--- title: The Murder of Emmett Till and the Sham Trial That Shocked the Nation description: In 1955, an all-white, all-male jury acquitted two men of kidnapping and murdering 14-year-old Emmett Till, shocking the nation. canonical: https://time.com/3877718/the-murder-of-emmett-till-and-the-sham-trial-that-shocked-the-nation/ author: Ben Cosgrove article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2013-08-02T01:10:52.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:03:51.194Z og:title: The Murder of Emmett Till and the Sham Trial That Shocked the Nation og:description: In 1955, an all-white, all-male jury acquitted two men of kidnapping and murdering 14-year-old Emmett Till, shocking the nation. og:url: https://time.com/3877718/the-murder-of-emmett-till-and-the-sham-trial-that-shocked-the-nation/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5da6b2912c47222e/69884a81e53aba09fc4dd170/14_1223010.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Emmett Till Trial 1955 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Murder of Emmett Till and the Sham Trial That Shocked the Nation twitter:description: In 1955, an all-white, all-male jury acquitted two men of kidnapping and murdering 14-year-old Emmett Till, shocking the nation. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5da6b2912c47222e/69884a81e53aba09fc4dd170/14_1223010.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # A Savage Season in Mississippi: The Murder of Emmett Till by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Aug 2, 2013 1:10 AM UTC  Defendants Roy Bryant, left, and J.W. Milam during their trial for the kidnapping and murder of Emmett Till. Defendants Roy Bryant, left, and J.W. Milam during their trial for the kidnapping and murder of Emmett Till.Ed Clark—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Aug 2, 2013 1:10 AM UTC In the summer of 1955, two men, both of them white, abducted a 14-year-old African-American boy named Emmett Till from his great-uncle’s house in Money, Miss. Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam beat Till almost to death, gouged out one of his eyes, shot him in the head and then dumped his body — weighted by an enormous cotton-gin fan tied with barbed wire — in the Tallahatchie River. Their motive: Till, visiting from his native Chicago, had reportedly flirted with — or, according to some accounts, spoken “disrespectfully” — to Bryant’s wife a few days before. When an all-white, all-male jury acquitted Bryant and Milam of kidnapping and murder in September, the verdict shocked observers across the country and around the world. And when, mere months later, the men openly admitted to _Look_ magazine that they had, in fact, mutilated and murdered Till, the outcry was so intense — and the reaction of Till’s devastated family so dignified — that it lit a spark that helped ignite the modern civil rights movement. [**\[See TIME’s multimedia tribute to MLK and the 1963 March on Washington, “One Dream.”\]**](http://www.time.com/time/onedream) _Liz Ronk, who edited this gallery, is the Photo Editor for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter_ [_@lizabethronk_](https://twitter.com/LizabethRonk)_._  The site of Emmett Till's kidnapping, Money, Miss., 1955. Ed Clark—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  J.W. Milam’s brother Leslie owned this barn near Drew, Miss. Before his murder, Emmett Till was pistol-whipped in the barn. Ed Clark—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  The store in Money, Miss., where Emmett Till allegedly flirted with Roy Bryant’s wife Carolyn. Ed Clark—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  A ring found on Emmett Till's body, which his great-uncle, the Rev. Mose Wright, used to identify his body. The ring belonged to Till's father. Ed Clark—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  A scene in Mississippi around the time of the trial of Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam for the kidnapping and murder of Emmett Till, 1955. Ed Clark—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Emmett Till's mother Mamie Bradley speaks to the press after her son's kidnapping and murder. Ed Clark—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  From left: Emmett Till's great-uncle, the Rev. Mose Wright; his mother Mamie Bradley; and his cousin Simeon Wright. Ed Clark—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  A crowd outside the Sumner, Miss., courthouse during the trial of Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam for the kidnapping and murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till. Ed Clark—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Defendant J.W. Milam arrives at his trial in Sumner, Miss., where he is charged with the kidnapping and murder of Emmett Till. Ed Clark—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  A scene in Sumner, Miss., during the trial of Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam for the kidnapping and murder of Emmett Till. Ed Clark—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  A scene during the trial of Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam for the kidnapping and murder of Emmett Till. Ed Clark—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  A scene during the trial of Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam for the kidnapping and murder of Emmett Till. Ed Clark—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Defendants Roy Bryant, left, and J.W. Milam during their trial for the kidnapping and murder of Emmett Till. Ed Clark—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Defendant Roy Bryant sits with his wife Carolyn and their children during his trial for the kidnapping and murder of Emmett Till. Ed Clark—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Defendants J.W. Milam (left) and Roy Bryant (right)sit during their trial for the kidnapping and murder of Emmett Till. Ed Clark—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Defendant J.W. Milam kisses his wife Juanita during his trial for the kidnapping and murder of Emmett Till. Ed Clark—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  A sign in Sumner, Miss., site of the trial of Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam for the August 1955 kidnapping and murder of Emmett Till. Ed Clark—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3877718/the-murder-of-emmett-till-and-the-sham-trial-that-shocked-the-nation/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3877718/the-murder-of-emmett-till-and-the-sham-trial-that-shocked-the-nation/"},"headline":"A Savage Season in Mississippi: The Murder of Emmett Till","datePublished":"2013-08-02T01:10:52.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:03:51.194Z","description":"In 1955, when an all-white, all-male jury acquitted two men of kidnapping and murdering 14-year-old Emmett Till, the verdict shocked observers across the country and around the world.","url":"https://time.com/3877718/the-murder-of-emmett-till-and-the-sham-trial-that-shocked-the-nation/","keywords":["Mississippi","photography","trial","LIFE Magazine","1955","Civil Rights Movement"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5da6b2912c47222e/69884a81e53aba09fc4dd170/14_1223010.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ben Cosgrove","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5da6b2912c47222e/69884a81e53aba09fc4dd170/14_1223010.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Emmett Till Trial 1955","caption":"Defendants Roy Bryant, left, and J.W. 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