Women of the Movement

Episode 1

Mother and Son

Thu, Jan 6, 2022

Based on a true story. In 1955, 14 year old Emmett Till travels from his home in Chicago to visit family in Mississippi. Growing up in Chicago, he was largely isolated from the intense racism of the South. As an African American teen, he is unprepared for the vastly different social norms of 1950's rural Mississippi. He encounters a Caucasian woman in a store, and while historical retellings differ, he apparently insulted her. Some say it was harmless flirtation, some say it was a speech impediment she misinterpreted. Her husband and a friend kidnap, torture, and murder Emmett. Both are arrested and tried, but the all white jury refuses to convict.