, the result of childhood illnesses and Mamie had taught him to stop and whistle when a word got in the way. Perhaps that was the "whistle" that Carolyn Bryant heard that prompted her husband and her brother-in-law to cold bloodedly murder a fourteen-year old child.

Mamie takes the reader through the unbelievable trial in 1950s United States and its complete disregard for the life and welfare of its black citizens. She recounts the horrid jokes about a "nigger" who not only stole a gin engine but was dumb enough to try to walk across a river while carrying it. Bringing back the nightmare of Jim Crow America, she tells of the segregated courthouse with the Jim Crow table where even Congressman Charles Diggs had to sit and the court orders that black and white reporters not mix or exchange stories. She relates to the reader the fear and terror suffered by the black witnesses and the plans of all the blacks in the courtroom for a quick evacuation if it became necessary. Since there was only one door, they would have to jump from a window - women first and then every man for himself. It is unbelievable to all except those who lived during those disturbing times.

Emmett Till's death was not in vain. In fact, it was the catalyst the spurred the Civil Rights movement. His death encouraged Rosa Parks to refuse to move from her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama bus, giving birth to a new movement by black Americans to refuse to accept second-class treatment.

DEATH OF INNOCENCE is a painful book about an even more painful time in America. It should be required reading for every American who can read and for those who can't, it should be read to them. It might stop the cries of "just get over it" when the issues of black inequality, slavery and Jim Crow are brought up. This didn't happen centuries ago. It happened recently enough for many Americans to remember the horrific events of this terrible tragedy.

Reviewed by alice Holman
of the RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

I am a 20 year old black college student that is from Clarksdale, MS. This is a little Delta town near where Emmet's murder was committed and also is mentioned in the book. The horrors described in this book are ones that every child from the Delta is aware of and is cautioned about. The men that murdered Emmett were brutal, merciless, tyrants that deserved the death penalty.
This book moved me to tears simply because of the fact that Mrs. Till never hated or wanted revenge for these men. She just wanted them to show some remorse and hoped that their little boys didn't grow up with the same kind of hatred that killed her son. This book clarified a lot of the myths that I have heard over the years about his death and also showed how strong and determined his mother was. He was her only child, the only boy, and yet she pushed and kept on fighting for him. They brought him home in a box filled with lime so he could deteriorate faster, and she said he didn't even look human, but she fought and never lost in the war of racism. She opened that box that was sealed by the state of Mississippi, and said "let the world see what I've seen". I think that this book is an eye-opener for anyone not familiar with Mississippi and for people that are, it is a raw look at the ugly truth. Mrs. Till went on to become a teacher and influenced lots of more kids with the passion that she would have given Emmett, and I thank her for this look into a heart that was wounded beyond repair and thanks to God, she made it. We made it. Emmett will never be forgotten, his story lives on still.

For everyone who has heard of Emmett Till and sworn "never again" and for those who don't believe the horrors of life for too many Blacks in the South, this book is essential. This is a mother's story of the brutal murder of her young son and the travesty of justice that followed in a rural Mississippi town in the mid-1950's. She refused to let her son's murder be hidden, and it became an early rallying point for the Civil Rights Movement. Mamie Till-Mobley moves the rock under which the roaches of racism hide and exposes them to the bright light of truth. Her words are both inspirational and disturbing. We don't want to believe that this happened fifty years ago here in the "Land of the Free", but it did. We can't even tell ourselves that it could never happen now, because she tells us of a recent and terrifyingly similar murder of a young Black male in the South. Not far from where I live, four young men have just been charged with burning a cross in the yard of a Black family who had moved into a white neighborhood. Mamie Till-Mobley had her son's casket kept open so the world could see what was done to her son. Now, her book opens the "casket" of the buried past to show us once more.

Mamie Till-Mobley was a courageous woman whose story is very moving. She talks about her youth, her family, her relationship with Emmett, the lives of Blacks in the south and in Chicago. Her story would be an important one solely because she lost a child to violence. However, her story is much, much more. She stands with other Black women of the 20th century: Marian Anderson, Rosa Parks, Coreta Scott King, the mothers of the girls killed in the church bombings.

I believe strongly that we must continue to bear witness to these events, just as we must bear witness to Hitler's atrocities, and the mass murders that continue to occur around the globe. Remembering cannot cure the ignorance and hatred that accompany prejudice, but it can help to prevent repeats of these horrific events.

As I read this book, I was reminded of an editorial written over 30 years ago by Arthur M. Sackler. Speaking of the famine in Bangladesh and other mass deaths, he said, "Tears alone are not enough." I hope that everyone who reads the words of Emmett Till's mother will realize that tears are NOT enough - we must remain attentive and work diligently to wipe this kind of hatred from the face of the earth.

Superbly written! The late Mrs. Till-Mobey had quite a voice for writing, at times I felt like I was reading fiction... but the story and the pain is quite real.
Emmett... one of hundreds of thousands of Black Americans who became a victim of America's terrorism both in the streets and n the courtroom.
I was livid as Mrs. Mobley recounted the events that surrounded her son's murder. It set my mind racing about the work America still has to do to mend the hearts and minds of many of it's native people.
This is an important literary piece.. I wish that it had been released under more promotion... and I am glad I picked it up.
I advise anyone who cares about this country and who isn't afraid to read about the TRUTH should purchase this one.

As a young girl, family members told me the story of the lynching of Emmett Louis Till. I was also told stories of the "ways" of the Old South and the deep-rooted hatred whites had toward Blacks. When I was young, I saw the gruesome photos of his maimed and distorted face in Jet magazine. I was horrified. Finally, I was able to read a story about Emmett's life, his brutal murder, the trial and the aftermath of it all from his mother. Mamie Till Mobley's account of her son and family is inspiring. I felt her pain. I also admired her courage and resolve. Emmett's death had a powerful impact on the world.

Most Americans, one assumes, know who Emmitt Till was: a 14 year-old African-American boy who was murdered and brutally mutilated for allegedly whistling at a white girl in Money, Mississippi in the summer of 1955. Few know anything more about the boy or the travesty of justice that followed the trial of those accused of the murder. _Death of Innocence_ is a hard read - a reminder of our not-too-distant past, and of who we Americans are.

The book is Emmitt's story - and that of his mother - written in what I can only assume is her voice: it is plain, simple, and almost bursts with a mother's pride, love and joy for her son. This, of course, makes the reading all the more powerful and tragic reading her reaction and emotions upon learning of the death of her son. The book is also the story of the Civil Rights Movement - of what the Jim Crow south was like, of its petty indignities, the daily injustices African-Americans had to face, and of the brutal realities those who did not "play by the rules" faced. For me, these were equally powerful - too many think only of lunchcounter sit-ins, Rosa Parks and the bus boycott, or Brown v. Board (the Supreme Court decision ironically handed down the same year of Emmitt's death.) This is a reminder that it was much more about who gets to eat or sit where.

The first quarter of the book is a bit dull as Mamie Till shares the minutae and details of Emmitt's growing up; this later serves to heighten the emotional impact of her loss. The retelling Mamie gave her son before he went to Mississippi to visit family is chilling: always respond with "Ma'am" or "Sir" when speaking to a white person. Don't look white folks in the eye. When a white approaches, step off the sidewalk into the street, look down, and don't look back when they pass. Its "yes" and "no" - never "yeah" or "naw." A shock, then, when two white men, armed, literally took Emmitt from his uncle's house at 2 am. His body was later recovered from the Tallahatchee river.

The details of his burial - and Mamie's courage to give her son an open casket funeral - shocking to the rest of the world and an embarrassment to Mississippi - made for difficult reading. More outrageous was the way in which the two men who abducted Emmitt became victims in the Southern press; more appalling was the Sherriff's contention that perhaps the body recovered wasn't even Emmitt's. (Never mind it was sent to an African-American undertaker, something no white in the Jim Crow south would have done.) Most outrageous and infuriating of all was the defense of the accused: of the five attorneys in the county, all wanted to help the defendants. Both were aquitted of any wrong-doing.

In the early 21st century, we like to think we live in a "post-racial" nation. For a growing number of Americans, the Civil Rights movement is as much ancient history as the Civil War or the Crusades. However, Emmitt Till would be 61 today had he lived - maybe a retiree, perhaps a grandfather, certainly a similar age as loved ones we all know. These events were not that long ago. As uncomfortable, ugly, painful and humiliating as these injustices done to Americans by Americans were, we owe it to ourselves, to our children, and to Emmitt Till's memory to not forget them. This is a difficult read because of this. At the same time, it is a necessecary read. Recommended.

Reader take heed. This is truly a difficult read; an emotional read and one that will haunt you. It is a book, a story which should be required reading in all of our schools.

This is actually several stories all told in one book through the eyes and thoughts of Mamie Till-Mobley, the mother of Emmett Till, the young man that was brutally kidnapped, tortured, and murdered in 1955 for the simple act of supposedly whistling at a white woman. It is also the story of Emmitt's mother and the story of the tipping point; the flash point that swung the civil rights movement into full gear.

The reader of this work should do their math and realize that this is not ancient history. This all happed in 1955 which was only 54 years ago. Many of us are a live to day that vividly remember this story as it broke. The younger reader of today needs to fully understand that the murder of Emmitt was not an isolated incident. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of such outrages were taking place across the South, and indeed, the entire country.

This work is more than just an account of the murder and trial of Roy Bryant and John Milam and their infamous one hour acquittal. It is the story of Mamie Till-Mobley and in many ways is the story of the beginning of the civil rights movement. It is well told and will bring out many emotions in many readers from outrage, anger, sadness, admiration and disbelief.

Everyone who was alive during this horrid event can remember their own reactions and how they reacted. I am no different. I was raised in a small town in Southern Missouri which was quite isolated and in many ways, quite insolated from the outside world. There was not one black family living in our entire county during the time I lived there. We were aware of the Jim Crow laws, we were vaguely aware of some of the atrocities taking place in our country, but viewed them in almost an abstract manner. They existed, we knew that, but we simply were not "aware." My parents and grandparents were much into music and my father had a very large collection of blues records. I can remember listening as a small boy to the song "Strange Fruit" sung by Billie Holiday in her haunting voice. I remember my mother explaining what she was singing of and commenting that Miss Holiday was a brave woman. I understood on one level, but not on another. Soon after that I was given a copy, again by my mother, of Look Magazine and I read the story of Emmitt. I was absolutely horrified. We of course knew of the atrocities of the recent wars, Germany, Japan, and Korea, but this was America! Things like that simply did not happen here! I must say that the death of this young man had a profound impact on my life. A very few years later I was in the part of the world where this crime took place doing my modest bit. Things had not changed all that much at that time and it was a scary time in my life.

As I read the book being reviewed here, I was not only sickened by the actual crime; the murder, but also by the system that allowed Bryant and Milam to go free. We know now that there were at least 19 other people involved in this lynching, several of those still are amongst us and have never been brought to justice; if true justice could ever be served in a case such as this.

I am retired now and I act as a substitute teacher at our local schools. I had the pleasure of teaching a three day block on the civil right movement to a group of older high school students this past year. I was disturbed, to say the least, when I found that not one student in the class (over twenty), both black and white, had never heard the story of Emmitt Till nor had they heard of him. This upset me almost as much as reading this book upset me. They now know the story.

This is a work that needs to go to the top of your reading list. It is history; an ugly chapter in our history that is true, but to know ourselves we need to be aware of it all, the good, bad and ugly. It is my personal feelings that a mere 54 years is not long enough to wash this from our collective veins and that if we think that this sort of thing cannot happen in this day and age, then we have our head in the sand. If we forget people like Emmitt, we forget our history and we are in grave danger of repeating a portion of that history over and over again.

Many reviewers here have made the statement that they cannot imagine how a human being can be filled with so much hate that they commit the crime these two animals committed. I find that to be good. I would be saddened if very many people could understand such things...it is certainly beyond my comprehension.

Read this work.

Don Blankenship
The Ozarks

This was one of the best books I have ever read. Mamie Till-Mobley was a phenomenal woman who displayed courage, strength, faith, and love through the worst tragedy a parent can face. I was deeply honored to have gotten to know what Emmett was like as a young boy growing up. He truly was a wonderful young man who would have grown up to be an amazing man if he had only gotten the chance. Through her book, Mrs. Till-Mobley has taught me to truly appreciate family and to always have faith. This is a must read book for all, but especially for White Americans, who have the privilege to go about their everyday lives, never thinking about or experiencing acts of hatred and racism.

As a mother myself,I cannot fathom how a young black child could be so horribly and viciously killed. For years, there have been different versions to this story,and for the most part,it made him seem as though he was disrespectful to the lady when all that only happened was this young fella trying to get what he wanted out of his mouth by whistling(as he was taught by his mother and grandmother).Thank God for Mrs Mobley's book. I read it through within a day. Some of the stuff,I had to make myself read,and it makes you wonder how folk can still go on living after such an ordeal. My hat goes out to the memory of a dear woman who lived her life with courage and dignity,and a son needlessly killed. Every mother regardless of her color should read this book.

I read this book because I wanted to know how can anyone forgive anybody for brutally killing their ONLY child. You will find out in this book how that happened.

If you want the truth about what really happened to Emmett Till, his mother will tell you in this book. This book is a must read. It will rip your heart out, however it is a very good book. This will clear up a lot of questions you may have about what really happened. We will never know how much he suffered before he transpired, but his mother goes into deep detail, by detail about what she saw first hand! The animals that did this to him hopefully will NEVER rest in peace! Hopefully their families won't either! What happened to Emmett Till should NEVER happen to anyone, but it did in Mississippi and other states across this country.

Mrs. Mamie Till-Mobley died last year, however she nor her son will never be forgotten. May both of them rest in peace!

This book is a must read.